How to polish a pistol

jeremill · Post by **jeremill** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 12:49 am

Does anyone have step-by-step instructions?? All I found on the interwebz was some bull.

TIA

Jeremy

Stu · Post by **Stu** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 2:40 am

Do you mean polishing an already shiny pistol? Like your new .500? Or are you talking about polishing the finish off and taking a part from black to shiny?

jeremill · Post by **jeremill** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 4:07 am

I mean polish normal SS to erase some scratches and make the gun semi-birght. Not bright Nickel, just enought to eliminate the factory swirl marks from finishing.

Jeremy

urban assault · Post by **urban assault** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 4:15 am

I would suggest Flitz...
http://www.flitz-polish.com/Flitz-Polis ... tal-Polish
but I'd wait to hear other suggestions also.

-urban

jeremill · Post by **jeremill** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:00 am

urban assault wrote:I would suggest Flitz...
http://www.flitz-polish.com/Flitz-Polis ... tal-Polish
but I'd wait to hear other suggestions also.

-urban

I have tried flitz and it worked great but it left the gun extremely shiny, all I want is the swirl marks gone!!!!!

J

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:49 am

urban assault wrote:I would suggest Flitz...
http://www.flitz-polish.com/Flitz-Polis ... tal-Polish
but I'd wait to hear other suggestions also.

-urban

Love the stuff, I buy the big tube and it lasts a long time.
I even use it in the bore, if you think the bore is clean run a patch with flitz thru it, lol, you will be there a little longer really getting it clean with the flitz.
Great stuff for just about anything.

Selectedmarksman · Post by **Selectedmarksman** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 11:45 am

This is a tutorial on barrel polishing but it might be relevant. It's from the XDTalk boards where people pimp out their XD's by polishing stock barrels and controls to a mirror shine.

MicroGuy · Post by **MicroGuy** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 12:58 pm

I think what you would want to do is polish, you don't have to get it mirror finish, but it doesn't matter. Just polish it so the marks are gone, then bead blast it.

That would give it the sort of dull finish you might be looking for. The smaller the bead, the finer the finish.

Any good metal shop could do this for you.

Or, if you're intent on doing it yourself, you could polish it, then use very fine wet/dry silicon sand paper. But move it in a single long stroke.

That's what I did on my Ruger MKIII. I polished parts of it, the flutes. But some other parts I didn't want a mirror finish on. So I just gave it a couple strokes of that 600 grit wet sand paper, and you can't tell the difference between what I did and the factory.

Stu · Post by **Stu** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 2:57 pm

Selectedmarksman wrote:This is a tutorial on barrel polishing but it might be relevant. It's from the XDTalk boards where people pimp out their XD's by polishing stock barrels and controls to a mirror shine.

Thanks for posting this. This is what I've been working on for my CZ.

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 5:08 pm

Emery cloth will remove the swirl marks and shouldn't give a high shine.

J Krammes · Post by **J Krammes** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 6:43 pm

Like MicroGuy said, use fine sandpaper. I like Gatorgrit or 3M (the black paper). I really don't care for the emery cloth. I think it clogs up to quick. I spray the paper with WD40 then go to work. It really helps to get it done quicker and leaves a great finish. How bad are the swirls? You may be able to just start with 320 or 400 grit. 220 will probably give you more work than needed. I think 320 gives a nice satin finish. What are you polishing? You may need a backer for the paper so you don't round over any edges. Go in one direction not back and forth. It will leave little "fish hooks" in the finish.

Jeremy

jeremill · Post by **jeremill** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:02 pm

I need to finish the swirl marks on my Colt revolver and Officer. What grain paper do you reccommend? 800 grit or Emory paper around 800 as well? Also do you reccomend that I oil the slide with rem oil or similar between polishings. Let me know and I will try it. I am really looking for a one step polish that just removes some surface swirls and not really looking for a high polish shine.

Jeremuy

MicroGuy · Post by **MicroGuy** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 8:20 pm

You could do it by hand, if you take your time, with I'd say 600 grit wet/dry (black paper) silicon.

Photo's would really help here.

