Am I the only one?

[Whaleman]

Everyone talks about polishing the feedramp for reliability. As the round slides up the ramp and into the chamber the friction is a combination of the slickness of the ramp and the bullet. Am I the only one that polishes my carry rounds. I know too much time on my hands or it is not needed but I do and it does not take long and they are noticably smoother and slicker.

[Bawanna]

Everyone talks about polishing the feedramp for reliability. As the round slides up the ramp and into the chamber the friction is a combination of the slickness of the ramp and the bullet. Am I the only one that polishes my carry rounds. I know too much time on my hands or it is not needed but I do and it does not take long and they are noticably smoother and slicker.

Makes good sense to me. Never thought of it. I'm gonna do it too, sure can't hurt. If anyone thinks it's dumb, remember it was your idea and you made me do it.

[BEARDOG]

I went on a Flitz binge one time, and among other things I polished a box full of some .223 match grade rifle reloads I made just cause it looked cool. That little tube of Flitz was sorta addictive LOL.

[JFootin]

When I bought my polished CM9, the owner had a number of polished bullets that he said he would sell me for a few dollars (you can see some of them in my pictures). But he said the polishing removed whatever coating was there to protect the finish and they started tarnishing almost immediately. So, I didn't buy the bullets.

In my experience, every bullet I have ever handled is so incredibly slick I can't hardly hold onto them. I don't see how polishing could improve on that.

[Bawanna]

Whaleman thunk it up.:o

[jbrowncreative]

Whaleman thunk it up.:o

:p Always glad I take the time to roll through a thread first before I start grinding on stuff ^.~

[OldLincoln]

Whaleman thunk it up.:o

He said you told him to post that! Man you're slippery. Sure you aren't running for the big office?

[ripley16]

Everyone talks about polishing the feedramp for reliability.

I know this goes against the grain but, IMHO polishing the feedramp is usually a waste of time on just about any modern pistol. If you have a feed problem, it is caused by something other than a bump on the ramp in all likelyhood. Polishing many result in a tiny, miniscule amount of friction reduction, but nothing in comparison to the pounds of pressure generated by the recoil spring's energy while moving the slide. Polishing is IMO, a "feel good" pablum propagated by internet forum chit-chat.

Having said that, I realize many folks have their own rituals and habits concerning their guns and if it feels good do it has it's place. However, I've read of too many garage gunsmiths ruining their guns by aggressively polishing the feedramp, so in this case I would caution; If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I admit though; the ammo sure is pretty. :D

[KMA]

I do not polish my SD rounds, but I rub them with a cloth lightly dampened with Militec-1.

[JFootin]

I do not polish my SD rounds, but I rub them with a cloth lightly dampened with Militec-1.

Every round of 9mm ammo I have ever handled seems to be covered with oil or something real slick. I just don't see how they could be made any slicker. I have seen rounds in other calibers that didn't have such a coating, especially .22s. IMO, forget about it unless there is no coating present, then rub them like KMA says.

[wyntrout]

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is a good idea. My XD45 was faultless and I resisted taking the DLT -- Dremel Like Tool -- to the diminutive feed ramp, but did use some Flitz to remove the black stuff that didn't wipe off.

Wynn:)

[n2brk]

when you polish it up slick, all of the "black stuff" wipes right off like buttah when you go to clean ;)

[Sgt01]

Don't polish my rounds, per se, but I do wipe them down with a paper towel every once in a while. Don't want to take the risk, however slight, of contaminating the primer or powder with oil or a polishing compound.

[n2brk]

what about giving a little squirt of Rem Spray? I have done that with a speedloader thingie I have for my .22 ruger automatic. The rounds slip n slide all over after a fine misting.

[Tilos]

Whaleman:
A great idea to detail carry ammo to improve function.

I have learned thru reloading, that once fired factory brass has burrs on both the inside and outside of the case mouth.
You can feel this on loaded ammo by passing a finger nail over the case mouth/bullet junction.
This is something to check while polishing, as you have done.
just sayin'
Tilos

Edit: I use CRC spray silicon, sprayed on a rag, to wipe down carry ammo, flushing out mags, and flushing the striker channel.
Try it... red can at Walmart.

[TriggerMan]

I know this goes against the grain but, IMHO polishing the feedramp is usually a waste of time on just about any modern pistol. If you have a feed problem, it is caused by something other than a bump on the ramp in all likelyhood. Polishing many result in a tiny, miniscule amount of friction reduction, but nothing in comparison to the pounds of pressure generated by the recoil spring's energy while moving the slide. Polishing is IMO, a "feel good" pablum propagated by internet forum chit-chat.

