If so, how without fading the S&W rollmark away? I'm talking about strictly the finish.

From this



To this

I have not done this myself, but watched through it when I was considering the 66. Looks fairly easy.

Buffing a Stainless Smith and Wesson 686 to a Mirror Finish - YouTube

Two different things.

Yes, obviously you can buff out the bead blast. Getting it evenly finished, without buff marks would be the difficult part. There's probably a few threads about it, if you look around. Not worth all the effort imo, and I'm someone who much prefers the shine over the bead. I'm sure there's lots of places that'd do it for a couple hundred. And the roll mark can be re applied by Smith, if it comes to that. Why not just learn to love it?

Same reason I didn't marry a fat woman and learned to love her.

What about bead blasting it with really fine media? Would that shine it up enough to buff to a brushed stainless?

Don't think you'd gain much that way vs straight out buffing. Maybe wire brush, or something. What you need to look at is getting it even.

Let me put it this way. I picked up a model 66. This thing already has the finish you're looking for. Mine had some light pitting with rust spots. Prev. Owner probably had it somewhere moist. So I sanded, and wire brushed, all that stuff. It looks decent, but it won't fool anyone, that's looking for original finish. Yes, it could be done, but getting it right would take a lot of painstaking work. My time is valuable, and if I really wanted to make my 66 special, I'd send it out to be done right. There's a "grain", for lack of a better word, on this brushed stainless. And if it's done wrong, it's easy to spot.

If you don't care(like me) and just want something decent, then yes. But that roll mark is going to be the first casualty. It'll still be visible in the right angle, but at other angles, not so much. Smith does refinishing, if you want it right, roll mark and all. But short of that, my opinion would be that it would be imperfect.

Oh, and about that fat girl...they're warm in the winter, shady in the summer!

Not sure why they are different - you have to get the bead blast off (polish) before you can make it the brushed of a 686.

The modern bead blast finish and blacked out controls are for tactical reasons, so you don't give away your position to tangos that you might have no neutralize.

It has nothing to do with being cheaper than a proper polishing job.

You'll die for sure if you have to defend yourself with such a shiny revolver, don't polish it or every threat in a 100 meter killzone will zero in on your coordinates and eliminate you.

The model 69 is the current bead-blast stainless, and the 686 below it has the factory standard (dull) stainless finish job, minus the polished unfluted cylinder. Presuming you want to duplicate the appearance of the 686 barrel and frame, there are posts here as to how to restore a gun to factory appearance using Scotchbrite pads of varying abrasiveness that will probably do the trick. Your job, however, will probably look more uniform than a new factory gun . Good luck in your decision.

__________________
Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

I would not recommend a high polish finish on stainless because you will be polishing constantly to keep the finger prints off. It does present a pleasing appearance but is a high maintenance finish. You can get a nice sheen on your bead finish by polishing it with Flitz or Semi Chrome polish which might be the best of both worlds.

Yes. Start with 600 grit sand paper, followed by 800-1000 grit, then 1500 grit. Then use white scotch-brite pads. It will come out looking like this.

I have a high polished 686 and I could not possibly love it more.

In fact I love wiping it down OCD style to get every smudge off it so it's perfect once again.


I'm being serious too. hahah

It's possible. Easy? Not.
I posted this years ago:
I have polished up a number of really beat up SS Smiths.
For jobs like these, you will need a lot more than Mother's.
I use auto body sandpaper (dry - tried it both ways) cut into 1" wide strips.
Depending on how bad it is, have started out with as coarse as 320 grit.
Different areas will probably need different grits to start. You may even need to use a fine file to smooth out deep gouges, usually the bottom of the triggerguard where the gun has been dropped.
Strip the gun, re-install the sideplate with all flathead screws. I keep a set of screws just for this purpose.
For the flat areas, I wrap the sandpaper around a little aluminum sanding block I made.
After all has been worked with the first sandpaper, go to the next finer grade. Work it with this one to smooth out all the scratches from the last grade.
Repeat this with finer and finer sandpaper until you end up with 2000 grit.
You will quickly learn that if you don't completely remove the previous scratches before going finer that you will have to back up and do it over, Trust me on this!
After its polished to 2000 all over, start in with Mother's and rub, rub, rub. I start out polishing with a cotton shop rag and end up with a microfiber cloth.

