I am thinking about polishing the barrel on my m&p 9c just for looks since there's some wear on it already. I have heard about good results with the vinegar soak. But could changing the finish to the rifling effect the gun? It's barely anything removed but could that small amount effect how the gun shoots?
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Barrel polishing concerns.
- Thread starter Cavere
- Start date
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I don't think that polishing the barrel will affect the rifling because you're not polishing the inside of the barrel, right? I
haven't tried the vinegar soak, but a couple of weeks ago I
was bored & started working on my 40c barrel, just the visible
parts. I started off with a gray scotch brite pad & got all the
black off. then I hit it with a drill with a buffing wheel mounted. It made a lot of difference, but its still not quite as
chrome looking as I'd like. So, I ordered a Dremel Tool with a
buffing attachment set. If it works out I'll post a pic. Hope this
helps you.
Jyezahn
US Veteran
Forget about the vinegar soak. It doesn't help very much. If you DO the soak, just plug the ends of the barrel with ear plugs. But a dremel is your friend, along with metal polish.
Jyezahn
US Veteran
With the dremel, you use the "scotchpad-like" attachment. It will only take off the melonite finish, leaving a clean surface for polishing right up. The metal in the attachment is softer than the stainless steel that your barrel is made of. I did mine a few months ago.
My Dremel Tool came in today, so I did a few things to my 40c. Pics 1 & 2 show the 40c As it was before I hit it with the Dremel. I hit the barrel(the exposed parts, a little lazy!)with a gray Scotch Brite pad, & then polished it by hand.
Pics 3 & 4 show the barrel before the Dremel.
Pics 5 & 6 show the barrel after polishing with the Dremel. It brightened it up a bit!
I figured as long as I had it apart, I would use a Forster's Inlay Kit on the slide. Pics 7 & 8 are before the inlay.
Pics 9 & 10 are after the inlay is brushed on. It came out OK, but after it sets up real good I think I'll hit it again to get better coverage.
Pics 11 & 12 are of the 40c finished & back together. It was a fun project & I'm already starting to look at my new Shield. Hmm...
Pics 3 & 4 show the barrel before the Dremel.
Pics 5 & 6 show the barrel after polishing with the Dremel. It brightened it up a bit!
I figured as long as I had it apart, I would use a Forster's Inlay Kit on the slide. Pics 7 & 8 are before the inlay.
Pics 9 & 10 are after the inlay is brushed on. It came out OK, but after it sets up real good I think I'll hit it again to get better coverage.
Pics 11 & 12 are of the 40c finished & back together. It was a fun project & I'm already starting to look at my new Shield. Hmm...
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kendak
Member
if it's for CC why do you want it to shine & stand out like a sore thumb ?...I want mine flat black because it's for CONCEALED C
George9
Member
Dremel tool! LoL!!!! Scotch Brite pad then use a real bench grinder 6"
8" or 10" with a buffing pad on it also the the right buffing stick for SS.. You will and can get the look you want on the hole darn barrel in no time no work.. it gets scratched just buff it out.. it will look like a mirror if that's what your going for if not quite so much then dress the buffing wheel with a different buffing stick on the buffing wheel. Easy.. I use it on Stainless steel ,silver gold platinum really anything even plastic but you need to watch the heat.. A mist bottle of water works well brings gloss up and heat down..Using a digital caliper micrometer your not taking anything off not enough to worry about.. George,
8" or 10" with a buffing pad on it also the the right buffing stick for SS.. You will and can get the look you want on the hole darn barrel in no time no work.. it gets scratched just buff it out.. it will look like a mirror if that's what your going for if not quite so much then dress the buffing wheel with a different buffing stick on the buffing wheel. Easy.. I use it on Stainless steel ,silver gold platinum really anything even plastic but you need to watch the heat.. A mist bottle of water works well brings gloss up and heat down..Using a digital caliper micrometer your not taking anything off not enough to worry about.. George,
While it is in my pocket it IS concealed. If I need to use it, it wouldn't matter if it was bright pink with day glow green flowers on it. Maybe the shine will distract the BG! LOL
kendak
Member
fine with me I just don't have any pocket big enough to hold a 40c...LOL...
I used a cheap media blaster from harbor freight and some white oxide. Then I sanded it by hand starting with 100, 200, 400, 800 then used a sisal buffing wheel with a hard cutting compound, then came back with flannel wheels and jeweler a rouge and passed a ceramic sealer on it. After about 6 months daily carry still looks good. I come home from work in two weeks and have a new Shield 40 waiting on me!!!! Will be giving it the full polish treatment as well. Pics to come! 
Jyezahn
US Veteran
Kcabear, that looks awesome! I'd love to do that to mine. Was the media blaster a necessity for this or do you think it was more of a convenience?
Dikinalaska
Member
Dangit kcabear! You were my inspiration for my Shield, well you and a barrel swap, and I'm still waiting on my .40 to get in so I been toying with polishing on the Lady Shield til mine gets in.
kendak
Member
we don't allow the grandkids to play with real guns in our home...but nice polish job anyway ...LOL
Thanks guys! Yeah the media blast was quick and easy, I didn't know about the vinegar trick. It left a matte dark gray finish that came off after some sanding. The stainless is really hard, you need a stiff buffing wheel. I use these http://www.caswellplating.com/buffing-polishing/buffing-wheels/sisal-wheels.html with a hard cutting compound for a few passes, then I used one of their canton flannel wheels with a jewelers rouge type coloring compound. I sit at work for three weeks in the middle of the south Texas desert with nothing to do so I made many passes on it.
Dikinalaska- That looks sharp with the coloring! Gonna open a can of worms showing that to my wife!
Dikinalaska- That looks sharp with the coloring! Gonna open a can of worms showing that to my wife!
Dikinalaska
Member
Well than we'll be even. Hers was just going to get the pink after it became hers, than one day asked what color mine was gonna be and I showed her your slide and she talked me into polishing her levers "just to practice. I mean you might as well, right *wink wink"... Well got the call this evening my .40 is ready to pick up!! Only 2.5 more weeks til I get back from work.
Thinking about doing a 2-tone slide though. Without a media blaster do you think you would be able to still get in there at the serrations good enough with the scotch brite type wheel for the dremmel?
Haha! I know how that goes!
Yeah you should be able to do it with a scotch brite wheel, might work better than sanding. It was a royal pain to sand in the serrations. I ended up just polishing on them for a while with the hard wheel instead fighting to sand it.
Yeah you should be able to do it with a scotch brite wheel, might work better than sanding. It was a royal pain to sand in the serrations. I ended up just polishing on them for a while with the hard wheel instead fighting to sand it.
Dikinalaska
Member
Ok ya I think I'm gonna try that route. Didn't know they even made them when I was doing the levers, just used actual scotchbrite and like an hour by hand. Is that why it's a slightly different color at the serrations?
Dikinalaska
Member
Different on yours I meant. Looks like a different shade of gray
