our barrels are chrome under the stock finish

[BOBBO268]

well almost :hungry:

(i only used a dremel with some old ass metal polish, then finished up with mothers mag polish by hand.....) did the magazine too but used 600,800,1000 grit sandpaper, then dremel, then mothers, came out ok, but not as chrome as the barrel....

(sorry for the crappy flip phone pics)

http://www.uscconlinealbum.com/lifecache-media-thumbnailer/thumbnail/photo03/72/3e/3ed57fcd683d_3b637288-0270-49f2-9593-db63b6a8049a?th=450&tw=610

http://www.uscconlinealbum.com/lifecache-media-thumbnailer/thumbnail/photo04/1c/5d/8280ea13e7b2_15bdeaa9-723f-4c9e-bbee-a03836daa915?th=450&tw=610

http://www.uscconlinealbum.com/lifecache-media-thumbnailer/thumbnail/photo01/d7/6f/eaf5ee733edc_68ef9375-6897-4192-88d5-c3645409fc25?th=450&tw=610

[Deano]

Very nice. I think I'll try that as well.

[BOBBO268]

And if you're worried/scared, don't be. I am very cautious to do anything to my own things (however if its a friends, i'll try anything :w00t:).... so it was hard to start this, but once i did, i wondered why i pondered it at all. Very easy and simple. Now the slide.... I will never attempt that, thats best left to someone with the right (bigger) equipment and know-how.

[kerby9mm]

And if you're worried/scared, don't be. I am very cautious to do anything to my own things (however if its a friends, i'll try anything :w00t:).... so it was hard to start this, but once i did, i wondered why i pondered it at all. Very easy and simple. Now the slide.... I will never attempt that, thats best left to someone with the right (bigger) equipment and know-how.

I polished the barrel and hood on my mk40 by hand using Flitz liquid,cotton squares and cotton cloths. Eventually I did the frame and slide. I left the top of the slide where the machined cuts spill over onto the side of the slide original to give it a contrast. It took many hours 2 bottles of Flitz but the result is an even smooth finish without swirls. The good thing about doing it by hand is that you can give it the degree of shine that you want. The process is so slow you really can't make a mistake and take too much off. BTW you will have to touch up the barrel after shooting. I recommend by hand.

[JFootin]

The barrel is nickel plated.

[Bawanna]

Nice work bobbo. I did my barrel and mags as well. They as you said went very easy. I took on the slide and you were right once again. It's a whole new ball game and tough. But it can be done. I didn't get near the mirror polish like Jfootin has on his CM but did achieve alot more shine and smoothness. I've been contemplating doing a little melting job on it. Still building up my courage on that one. It's one thing to go after a gun with fine sand paper and polish, a new ball game to break out files and grinders.
I'll no doubt take the slow approach with files way more than grinders.

[Deano]

which attachment did you use on your dremmel?

[BOBBO268]

which attachment did you use on your dremmel?

The stick with the screw, and then I used the middle pad in the picture. I suppose you could use the pointy one (except that costs $5 for one, the middle ones cost $5 for 6) and the big one seems like it would be too big to control...

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSjitweGblqIbzcpMvBXQPFTPL4BNMHs 6qqDcrqVZuH4LKksYuo

[BOBBO268]

Don't you mean to say "stainless steel"?

it looks just as nice. :)

I know, thats why i put "well almost" :D

[Deano]

The stick with the screw, and then I used the middle pad in the picture. I suppose you could use the pointy one (except that costs $5 for one, the middle ones cost $5 for 6) and the big one seems like it would be too big to control...

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSjitweGblqIbzcpMvBXQPFTPL4BNMHs 6qqDcrqVZuH4LKksYuo

Thanks. I have both. I'm going to give it a shot. Any metal polish will do I suppose?

[BOBBO268]

I would assume. I used Mothers Mag / aluminum polish after i used what I think is RED ROUGE (red stick that is Kirby brand, but also at least 25 years old :eek:)

[stuch77]

darn guys your busting your ass with a dremel or by hand. harbor freight had bench grinders for $20 and white metal polishing stick $4 and cloth wheel attchement $6. $30 total and polishing 5 mins.

did this nickel 29-3 with it. and alot of other guns.




http://i39.tinypic.com/4ihkxh.jpg

[Bawanna]

My oh my!