Here are some of the worst that I have done:

This model 67 was a complete junker. $150 at the LGS. Dirtiest and most beat one I ever saw. Soaked 3 days in Ed's red before even starting on it:


This one had a very coarse sandblast finish with lots of pitting (yes, stainless DOES rust!) like it had been a boat gun. It took more work than the others:


This was another used gun with numerous dings and scrapes:


And one that looked as if it had been dragged behind a truck:

Final note: Unless you REALLY know what you're doing, do not use any power tools!

__________________
-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

Finally someone who knows how to do something other than repeating some bartalk from the internet.

And someone else who knows how to do something. The guys who never did anything will usually tell you to farm the job out. Why they even respond is a mystery to me.

Simichrome does have an abrasive in it. Don't know about flitz.

to leave the bead blast alone but make it shinier, I would use a paste wax or some other polish that is free of abrasives.

If you want to use an abrasive media suspended in a liquid there are better choices (like clover compound) that come in multiple grit sizes.

Some of the polishes that have a grit in them (like simichrome) are a bit confounding. The grit is sized by a screening and if only one product is being made by the factory, you get every grit particle that passes the screen used. Some of those grit particles may have passed through a much higher mesh (wires per inch) than the desired size and been suitable for a finer grit media but you get them all (I think). This can result in getting what seems like a wonderful shine from the finer grit that is marred by the larger grits also in the mix. The waxy residue also serves to confound things.

I don't polish guns but do polish molds and some types of cutting tools to mirror finish and it is best done as stated elsewhere here by starting with a rougher grit and working in steps to a finer and finer grit. On flat surfaces where no visible lines can be left, I work with gesswein stones in one direction until all visible lines are parallel, then with a finer stone at another angle until all visible lines are parallel to the new direction and on and on until there is no visible improvement with a finer stone. It is work. Worse on curved surfaces by far and gummy materials even worse.

For the hours it would take to polish out my SSR I could pay myself prevailing wage and buy a blued 19. I don't want a weapon that shines in my hands but I do want one that doesn't rust in my safe.

I once round butted a M67. After filing as well as I could, I started with about 120 grit wet or dry paper and worked down to 600 grit. This was actually fairly shinny. I wasn't looking for polished, but rather to match the factory satin finish on the rest of the revolver. I then used a white 3M nylon pad to "blend" the finish, which gave me what I wanted.
My advice to anyone without polishing experience would be to try working on a piece of scrap stainless steel. An old spatula or a large washer. This will give an idea of how much work will be involved as well as giving some practice. And some shinny washers! Once the job is started, the commitment is made, and the work needs to go to completion.
As mentioned above, it is essential to remove all "scratches" from the previous grade before going on to a finer one. Otherwise, the scratches will show up very well on a polished background.

Best,
Rick

FLITZ will definitely do it. I done it on my COLT XSE Stainless Commander and it came out rather shiny. I just used the FLITZ and a couple cloths and some elbow grease. I liked the way it came out, but as others have mentioned the finish will show everything that touches it. I was constantly wiping it down trying to keep it looking decent. I finally stripped the frame and slide down and sent it off to be bead blasted. I am much happier with it now.

Good luck and show pics of your work.

Larry

I went from this.



To this. I had to use 800, 1000, 1500 paper on the Lady Smith logo. Everything else was done with a shop rag and Mothers polish.



Edit* these are 2 different guns in case you noticed one has a case hardened trigger and hammer, but they had the same finish.

