Polishing Metal

H

house_carpenter

Joined
Sep 7, 2002
Messages
3
Polishing Metal.

I have a Ruger MkII, the target model. I use it a lot so of course there are lots of scratches on it some on the surface and some deep. I was wondering if any of yall could tell me how to polish this thing back to a mirror finish. I was also considering polishing the action for better performance. I do not want to jack up my finish and dremel tools scare me:eek:. I have a make shift grinder (washing machine motor). Could I replace the grinding wheel with a buffing wheel? Any help or tricks would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Aaron
 
IMHO send it to a gunsmith.
Sorry not much help here.
Is it Blued? If so have it profesionaly done.
If it is S/S sand it out to 1200 grit and then buff with Green Chrome or better yet ZAM on a sewn buff. Followed by a loose cotton buff with No scratch Pink compound.
 
I agree with Robert, send it to a gunsmith. It is extremely easy for someone not totally familiar with buffing to really screw a firearm up. No offense intended, but I used to work in gun shops, and saw the results of many home repair jobs.:D
 
also you do not want a mirror polish on the top of the slide and barrel. the glare will interfer with sighting. welcome to the forums!
 
Hi and welcome.

If your gun is stainless I would suggest getting a set of stainless steel polishing pads from Brownells, they come in a set of 3 you start with the course one and work your way up to the finiest one and it works great for a nice smooth satin finish like from the factory, you do it all by hand so it's harder to mess up then with a wheel. and as far as your action send it or take to a pro for that.

One tip I was taught a long time ago: you need a tumbler for polishing brass ammo to do this but it works and is hard to mess up doing it, just put the internal parts of your action (not going to mention part by part here ) in the tumbler for a few mins and let it smooth them out and polish them, makes the action very nice with out really doing any major grinding or polishing, kind of gives the gun a broken in feeling like one of your old old favorites gets after years of shooting.
 
Thanks for all the welcomes! I know this is not a gun forum but I was sure yall could help me. I think I might try some hand rubbing with some compound under the grips. If I mess it up no one will know. As far as knives go I am not a collector. I have an old BM Mel Pardue desighn the number slips my mind. My number one is a small classic sebenza. I believe knives are tools to be used and I use my sebenza.

Thanks for the help.
 
Welcome HC. Everybody is right unless you want to learn and are OK with the idea of a few mistakes. I wouldn't try to slick it up any, that takes a long time to learn and can be dangerous with the MKII.

Remember when you start. Flat parts stay flat and rounded parts stay rounded. If you try to do it all with a buffer you will do what's called "Dehorning" you will round everything and while it will feel good carrying it in inside your belt, it looks like he!!.

Use a good grade of cloth in grits from 220 to whatever you want to go to. For the flats, glue strips to popsicle sticks, board scraps and whatever fits what you are sanding on. For the rounded sections, use a rubber backed pad and sometimes just shine it like a boot.

After yiou get it down using that, hit it lightly with a buffer, first with green then black compound.

Again, do not try to polish the working sides of parts.

When it's finished use either HOT BLUE from Brownells or take it to a smith who does bluing. Most of the cost is in the prep so it won't cost much. Good luck.....DON"T USE COLD BLUE!!!!

As was suggested above, you may want to mask off a sectipn of the top, from sight to sight and sand blast it with very fine sifted builders sand. This will cut your glare!
 
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