Painting Guns /Machine guns

[Dodge]

Hi newbie here, I'm having trouble geting my machine guns and guns to look realistic . i'm paintinga Browning m2 .50caliber machine gun and a ak47.
Any ideas would be greatly recieved

[Army of One]

I used to do armour stuff n figures a while ago n tried a few different paints......what scale n what look you trying to achieve....goes from factory fresh to well used.....what paints do you prefer to use...?....hello n welcome to the mad house as well.....

[Old Wombat]

I tend to paint the metal areas of my (1:35) weapons black, then very lightly dry brush them with any or a combination of the following; metal grey, gun metal, aluminium (dull or bright).

Sometimes I'll add a touch of red-brown + orange mix to give a hint of rust to a poorly maintained weapon.

Stocks, handles & grips can be anything similar to company issue matt/satin black, sand yellow, buff, green, khaki, OD or the ever-present wood (usually a one-off brown mix with a satin clear coat).

[manytanks]

MIG STUFF i use mig pigments

[beowulf]

i tend to use valejo gunmetal followed by a dry brush of silver/aluminium to highlight.......wood gets done with 'wood'  ....then a light black wash

[Dodge]

thanks for the info lads.
Does anybody know what colour the tools on the Sherman when it was new (spanner, axe, spade,turning handle ) i can't find and pictures or details.