[harrydog]

I too was under the impression that the barrel was nickel plated and I would assume they plate it for a reason. Did you do this just for the looks or did you have another reason? I wonder if you removed the nickel or just polished it...

[Scoundrel]

You missed the trigger and hammer though! Now they stick out... :tongue:

[stuch77]

Awesome revolver porn, Mr. Stuch77!


thankx guy

[stuch77]

You missed the trigger and hammer though! Now they stick out... :tongue:


oh this gun was a mess. the trigger and hammer had rust on it so i just tryed to clean it up. but i might need to polish them.

[PYROhafe]

Is there a bonus to polishing anything besides the feed ramp or does it just look pretty? I mean dont get me wrong, it looks GREAT but not something im willing to try unless it has some serious advantages....

[Scoundrel]

Is there a bonus to polishing anything besides the feed ramp or does it just look pretty? I mean dont get me wrong, it looks GREAT but not something im willing to try unless it has some serious advantages....

You also get to play "The A-Team" when you shoot it. :D

Edit: Google image search is not supporting me very well on this, but one thing I remember from the 80's TV show (not the recent movie) is that they used shiny reflective guns a lot. Here's the best one I could find in just a couple minutes' worth of searching:

http://www.thea-teamonline.com/attachments/sue/alwaysacatch-thumb-520x355-4747.jpg

[Bawanna]

You missed the trigger and hammer though! Now they stick out... :tongue:

The hammer and trigger are color case hardened, I doubt they would polish very good.

[Krusty]

:w00t:I use Q-tips to polish my guns:w00t::w00t::w00t:

[BOBBO268]

It looks pretty and less friction i would guess. I'm pretty sure that when we polish the barrel we're not taking off the nickel plating, we're polishing the nickel plating. I think whatever we took off was something else..... care to take this one JOCKO??

[stuch77]

The hammer and trigger are color case hardened, I doubt they would polish very good.


i guess i knew that but i do wish they had the stock coloring. thats why i just cleaned them up as best as i could.

[kerby9mm]

I too was under the impression that the barrel was nickel plated and I would assume they plate it for a reason. Did you do this just for the looks or did you have another reason? I wonder if you removed the nickel or just polished it...

I have pondered this nickel plating thing. When I got my 2 mk's they were both slightly dirty I assume from testfiring. When I took them down to clean them all I did to the barrels was to wipe them off. The feed ramps became shiny and smooth. The rest of the barrels stayed the same flat appearance. This tells me that only the feed ramp and areas outside the front of the chamber are nickel plated. I'm sure some will disagree but if it was a uniform nickel plating of all of the barrel why does only the one area become shiny with no polishing compound. If this is true then when you polish the rest of the barrel you bring out the luster of the stainless steel.

[harrydog]

I have pondered this nickel plating thing. When I got my 2 mk's they were both slightly dirty I assume from testfiring. When I took them down to clean them all I did to the barrels was to wipe them off. The feed ramps became shiny and smooth. The rest of the barrels stayed the same flat appearance. This tells me that only the feed ramp and areas outside the front of the chamber are nickel plated. I'm sure some will disagree but if it was a uniform nickel plating of all of the barrel why does only the one area become shiny with no polishing compound. If this is true then when you polish the rest of the barrel you bring out the luster of the stainless steel.
Or it could be the other way around and the feed ramp, chamber and bore are the areas that are not nickel plated. I know that some watches (like IWC) nickel plate their parts because it is more durable than gold plating and those parts are not shiny. They are more dull, like the outside of the Kahr barrel.