Just bought an older 6" M686, and I'm very impressed with it, too...it's part of my very extravagant celebration for my upcoming 70th birthday...and I don't care about theoretical "tangos"...I have several old 9mm big-box pistols for that. AND a non-shiny stainless Colt Government Model...

Enjoy it...don't worry about the small stuff.

__________________
Liberals made the USA

Man, I HATE the bead blast finish. Been thinking of getting a new cheap J-frame revolver to go along with my N-Frame 625 .45ACP. And they all are bead blast unless you get the pricier $800 versions that have a satin brushed finish.

686-4 Silhouette



This was a distressed nickel gun, but the process is the same. Detailed Instructions inside.

Rehabilitating a Nickel Model 36 - Finished 11/21

Before:


After:

__________________
Dave

Guys I can't help but think some of you are confused. This is a bead blasted SS gun, not a brushed aluminum or dirty nickel gun that needs a spit shine with a rag to bring it out. I've done a brushed stainless 686 with a Tshirt and Mag polish. This is not going to work on bead blasted.

Not sure why not, the process is the same. Taking metal off to smooth the finish.

Personally I like my Smiths, but I won't spend that kind of money for a cheap bead blast finish. There was two reasons I bought a PC 625, instead of a JM 625. I don't like full lugs, and that cheap bead blast.

As far as tactical, IMO that is BS. I really don't care if the bad guy sees my gun or not. In fact if it will make him go away all the better.

I don't mind the bead blast on a Charter Arms, or a Taurus. Or might as well carry a plastic fantastic.

Stopsign, I see that you are over here too! I can't help you on the polishing, other then cleaning them up and shooting them I kind of leave my S&W's how I found them.

__________________
Life NRA, Life TSRA, C&R FFL

I have a Model of 1988 45 acp revolver that had the dull matte finish on it. I checked with Smith&Wesson factory service and they do offer a change of finish on their stainless revolvers. Since I was going to send the revolver back anyway, I had them put RR, White Outline sights on it, and to finish it off had a Performance Center action job on the revolver. It was a bit pricey, but the revolver came out great. The value of Smith&Wesson revolvers can vary, so in my opinion it was best to have the factory do the work, and keep the invoice so as to show all work was factory service work.

Hey man, quit following me. Ahaha just kidding

I got a bit of everything, AKs, S&Ws, Colts, 1911s, etc etc so I'm all over the place! I'm a firearms *****.

Reading comprehension is critical - the process is the same - I've done it with every stainless finish that S&W has offered. I laid it out pretty clearly in both links I included.

Maybe a Dremel tool would be more up your alley?

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

__________________
Dave

I had looked at getting a bead blasted S&W. I hate bead blasted finish and had asked S&W if they could polish it out with their polish service. But they said they can't polish a bead blast.

I agree reading comprehension is very critical, so I'll simplify.

Can you link me to where you have taken a bead blasted stainless steel revolver and used a rag with wheel polish, which you claim is all that is needed along with elbow grease, and polished it out to a bright polished stainless? Because all you have shown in 2 links is a brushed stainless gun to high polish and a hazy nickel to bright polish. Both jobs done well btw, but not the same thing at all to a bead blasted job.

The Dremel comment isn't needed either.

I didn't use wheel polish, I've used both simichrome and Flitz. I've heard mothers works as well, but I don't have any experience with it. The bead blasted gun was a 625. I'll have to search for pictures. It was before I owned this forum and I never put a thread up about it.

The process was the same, but frankly it was 20 years ago (or so) and I don't remember if it was more effort. It did turn out nice. The gun is long gone.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

__________________
Dave

You know, there are Scotchbrite wheels for a Dremel, right?
If you KNOW how to use one, and don't go all Medieval on it right out of the gate, a little finesse and restraint can give you a nice result.
Now, if you're the kind of guy that uses a Dremel like a die grinder...well, we can't help you. And I've had good results with Flitz, haven't tried Mother's. Again, baby steps.

