I have a S&W 645 that was holstered for a while, but since has been retired from that duty. I want to re-glass bead the slide and frame, but I want to be closest to the original patina as possible. I have the following choices of glass bead media. Which will bring me closest to the original finish? Any ideas on how to mask the polished surfaced?

Size
Description
Mesh

#3
Extra Coarse
20/30

#6
Coarse
50/70

#8
Medium
70/100

#10
Medium-Fine
100/170

#13
Fine
170/325


Thank you in advance,

My guess would be the fine media, I worked for a tombstone setter and to cut the stone with the designs we glued a rubber sheet over the polished part and drew the letters and design then cut then out, then bead blasted the cuts. Now on the polished parts of your 645 I would use a good grade of Duct tape and move the nozzel guickly dont stay on one place. Jeff

I would start with the finest and work up until you get a match.

When I bead blast I use masking tape, works fine but you can blast it off if you hang around in one spot.


Cat

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I'll order five pounds of Medium(70/100), Medium-Fine(100/170), and Fine(170/325) each. Five pounds is the smallest quantity you can order. I suspect that is about 1/2 gallon volume each. I bet the shipping is going to be as much as the media. I have a bunch of stainless spoons I got from Sam's Club. I will try blasting those first. Also I will mask the spoons to see how my tape holds up

make sure you COMPLETELY disassemble as the media will get into ALL areas. You will need to remove the extractor as grit will get underneath. Also be aware that be removing the extractor, you may change the reliability of extraction if its not check with proper tools by a SW Armorer.

make sure you remove the sights as you dont want to blast them and plus the safety plungers need to come out.

DO NOT bead blast your slide and frame rails or the inside of the slide where the barrel locks and rides. they will not be smooth sliding if you do. cover those areas twice with masking tape and minimize your blast time in that area.

if you plan to bead blast your barrel hood exterior, mask off the locking lugs and the chamber or feed area. I have also protected the breech face as I want that smoothed by wear.

I am no pro but I am hard on the guns that I carry so I have to redress them every now and then. I have a buddy at a machine shop and he lets me use his blaster!

I lightly dehorned my CCO slide and then bead blasted it. I do not know what coarse and control the finish by air pressure, distance and time blasting.

pre blasting


post blasting



I also bead blasted my Officers ACP and then 320 polished the slide flats



I also redid my CS9

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if you're gonna be a bear...

I used med on a couple Police trade ins wish I had some pics. I adjusted the pressure to get the finish I wanted. I think I was blasting in the 25 to 30 psi range. Just enough to run properly in the bead blaster I was using. As mentioned a 100% break down is a must. That stuff can get blasted into places you would never dream of.

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