Having said that, I realize many folks have their own rituals and habits concerning their guns and if it feels good do it has it's place. However, I've read of too many garage gunsmiths ruining their guns by aggressively polishing the feedramp, so in this case I would caution; If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I admit though; the ammo sure is pretty. :DI spend hours every day reading on forums and have never heard of a ruined feedramp. I had some minor issues with a Sig and the feedramp polish done by Sig fixed those.

[muggsy]

Every round of 9mm ammo I have ever handled seems to be covered with oil or something real slick. I just don't see how they could be made any slicker. I have seen rounds in other calibers that didn't have such a coating, especially .22s. IMO, forget about it unless there is no coating present, then rub them like KMA says.

I always have the Pope bless all of my bullets and then I take them to the Rabbi to make sure they're Kosher. You can't be too careful with your ammo. :D

[JFootin]

In my experience, every bullet I have ever handled is so incredibly slick I can't hardly hold onto them. I don't see how polishing could improve on that.

That is wax on the bullets that makes them so slick. Also, I'm sure, seals them and protects them from moisture and oil.

[OldLincoln]

I know this goes against the grain but, IMHO polishing the feedramp is usually a waste of time on just about any modern pistol. If you have a feed problem, it is caused by something other than a bump on the ramp in all likelyhood. Polishing many result in a tiny, miniscule amount of friction reduction, but nothing in comparison to the pounds of pressure generated by the recoil spring's energy while moving the slide. Polishing is IMO, a "feel good" pablum propagated by internet forum chit-chat.

Having said that, I realize many folks have their own rituals and habits concerning their guns and if it feels good do it has it's place. However, I've read of too many garage gunsmiths ruining their guns by aggressively polishing the feedramp, so in this case I would caution; If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I admit though; the ammo sure is pretty. :D

I know Kahr does better shipping out polished ramps, but when I got mine it wasn't very shiny and rounds often nosed and hung. Bawanna told me to polish so I did and the rounds immediately stopped hanging. Now it's polished to a mirror shine and I vigorously rub a tiny dab of TX25 into it each cleaning.

[Tinman507]

I always have the Pope bless all of my bullets and then I take them to the Rabbi to make sure they're Kosher. You can't be too careful with your ammo. :D

We're having a Bullet Bris this weekend.
http://hellinahandbasket.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/hollowpoint-and-ball.jpg

[michpatriot]

Ingenuity at its finest really..now I'm gonna have no spare time thanks..

[TheTman]

I was going to polish the feed ramp on my Springfield Armory 1911 to get it to feed hp bullets better, but I found that WWB hp rounds feed through it just fine. I think the problem was with those 200gr "flying ashtray" hp bullets with the real wide mouth. I imagine Golden Sabres would work fine, and would be very happy if Hydra Shoks worked too. I'm just going to leave the feed ramp alone, other than cleaning and oiling it. One of these days I want to remove those military type "nubbin" sights and put on some bigger ones that I can actually see. Front sight is staked in, with SA's proprietary width stake, so you have to buy a sight with a larger stake and remove some material. Fortunately I have friend of a friend who is a gunsmith that specializes in customizing 1911's and Springfields in particular. Or I may send the slide off to Novak or XS and have a sight dovetailed into the front. I don't want nothing fancy for the back, just a good highly visible drift adjustable sight.

[CJB]

I think the "polishing" of the feedramp thing has gotten a bit carried away.

Back in the day - talkin' like... mid 70's for me, but earlier too, feed ramps were abysmal. Even up to the 80's, early and mid 90's... just terrible.

I'm not talking about Kahr, but instead - Colt, Smith & Wesson, Browning, even early Ruger P89's.

There were machine marks, gouges, rough metal, all sorts of craters and divots in the ramp. And... to make things worse, the ramps were cut to feed hardball. For instance, the ramp on a 1911 barrel was a tiny little fingernail-moon shaped affair, and badly cut. The Browning HP had a hump in its feed ramp (why? I dunno... Saive put it there, ask his ghost...)

The gunsmith, or home smithy, would carefully reshape the ramp, without allowing the unsupported area to get any larger. These would then be smoothed or highly polished. AT THE VERY LEAST... the existing hardball ramp would have the tooling marks removed, and polish out to smoothness.

Fast forward to today.....

There are few tool marks to be had on barrel ramps these days. Why? I dunno, maybe product liability? Reputation? ISO900x ? Who knows, but they're TONS better than before.

I've got three Kahrs. They all had perfectly smooth ramps, with nickel plating applied - which gave them a frosted appearance. Polishing was only a cosmetic feature, as the ramps themselves were already devoid of tool marks and canyons in the metal (on which a cartridge case or bullet nose could lodge).

For that reason... and I hate to be the deal breaker... what can polishing the cases and bullets really do, other than support cosmetics? The brass and jackets are much softer than the already smooth steel....

I dunno... seems like its for prettyness only, practicalities are questionable in my own thinking.