I am thinking of getting a couple of my stainless revolvers refinished. I am looking at glass beading processes. Matte, brushed, polished or whatever; I am interested in seeing some nice examples and who did them. Thanks

I'll give you an answer to push you to the top. I think most of us polish them ourselves. Maybe someone will show some they have had re-done. Until then how about one I polished. Not a very good pic but anyway, M686.

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Looks like a nice pic to me, thanks.

I polished one with Mothers and it looks nice but the two others have some dings and such so polish would not be enough.

Not a Smith, but this Redhawk started out with the factory brushed finish and ended up with Hamilton Bowen's matte finish (looks like satin).

Factory bead-blast.

Mag-Na-Port 686 with their "Vibra-Hone" Blasting and Polished Accents.............Zebulon

Zebulon-

Not to pick on you, but Mag-Na-Port's finish is called "Velvet Hone". Ken Kelley does beautiful work, and he is a nice man to talk to, as well as deal with. I have been to their museum several times while waiting for work to be done, or to pick up a gun that was finished. It is a great place to see. I second their finish to anyone who likes a matte finish. It is nicer than most, with finer than usual bead blasting done, leaving a velvety like appearence.

The inverted crown on Zebulon's gun isn't just for looks or protection, it will actually make the gun more accurate by truing up the crown. I had that same crown (11 degree) put on a Super Redhawk, and my groups shrunk by about 50% at 25 yards with all of my loads save one.

What does a S&W factory refinish of a stainless gun look like? The common brush finish, not a bead blast finish.

Does the factory even offer this?

Anybody have one?

I am not too handy and my attempts to "restore" that look are dismal failures!

I know this is not a S&W revolver, but it's a current picture of a repaired Ed Brown Pistol. Glass beaded like new by myself.

Here is my last Friday hand polish using mothers mag polish.


The glass bead finish is easy to do with little start up expense.
The hand polish will set you back an old tee shirt and a can of polish.

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Model 65 police trade in polished with Mother's mag polish.

Gun 4 Fun....Thank you for the correction. I did that all by myself from memory..... I've had a few of these done and dreamed of Mag-Na-Port Snubs for years before I actually got one....I should know better. I certainly agree, these folks are artisans. I'm planning a 2" 64 done in the same manner this year. Thank you again.......Zebulon

Here's my 1975 M64.
SW64lfdcocoweb.jpg

It was finished like this when I bought it. It came from CDNN, and at that time they were selling used stainless guns that had been "bead-blasted". I don't know who did the work, but it's a pretty good job.

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Lorin

Ooooh baby! That's my next gun! Thanks! Zebulon

I for one like the dull finished stainless until it gets marked up and then I polish them with Mothers Of Mag polish. There are numerous treads up here about polishing the guns and there are even some suggestions that you can use different grades of scotch brite pads to maintain the dull bead blasted look.

If I own a stainless collector grade gun I leave the finish totally factory original but if it's a shooter grade gun I polish it when the stainless starts to wear and then they look like new and almost even have a nickel gun look to them.

polished



Factory original 629 no dash

I like bead blasting the stainless...it comes out with a nice non-glare matte finish...

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

Awesome pics folks! Thanks

I like the bead blast look as well for stainless working guns; a no-nonsense, "workhorse" look.

Sipowicz that Ruger SP101 is the "FIRE"
I'm sure that the "Matte" glassbeaded finish that Marc Morganti put on it will last you a "Lifetime"..
Get some fancy grips or inserts for that "Beast"
Nice fiber optic sight too!!
Gary/Hk

Mothers Mag Polish and a little time.

S&W Bead Blast (sent back to them for some other work also)

Great job! How did you do it?

As far as bead blasting:

You could fix it yourself and you don't need a cabinet...