[mr surveyor]

from past posts here about flaking on the feed ramp, I believe that it is in fact the ramps/hoods/chambers that are nickle plated. A couple of years ago I believe they had a ban run of barrels from the folks that did the plating.

edit to add.... I would guess the whole barrel assembly gets plated, but the outer surface of the barrel isn't prepped to the same smoothness as the ramp, internals and lug

[TucsonMTB]

I would guess the whole barrel assembly gets plated, but the outer surface of the barrel isn't prepped to the same smoothness as the ramp, internals and lug
That is my understanding . . . not that it matters. :rolleyes:

[SpecK]

I looked for the thread that jocko talked about this on and cant find it (sorry)

I definitely dont want to speak for ole jocko but Im pretty sure I remember him saying that you were just polishing the nickel plating and if you werent careful with those high RPM dremels, you could go right thru it.

not to say im not getting started on mine tonight, Just sayin- Hey i have a question tho, I like jeweling on barrels and hoods (i know on the tight spaced kahrs it will eventually rub off but i dont shoot my edc much) if i polish just to see what it looks like...can i still get it jeweled if i dont like it?

[jocko]

entire barrel inside and out is nickel plated, Kahr does give the feed rakmp a good polishing though, not sure if they do anythig witht he chamber as far as polishing goes. Flitz will not harmthe nickel plating. Nickel plating if done correclty is extremely hard, and corrision resistant. The military M9 (
Beretta 9) is nickel plated barrels. I polished all mykahr barrels with a cotton polishing cone and my dremel and some fine compound. once I got a nice mirror shine on it I stopped and it stays that way. Kahr barrels come coated on the outside (except the fgeedramp) with some dull coating over the nickel finish that wears off real fast and some think it is some kind of excessive wear but it is merely some coating they have on the outside of the barrel, not sure why, but if it wears or rubs off in time, no big deal at all. I don't think ur gonna wear the nickel finsih off f a kahr barrel with a polishing substance similar to flitz. My magna ported barrels get a dark spot around the ports, which harm nadda but when I clean my kahrs, I always toake some 600+ grit paper and polish that dark spot off the ports and I have done this for over 5years and the nickel finish is still IMO perfect. Nothig more than a cotton type polishing cone should be used, never a drum type sander plus common sense. I have found the cotton polishing cones from dremel go right iside the chamber with ease so my chambers are mirror smooth and shinny like the feed ramp.

[SpecK]

nice timing jocko! thank you for not letting me speak for you cuz i was wrong....again....(which my girlfirend loves to hear) -- I should just find the damn resource im trying to use or not post at all.

Thanks for the info-

[jocko]

I am the messengerhere, I was told this by kahr several times. Girlfriend or wife, trust me UR ALWAYS WRONG, getused to that and life will be smoother..

[BOBBO268]

I like jeweling on barrels and hoods (i know on the tight spaced kahrs it will eventually rub off but i dont shoot my edc much) if i polish just to see what it looks like...can i still get it jeweled if i dont like it?

The jeweling is done on top of the polished area, so you're saving the next guy (or yourself) a step when getting it jeweled.

[Tilos]

jocko:

The terms Nickel plating and electroless nickel plating are often interchanged but are 2 completely different processes with way different results.

Electroless Nickel is a nickel/cobalt alloy that is much harder and bluer than nickel and what I think is used on Kahr barrels.
Could you ask your contacts at Kahr what process is used to plate Kahr barrels??

None of this really matters much, I'm just curious, but it would affect the amount of polishing that can be safely done.
http://www.caswellplating.com/everything-for-firearms.html
Tilos

[jocko]

I don't think it is electroless. pretty sure of that. This is not a plating that rounds will wear off. It is supposed to be more durab le and certainly less coxrrossive than conventioal steels, and there fore more costly to do.

Kahr calls it nickel plating and I have never read anywhere the word eltctrless plating being used. NOt that I can't reask but you can also do the same. I am confident with what has been told to me. I really don't know of any gun maker using electroless plating on their barrels. I can only tell u I have polished my PM9 barrel with a dremel and polishing cone with a soft compound over 32K rounds ago and today the feedc ramp, chamber and outside of mky barrel looks as new as the day I polished it.

I can't see kahr paying lothar to make top quality basrrels for them and then cheapening it with a poor plating. YMMV.