I recently bought a police trade in 5906... carried much.. shot almost never... looks great internally... but the exterior has the usuual carry scratches and holster wear areas where the 'matte' finish is worn smooth... how do I make it look like new(er)?
If it's a matte stainless finish you can use a kitchen scotchbrite pad, rub only the damaged area in random directions, wipe down with oil. Put scrubber back on sink where you found it.
There was another 5906 post talking about rust and this is what I said: HERE.
If it is rust and not just stained, glass-bead it or find a small metalworking shop that can do it.
I have bought a couple that way to test my "Armorer Training" skills.
Do a detail strip (everything) on it and glass bead the components.
Keep the pressure just light enough to clean it up.
It will look beautiful afterwards.
Regards,
BM1
I buy sheets at Sams club, where they are sold as potscrubbers. But the sink sponges that have a sponge on one side and a green scrubber on the other are the same material. So you could just try on spot with the sink sponge to see if you like the results. I cut the fullsize sheets into business card sized pieces so they are easy to handle. There are threads on finish restoration you could search. Some hold the opinion that S&W passivates the surface of the metal after beadblasting, you will find threads about that also. I only scuff up the damaged area to remover the shine, the damaged area already has the finish removed. I keep a light coating of gun oil rubbed into the metal finish, if you neglect your gun or expose it to the elements that passivated layer would likely be important. S&W does offer a finish restoration on their website under gunsmithing http://www.smith-wesson.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/C...8302§ionId=11522 you could get an action job at the same time.