Eastwood is known for their auto restoration tools and supplies.
You need a compressor, a small one is fine as long as you can create 50 psi at the gun.
You need safety goggles.
You need a water filter or trap that will reduce moisture in the air line as you bead blast. If water is mixed with the air, the nozzle will clog.
Eastwood website: Abrasive Blasting - Media, Pressure Blasters, Soda Blasters, Blast Cabinets
Select the Speed Blast Gravity Feed Blaster for 60 bucks.
Thru Brownells they sell the glass beads. DO NOT use sand blast media, it's different.
BROWNELLS : BROWNELLS : GLASS BEADS - World's Largest Supplier of Firearm Accessories, Gun Parts and Gunsmithing Tools
The 270 is very fine, (this is what I use)
I also redo rifles and this has to be outside because they won't fit inside a cabinet.
When bead blasting you hold the nozzle 6" or so away from the work. You spray it back and forth to create the look you want, then flip the work and continue on the other sides. it's best to remove all the gun sights or tape them up well, because the beads will remove the bluing on the sights.
It's very easy to bead blast, just make sure the part to be blasted is clean, well prepared so no tool marks are seen. Bead blasting won't hide dents or heavy scratches so it's best to polish, sand or file these areas before you blast. After I'm done I wash all the parts with water in the sink and use compressed air to completely dry the parts before assembly.
It's a trial and error approach, but I assure you, you can't screw up bead blasting!

The Mothers is silly easy to use, wipe flip towel buff off...

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S&W factory high polish on my M657.

BB

BuzzardBilly
Great shiny S&W but how did it get so scratched up ? Just kidding as that's a beautiful engraved S&W

Hi good friends...Where do I get Mother's mag polish as I have been using 2000 grit sandpaper followed by very, very fine jewelers polish,much finer than RedRouge. I have done about twenty this way and they turn out great but the mothers might be a lot easier. Give me your views please.

Any auto parts or discount store.

I did with my dermial but you have to be very careful. Yes I polished out the M-625JM but I hate that finish on revlovers and love it on a nice 1911 .45 acp Just me!!

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Where does one find Mother's Mag Polish? I would like to try this but have never seen it for sale in my area. Thank you if you can enlighten me

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joseph whitney

Thanks, James for your reply

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joseph whitney

can be found @ most auto parts shop like autozone, advance and walmarthas it in most locations. I used a stainless steel compound (green) with dermail tool

Here's a factory special run high polish on a Model 64-5:



And this is a Model 66-2 that I'm working on with Mother's Mag polish:

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

very nice pistol as

Anyone have any input on this? I realize this is an old thread, but I had the same questions/concerns that BUFF did.

This the finish the Performance Center put on my 657 when I had them do some other action work. The gun had a lot of use over the years and the original finish was looking a bit tacky. I asked them to match as best they could the original brushed finish. IMO the brushed finish is FAR better than any matte or bead blast finish on stainless. Brushed stainless doesn't show every little blemish like a matte finish does.




Keith

S&W will restore the original satin, or you can get the super high gloss polish, which looks like the old Colt Ultimate Stainless polish or you can get my favorite, bead blast, which is more like a very non-reflective "battleship gray."

This is a factory refinish on my NY-1 that was worn half shiny and half scratched:

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Mothers and a t shirt will do wonders. and before it still looked good but not great

Sent from my LG-LS970 using Tapatalk

On one of my former jobs we were issued satin stainless S&W revolvers. I used to go over mine with 0000 steel wool to remove scratches and it would bring the stainless up to a fairly high state of polish that, in my opinion, looked nice. I'd run a magnet over the gun to remove any loose particles of the steel wool. Never got in any kind of trouble for it, but nobody looked at our guns that carefully. If you were friendly with the armorers, they'd run your gun through the bead-blast cabinet if you asked nicely. That yielded a much more "working gun" appearance, which also looked nice. Stainless is a great thing!

Being addicted to the low-hanging fruit, I love the cheap, battered SS revolvers that can be given a second life.

The purists will cringe, but here's a few that started out particularly nasty:

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Work in progress using Mother's and elbow grease.