Hi All,

I bought a 6946 (used police gun) and I am wondering what I can do to get the gun looking as factory fresh as possible. Is there a particular medium/grit/psi for bead blasting the slide for the 3rg Gen SS guns?

What about the frame? The Performance Center says they will re-anodize but they don't say anything about smoothing out any ugliness.

Attached is what I am looking at. Any RELEVANT advice to the question asked is appreciated.

GHEN

Attached Images

	Smith 1.JPG (29.7 KB, 132 views)
	Smith 2.JPG (30.5 KB, 113 views)

Fire it a hundred rounds, lube the rails and stick it in an IWB holster. Should be good to go for your lifetime. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

Yes I understand that. Any help for my question?

GHEN

I do not know your skill level, or how ambitious you are, but the "reshaping" to get rid of the nicks, dents and cuts is something you can do before sending it in for refinishing. All it takes is a few different files and progressively finer grit sandpapers. Caution and some skill will be needed around the roll marks but it might come out good enough (if you decide to do the entire job) that you won't have to sent it in. From your pic's nothing looks so bad that it could not be made to look great again. After refinishing it should look good again, however the dimensions will always be slightly different than Factory because some metal will be lost in the process.

If you are not up for doing it yourself, call Smith and ask them exactly what they will do to the metal prior to refinishing. There are other refinishers too - like Fords. I would hope that a professional refinishing outfit would make it look like new again but will obviously cost much more.

The chief gave good advice. I have been carrying a 6906 that I bought new in 1994. In 23 years it has "aged." In the time it's been on me, maybe half a dozen people have actually seen it so I'm not really concerned about its' looks. You can easily spend what you paid for a "bargain" gun dressing her up. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

Here is the testing I performed to try and capture the factory finish.

Glass Bead Media Testing on 5906 Frame

I modified the 1:10@60psi slightly on my last project and used 1:12@65psi. Either ratio works great, with the 1:12 being just a little lighter.

What you want is immaterial. The internet has spoken and everyone knows the internet is 100% correct 100% of the time (fake news aside). So, just do as you're told and be quiet and happy.

Don't ya just love it when someone else knows better than you what you want.

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NRA Benefactor

Yes, because the opinion of bad guys during a self defense episode really matters.

Yes, I should learn to not ask questions I clearly don't really want the answer to.

Jerry

Post number four (chief38); first paragraph, is good advice. It's really not difficult to do ( nice project on a winter day), and taking your time will produce great results.

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John

I have a 4013TSW that I am saving up the dinero to send it back to S&W. They still refinish 3rd Gen frames - but pictures of completed work on them are scarce as hen's teeth. I did see one picture - and it looks like silver-colored paint with a gloss clear-coat over it. I hope I am wrong - and that they actually re-anodize the frames. It's a good thing SWF doesn't have an "un-like" - because I have to say your frame is looks beyond recovery (to look like new) to me. If you bought it just to carry and shoot - then there's always CCR down in Florida. They won't re-anodize it but they should be able to make it look a 1000 times better...