__________________
Fight socialism. Never stop.

I would love to see pictures if you'd be willing. A polished 625 would be a heck of a gun to own!

If you wouldn't mind sharing a short step by step I'd appreciate it. Are we talking sandpaper involved or what?

I'd never have the balls to take a Dremel to a Smith. Even if it would go right, I'd probably screw it up. At least by hand I feel I have some type of control.

I used Mother's Mag Polish and a rag.
This 66-2 was a brushed SS finish when I purchased it.
I had a few marks on it. I decided to give it a bright finish.
You can see the S&W emblem is still very apparent.

What's up with the photobucket photos not showing up on this site? I've seen it a few times here and there on other sites. Something about 3rd part hosting.

Like so many things prep is 70%+ of the effort. As outlined in my rehabilitation of a M36 thread, removing internals and separating the cylinder allows for a better final product. no hammer or trigger not only make it easier but protect those parts from damage. Polishing the frame without the cylinder help guarantee an even finish on the frame. Polishing the side plate 50% with screws in place and 50% without prevents dishing out of the holes while insuring the heads are polished to the same degree as the side plate.

I know I started with sandpaper on one of the bead blasted guns I've done, (Did a 66 as well) but I don't remember where I started. It was at a high grit and it wasn't due to the bead blast it was to repair preexisting damage. Pretty sure I did it on the corrosion on the 686 as well. Probably started at 800, maybe small localized areas at 600. Move to 1000, maybe to 1500 prior to going to polish. In no case was I using sandpaper on the entire gun. It was always just judiciously used as a repair tool.

I never have polished a gun that didn't already have a cosmetic issue.

Think what you want about dremel tools or buffing wheels, I've seen both used by people who knew what they were doing where the end product looks as good as a factory refinish.

What do you think the factory uses to get a high polish finish? (No not a dremel).

You have been offered a lot of great advice from multiple people, none of which you seem to care for. Maybe you have a better solution? Maybe you will come up with one. If you do I will be first in line to learn about it. You might consider learning from those who have done this and offer their experiences, rather than your preconceived ideas about what won't work. Several have offered you advice in this thread already. Almost everything I've given you in this post was covered in the two links I provided.

I still have my 66, but it's been a carry/glove box gun for a decade, it's the loaner i give to friends taking a CCW Class and may not show as well as it once did. I'll see if I can dig up an old picture of it. In reality pictures are irrelevant, either I did it or I didn't. If I didn't do it, I'm just a blow hard internet warrior. Around here most people take me for my word.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

__________________
Dave

Photobucket went crazy and decided to hold everyones' pictures hostage unless they decided to pay Photobucket.

In short, its best to find another site to host your pictures. I use Flikr, they are free, and allow a lot better quality pictures.

Photobucket want you to pay them $400/year to do what they used to do for free. Started around July 1st.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

__________________
Dave

Well it is possible. This is exactly what I want to do on the right hand side, but all over the gun. Even exactly the gun I want to do it to.

I think I might attempt this with a Dremel on slow speed with a Scotchbrite pad and felt polishing wheel after. Then maybe finish with some hand polishing. Hopefully it will end up nice.

__________________
America First

Please don't use a Dremel. You can achieve the look you are looking for with sand paper and some elbow grease. Most of the guns I've seen that involved power tools ended up with rounded corners where they should be sharp.

I've thought of sending my brand new 625-8 in to Smith and Wesson for a polish job. Right now it has the factory brush finish.

I took this 65 and only used sand paper where it was engraved Lady Smith. All the rest was shop rags and Mothers wheel polish.

Before




After




Also polished the bead blast finish off this Taurus using nothing but shop rags and Mothers.



I'd never use a buffing wheel or Dremel for fear of rounding off an edge.

^^^ WOW! You decided what I will be doing. Thanks for that post and holy smokes what nice revolvers (even the Taurus).