Best and "easiest" way to polish gun?

[Dangerhack]

So ever since I got my cm9 I liked the mirror finish I see some guys did to it,
.. From everyone's experience what's best way to do this? I might just want to do the barrel an slide release but who knows?
Dremel and flitz polish? Red rouge? Sandpaper no sand ?

[Bawanna]

Where is everybody here, man has a question.

Ok, I'll have to do. When you say barrel I assume you really mean slide.

That bad boy is hard, real hard. You'll spend a life time with flitz and a dremel.

Definitely start off with like 800grit or even 600 grit wet/dry paper. Use a block, stay flat, progressively work through 1200 or 1600. Then you can start thinking wheel and polish.

A dremel with regular polish compound will do it but a wheel on a bench grinder is better. I've kind of been doing my PM45 progressively when I'm in the mood.

Not near a mirror polish like JFootins but it's getting shiny. I focused mostly on the side and not so much on the top of the slide so I didn't have to mess with taking the sights off. I don't have a problem with glare up top like I thought I would but a not so shiny finish up top blends in well.

The barrel itself polishes up pretty fast and easy if you feel the urge. I did mine so I could polish the chamber and it polished up real nice.

[MW surveyor]

I've only polished up the exposed part of the barrel hood that you see when the gun is in battery. I used 600 grit wet/dry for the initial removal of the finish and then went to 1000 and 1500 grit wet/dry using honing oil. Doesn't take that long to get it really shiny. Finished the polishing with Mother's.

If you want to do the whole slide, the fastest way would be by using a hard buffer wheel and cutting rouge first to knock off the original finish, then go to a lighter sewn wheel with progressively finer rouges. Finish off to a mirror shine using a loose cotton wheel with very fine rouge.

Oh, and take off your sights if you want to make sure all of the surfaces are polished. On the CM9, you'll have to replace the front sight with a new one cause to remove it, ya gotta break it.

[Geobob]

I polished the exposed side of my SP2022 barrel chamber that was coated with nitron without a dremel (didn't have one then, do now) using fine sandpaper, then 1500 grit sandpaper, then polishing wheel with rouge jusr using my regular drill. It worked fine. You defnitely need to start with sandpaper!

-----------------------------------
Geologist Bob
US Navy P-3 Pilot, Army Guard Huey & Blackhawk Pilot (ret.)

[kerby9mm]

My mk40 M4043A came with beveled magwell so I turned it into an Elite (minus the printing) with Flitz & cotton squares and cotton cloth. It took lots of time but it came out nice. I left the top of the slide the way it came for a little contrast. It takes longer without power tools but nothing can be overdone & have to be blended? Or whatever term would be suitable.

[RRP]

Danger Hack,

It's your CM9. You can do what you want with it. Before you do, you may want to consider that some people would not buy a gun that had been modified from its original condition by a previous owner. I'm one of them, and I'm probably not the only person who feels that way. So, before you "dangerously hack" your gun with sandpaper, in a way you believe is an enhancement, know that it could compromise its resale value. Of course, if you never sell the gun, it doesn't really matter, does it?

Many gun slides have a dull finish. This is not necessarily indicative of poor quality and workmanship; it may be intentionally designed that way. A slide with a bright finish may produce glare in certain light conditions making it more difficult to see the front sight. Additionally, a highly polished slide may be slippery, and more difficult to manipulate by hand. I know your intention, at least initially, is not to polish the slide, but I've seen other buffing projects start out small, and keep growing.

My intention is not to discourage you from "enhancing" your firearm. I'm merely presenting another viewpoint, in case you had not considered the impact of your enhancement.

Good luck.

[Dangerhack]

Where is everybody here, man has a question.

Ok, I'll have to do. When you say barrel I assume you really mean slide.

That bad boy is hard, real hard. You'll spend a life time with flitz and a dremel.

Definitely start off with like 800grit or even 600 grit wet/dry paper. Use a block, stay flat, progressively work through 1200 or 1600. Then you can start thinking wheel and polish.

A dremel with regular polish compound will do it but a wheel on a bench grinder is better. I've kind of been doing my PM45 progressively when I'm in the mood.

Not near a mirror polish like JFootins but it's getting shiny. I focused mostly on the side and not so much on the top of the slide so I didn't have to mess with taking the sights off. I don't have a problem with glare up top like I thought I would but a not so shiny finish up top blends in well.

The barrel itself polishes up pretty fast and easy if you feel the urge. I did mine so I could polish the chamber and it polished up real nice.

Yea I think I'm gonna start with just the barrel an slide release maybe for now an see how that goes... Recommend any compound polish or it doesn't really matter? S after you sand it down an hit it with a wheel on a bench grinder do you have to keep constantly adding compound over an over to get that shine ?

[muggsy]

It's not something that I would recommend doing. If you aren't experienced you'll end up rounding corners that should remain sharp. It requires special buffing wheels and polishing compounds to do the job correctly. If you are bound and determined to polish your gun practice on a gun that you don't give a damn about until you learn how to do it correctly. In my opinion a duty gun shouldn't be a show piece.

[CJB]

Barrels polish up very easily, don't stay that way.

BE AWARE THAT THEY ARE PLATED, NOT STAINLESS!!!

Polish away... but you're also polishing away the very thin plating when you do so.

The slide... if you must... You want very fine sand paper on a sanding block, or if you were a tool and die man, you'd be using a soft stone and working all the rough texture out, then buffing lightly, but for a longer time, on a big muslin wheel with some white compound.

Its a job, not done in 15 or 30 minutes, but more like a couple of hours of continual detail work. As was said, very easy to goof it up, round out spots that should be sharp, sort of ruining the symmetry and look of the slide.

[Dangerhack]

I heard that you have to be careful of rust if you polish your slide ? Is this true? If so how can u prevent it ?

[yqtszhj]

Easiest way to get Polish is to marry a woman from Poland. Feeding it sausage helps too. Oh, off track.... never mind.

[JFootin]

I heard that you have to be careful of rust if you polish your slide ? Is this true? If so how can u prevent it ?

No. It's stainless steel. Then again, I live in NC, not Florida. I've had no problem with mine.

I got lucky and bought mine already professionally mirror polished (slideshow (http://s1230.photobucket.com/albums/ee486/John_England/My%20Custom%20CM9/?albumview=slideshow)). :D

Do it in stages. Just the exposed part of the barrel, and slick up the feed ramp and chamber opening, too. The slide release could use some rounding and desharpening. I don't think it would be real easy to polish it, though. Doing just the flat sides of the slide like the Elite '03 versions is something you could do without messing anything up. Do it slowly like kerby9mm did. That is a nice look. And, no, any of these mods, done right, will not reduce the resale price. In fact, I am tempted to put mine on Gunbroker.com with some great pics and see what a crazy high price I can get for it! :D

[CJB]

Stainless almost immediately self-passivates, no problem.

I had an interesting discussion a while back with FNH regarding the FNP-45, and its stainless. They stated that "coated" the stainless - even the silver ones - to prevent rust. I believe this was a passivisation process to ensure rust prevention even in machined areas and/or pores of the metal.

Can tell you for certain - my PM9 has polished areas, is carried in my sweaty jeans pocket here in Florida, and it has not rusted one bit. There was some marking on the slide from its first owner, but that came off easily.

And... the slide stop pin, does darken after bead blasting. I've got a feeling that the lever is stainless, but the ground steel pin is not, and plated instead.