I've done a good bit of this stuff, on my own, with various items. I brought a old railroad spike to a really high polish, by hand. So good, you didn't need to do anything to it, and it wouldn't rust. (boy I wish I still had that).

I don't know what the "swirl marks" look like. So it's hard or me to picture what you're talking about. (Spirit of St. Louis air plane?) How deep etc.....

So I don't know what you need to remove first.

But, no matter what, using the right paper, for what ever finish you want, you can start using by hand and end up by hand.

I do recommend what J Krammes said, with the sand paper block. I use something like a firm piece of felt. Something firm, but something that gives a little bit. You want something that holds the paper flat, but will give some.

Normally, I use water. Cleans the paper in-between rubbings. (this is why I like the wet/dry stuff). Like sharpening/polishing a knife.

I'd get some different papers, start with 300, look at 400 and 600, maybe 800 too.

You should be able to feel if it's too rough before you purchase it.

Then try the highest number first, and see what it looks like. The 600 was a very fine, satin finish. (go to a gun store and check out the Ruger MkIII if you can to see what I mean, that's all I have to compare it to)

When I polish like this, I keep the paper and the item about halfway in the water, or just above it, dunking every couple wipes to remove metal particles.

The finer the finish, the easier it will be to scratch later. Since the scratches are so fine, even plastic or cloth will "scratch" the finer finish.

So, what you use it up to you.

But 600 worked well for me, pretty well matched the Ruger finish.

I don't like using oil, because you need a lot of it, to wash the metal particles off. Water works well. Oil works, but you need a lot to wash it.

You just have to be careful and either do it all at once, or make sure you dry it really well in between jobs, so it won't rust.

But that's not an issue.

If you want, you can send me some photo's in a PM, or email, if you can't post 'em.

But without seeing it, I can't tell ya too much about what I would do.

But once you start the action of sanding, then you'll quickly see what works and what doesn't, without messing up. (like one smooth motion, and not back and fourth like J Krammes said.

You can do that at first to remove metal, but later, you need to go in one direction only, and sort of lift the paper up before you stop that motion.

You'll see, it's not hard.

Hush · Post by **Hush** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:05 pm

In the past I have used the large square erasers as a pad to back up sandpaper it spares the fingertips and applies even pressure and you can cut them into other shapes also.

MicroGuy · Post by **MicroGuy** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 9:46 pm

Yeah, those would work. And you need something that conforms to shapes too for corners and groves etc...

Some erasers, you could use on their own. They have just enough abrasive to do the job.

I've used all kinds of different stuff, that "poster board", that's like construction paper on both sides, with a firm foam core, works well, but not too much when it's wet.

A piece of wood, flat and smooth, covered with felt, or leather etc... something like that.

That's also how I put a really good edge on a knife too. Either leather with jewelers rouge, or or other "super fine" sand paper, and something like that blocks we're talking about.

Polish that blade and it'll shave ya.

The fine sharpening stones are good, but for a really fine edge, you need to polish it.

RX7-2nr · Post by **RX7-2nr** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 11:45 pm

i mirror polished a ruger 10/22 receiver, trigger group, and bull barrel. i stripped the black off of the receiver and TG first, then started out with course steel wool, and worked my way to superfine-grade steel wool with some flitz in it. it came out outstanding.

i know that you are not wanting it as bright as i did my rifle, but the steps would be basically the same. you would just stop polishing once you got it where you wanted.

Stu · Post by **Stu** » Sun Apr 05, 2009 11:56 pm

RX-7, can you go into a little more detail please? How did you strip the black off?

What is Flitz?

J Krammes · Post by **J Krammes** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 9:06 am

Real nice RX7.

Jeremy

jeremill · Post by **jeremill** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 5:26 pm

MicroGuy wrote:Yeah, those would work. And you need something that conforms to shapes too for corners and groves etc...

Some erasers, you could use on their own. They have just enough abrasive to do the job.

I've used all kinds of different stuff, that "poster board", that's like construction paper on both sides, with a firm foam core, works well, but not too much when it's wet.

A piece of wood, flat and smooth, covered with felt, or leather etc... something like that.

That's also how I put a really good edge on a knife too. Either leather with jewelers rouge, or or other "super fine" sand paper, and something like that blocks we're talking about.

