Picked up a 5906 police trade a few weeks back and been hand polishing the #$%^ out of it. Gotta love the look of those 3rd gen steel pistols when they are bright and shinny - "almost" don't want to shoot it.

Only thing I'm not fond of are those ugly rear sight wings or whatever they are called. Anyone know if they can be removed and the rear sight replaced with a Novak type sight?

Thx - Cheers! Cs45Fan

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If you want a Novak sight, the least expensive way would be to buy a slide already fitted with one. As far as I know, the sight cuts or dovetails are completely different. The sight wings could be cut down, but the result might be worse.

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Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

I'm so envious. Would you mind sharing the process and materials you used?

Nope... take the sights off, you'll see why.

Not at all.

It's much easier than you think - just time consuming. A "labor of love" if you will. I used Mothers Mag and Aluminum Wheel polish. You can find it at any parts store, walmart etc.. You also need some towels (not paper) but terry cloth towels and you put it on and rub it off in a circular motion, repeat over and over changing to a clean spot on the towel. And you keep doing it and doing it and doing it. There's a ton of youtube videos like this that can help you out
You can also use a dremel with polishing wheels (find those on ebay) BUT you need to be very careful. Always start off on a very slow speed and make sure you are running it with polish on. I personally use the hand polish method. Just my preference.

I don't think I will ever get the mirror look because that would require no black residue at all and that may take much more time than I have. I'm content on the look I have now.

I hope this helps!
Good luck.

Looks like Mothers and a rag.

Disassemble the entire gun for bright shiny you need to smooth the factory finish with different grits of sandpaper down to about 1000 using a light oil. Use a flat plate when doing the slide and frame. Cut in different directions, I do approx 60 degrees each stroke. With the finishing strokes with the natural grain. You will see nearly a polished look when done right. Then polish with Mothers and a 6 " buffing wheel.

Get out the sunglasses 'cause she'll be bright.

Looks great!! man what a difference in these over the Shield line and other polymers. Real "soul" there!!

To me, the Shield has one purpose. Self defense. If you had to use your gun in a good shoot, & lose it to the evidence room for a year, or two, would you rather lose your Gen 2/Gen 3, or a Shield which could be replaced in 10 minutes. GARY

A excellent choice !

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ANTIQUESMITHS
LM1300 SWHF425

Congrats.

A word of minor caution about the polishing. The stainless guns receive a final step in their finish known as passivation. This is basically removes excess iron from the outer layer of the surface, and helps increase resistance to rust and corrosion. This process (a type of chemical bath) typically creates an outer layer, or finish, a few microns in depth. (Dunno the exact depth claimed for the company's process, but as an example of comparing microns to inches; 4 microns = 0.00015748".)

Once you polish the outer surface "shiny" (or bead blast it, as I've done to a couple of stainless revolvers), you've pretty much removed that very thin outer surface layer and decreased its resistance to rust and oxidation. Keep it clean and wiped down.

Don't freak, as the stainless 629 Classic and Redhawk I had bead blasted have been exposed to occasional rain and other outside shooting conditions ... and have even remained uncleaned for periods when stored in my safe ( ) ... and I've not yet had them rust.

Back after we'd sometimes come across an occasional issued 3rd gen that the issued user had carefully "polished" (usually because he liked the shiny finish, making it different than other issued guns ), I finally called the factory and asked how much it would cost to return the gun to be passivated again. Our LE agency cost was $125 for the slide (they had aluminum frames). If they'd done something to the frame's anodizing? Well, that was another problem and more cost.

Those adjustable sights? Ugh. Do NOT try to disassemble them. They're really obsolete, and getting parts for them is ... interesting, if not virtually impossible (unless you can find an entire used sight assembly, maybe).

As someone else has already mentioned, the dove tail cut is different than that used for either of the other rear sight bases (older/shorter base & newer Novak-style). It is what it is, and it's different. Try to keep it in good condition and don't tinker with it. Just my thoughts. (Hey, as an AR armorer I never cared for the adjustable Colt rear sight assemblies on the M16A2's and later, either. I prefer simplicity, given my druthers.)

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

I normally finish the polishing off with Flitz knife and gun wax.
Cheers!

The funky sight was made that way to protect the sight blade and preserve settings in a hostile environment. It has a function that some people don’t like. The sight is a pain to remove and difficult to put back (I know from experience) so I would leave it alone.

Look at it this way, if you told your beautiful wife you thought she had a funny looking nose how would that work out? Just accept the little flaw. Things will be better.

I had one of those on my 1006. As you can see, it sits in a milled flat on the slide. I wanted to install promethium night sights, and that was a no-can-do (Novaks was doing the work on it.) I ended up having a larger cut milled and mounting a Trijicon RMR optic. I've been happy with that. Probably devastated any value as a collectors piece, but I was more interested in functionality.

In my original post I asked if there was a replacement for those ugly rear base "wings or ears" and I stumbled across a new rear Millet adjustable sight made for the 3rd generation pistols (4000/5000 series models) found at Numrich gun parts. These sights are no longer manufactured and it was the last one so I purchased it and installed it yesterday. Fits like a glove too. Got lucky on this find. Off to the range next week to try it out.

FYI - it was very easy to remove the old sight. Just need to watch for that darn magazine disconnect spring and safety spring (I think was the other one). As you remove the base they will come flying out. I remedied this by putting a cloth over my hand and hammer so if it flies out, it hits the cloth and doesn't go across the room - lost forever.

Cheers!!!

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