Polish that blade and it'll shave ya.

The fine sharpening stones are good, but for a really fine edge, you need to polish it.

I do not have a good picture of my Colt to show the factory metal marks so I will show my 500. You can see the marks where the barrel meets the receiver and above the grip. Those are the marks that I would like to polish away so the metal looks smooth.

RX7-2nr · Post by **RX7-2nr** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:29 pm

Stu wrote:RX-7, can you go into a little more detail please? How did you strip the black off?

What is Flitz?

the rifle started out as a regular run of the mill blued carbine. the receiver and TG is the same as the ones on the "stainless" models. it is aluminum with a thick black coating. the "stainless" models are aluminum with a clearcoat. only the 10/22 magnums have a steel receiver.

to get the black off the receiver and TG, soak it in paint stripper until it softens, then start scraping. once the coating is soft, itll scrape off fairly easily. the receiver is easy, flat sides and not many nooks and crannies. the TG is a major PITA to get all the coating off of. soak, then scrape, soak, then scrape more. for a scraper- use something hard plastic with a nice sharp edge. metal will gall the aluminum receiver.

after all the black is off, start rubbing it with coarse steel wool- i got it at walmart, comes in a bag with a few pads of various coarseness. the aluminum is pretty rough finished underneath the paint. youve really got to put some elbow grease into it. move to medium when youve got ALL the coating off. medium will smooth it over pretty good. the more you polish it, the brighter itll be. once you stop noticing a change the more you work it- move to the next step finer steel wool- itll smooth it more. the point is to take out all variation from the surface. i finished mine with superfine (0000) grade steel wool with Flitz on it. the metal polish in the steel wool works great.

the polished aluminum receiver and TG will tarnish and show fingerprints easily, you can put a clearcoat on it if youd like.

RX7-2nr · Post by **RX7-2nr** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:06 pm

jeremill wrote:
MicroGuy wrote:Yeah, those would work. And you need something that conforms to shapes too for corners and groves etc...

Some erasers, you could use on their own. They have just enough abrasive to do the job.

I've used all kinds of different stuff, that "poster board", that's like construction paper on both sides, with a firm foam core, works well, but not too much when it's wet.

A piece of wood, flat and smooth, covered with felt, or leather etc... something like that.

That's also how I put a really good edge on a knife too. Either leather with jewelers rouge, or or other "super fine" sand paper, and something like that blocks we're talking about.

Polish that blade and it'll shave ya.

The fine sharpening stones are good, but for a really fine edge, you need to polish it.
I do not have a good picture of my Colt to show the factory metal marks so I will show my 500. You can see the marks where the barrel meets the receiver and above the grip. Those are the marks that I would like to polish away so the metal looks smooth.

youll have to be very carefull with your polishing, so you dont wash out your engraving

Stu · Post by **Stu** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:06 pm

So if I want to polish a blued steel barrel (M&P pistol) I could follow the same steps?

jeremill · Post by **jeremill** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:32 pm

RX7-2nr the Smith in the picture is not the one I want to polish. I am looking to polish my 1911 colt officers model. The revolver in the picture best shows what the marks look like.

Jeremy

Selectedmarksman · Post by **Selectedmarksman** » Mon Apr 06, 2009 8:50 pm

Stu wrote:So if I want to polish a blued steel barrel (M&P pistol) I could follow the same steps?

The link I posted is what people are doing to their XD barrels, so I think the process would be the same. Some people voice concerns over corrosion resistance if you remove the finish, which is valid. However, those who have done it report that so long as you maintain your pistol (as most of us do normally) it will be fine.

I'd really like to polish my take-down lever, slide-release, and trigger on my XD to create a nice two-tone look with the Storm Lake barrel, but don't want to run into 'warranty' issues if I have to return it. Swapping out the threaded barrel for the original is easy. Explaining the polished parts may not be.

jandbj · Post by **jandbj** » Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:12 am

http://academic.evergreen.edu/projects/ ... finish.pdf

Gray scotchbrite pad will get you a satin finish and remove most of the scratches. If you go over to http://www.smith-wessonforum.com you'll find more polishing and refinishing info than you could ever use.