PDA

View Full Version : Polishing the feedramp



Too Tall Todd
07-03-2011, 05:50 PM
I saw jocko mention in the prepping a new Kahr polishing the feedramp. While my Kahr is not new I am interested in trying to take the sharp edges off and polish throuought. I have done a little metal polishing, knives and such but I do not have enough experience to feel comfortable with taking a power tool to my girl. What type of polish do you all recommend and what speed should I use. I am aware of the heat issue with power tools. Thank you in advance for your advise. T3

jocko
07-03-2011, 05:54 PM
flitz will do well, a dremel with a cotton type swab will polish it easily. Ur not gonna hurt anything. I am surprised u hav eany "sharp"
edges on ur kahr feed ramp. Most a just great out ofthe box, most never need touched at all. auto sand paper in the 1000 grit will do great and again ur not gonna hurt anything..

TucsonMTB
07-03-2011, 06:22 PM
flitz will do well, a dremel with a cotton type swab will polish it easily. Ur not gonna hurt anything. I am surprised u hav eany "sharp"
edges on ur kahr feed ramp. Most a just great out ofthe box, most never need touched at all. auto sand paper in the 1000 grit will do great and again ur not gonna hurt anything..
To add to what Jocko said . . . Especailly if you use 1000 grit or finer wet-or-dry sand paper, working by hand with the tip of you finger will work just fine. Even using Flitz, working by hand will get the job done and should eliminate any concern about over doing it with a power tool. There's not enough area to polish to lead to excessive hand fatigue so why bother with the Dremel. OKay . . . it's fun and we sent $80 for the thing so we ought to use it . . . NOT! ;)

Barth
07-03-2011, 06:59 PM
I saw jocko mention in the prepping a new Kahr polishing the feedramp. While my Kahr is not new I am interested in trying to take the sharp edges off and polish throuought. I have done a little metal polishing, knives and such but I do not have enough experience to feel comfortable with taking a power tool to my girl. What type of polish do you all recommend and what speed should I use. I am aware of the heat issue with power tools. Thank you in advance for your advise. T3

One more thought -
My understanding is that the MK Elites come from the factory with polished feed ramps. (like mine Woo Hoo!)

Too Tall Todd
07-03-2011, 07:17 PM
Thanks guys, I have a few sheets of 1500 so I'm good there. The sharp edges are not bad, just enough to catch a Q-tip and pull a stringer of fuzz.

CJB
07-03-2011, 07:24 PM
+1 on Jocko's suggestion of Flitz (or Mother's Mag Wheel polish, or Wenol, or Simichrome, etc)

My PM45 had sharp edges at the very bottom of the feed ramp at the corners, but came with a polished ramp and throat. A little smoothing of that sort wont hurt. Dont touch the top of the barrel at all, its top locking ledge, barrel hood area, or the bottom locking area.

jocko
07-03-2011, 07:57 PM
actually the bottom of the feed ramp never comes into contact with anything, so one can smooth that area till hell freezes over and u ain't gonna harm nuttin. any of the products CJB mentioned will do fine for a nicer shine on the feed ramp. as for polishing the barrel, I am guilty of doing that. I polished mine with 1000 grip paper and it has a mirror finish to it like the feed ramp, It is also nickel plated entirely. My barrel is magna ported and the slits in the barrel after 50 orunds leave dark marks on the outside of the barrel, so I just repolish with 1000 grit paper and I think I have probably done this a couple hundred times at least and there is no visible signs of "over" polishing my barrel. I think with the 1000+ grip paper all I am doing is really removing the black powder marks.

One has to always use common sense in everything he does, but these barrels are durable, not pu-sy barrels. They can take hard usage. Nickel plating is not like butter on bread. If done right it is harder than all get out.

DriveMyKahr
07-04-2011, 02:49 PM
as for polishing the barrel, I am guilty of doing that. I polished mine with 1000 grip paper and it has a mirror finish to it like the feed ramp, It is also nickel plated entirely. My barrel is magna ported and the slits in the barrel after 50 orunds leave dark marks on the outside of the barrel, so I just repolish with 1000 grit paper and I think I have probably done this a couple hundred times at least and there is no visible signs of "over" polishing my barrel. I think with the 1000+ grip paper all I am doing is really removing the black powder marks.



That's good to know, Jocko. Like most of the late model PM9s, mine came to me with the feed ramp and surrounding surfaces already highly polished. At somewhere near 1000 perfectly executed rounds down the barrel, I decided to polish it again.

It probably didn't need it, but I was in a position to get some advice from my son-in-law, a CNC Machine engineer. He gave me a 5 gram plastic syringe containing 6 micron diamond compound. You can find this type of polishing compound from several places like eBay and Amazon if you search for "diamond compound." After a little trial and error I came away with this application process.

· Cut several cotton swabs in half. (use the plastic stick type)
· Place the stick in a Dremel or other rotary tool.
· Apply a small amount of the diamond polishing compound to evenly coat the cotton swab surface.
· Use the slowest speed on the rotary tool and gently rub the surface to be polished.

If you use too high a speed or too much pressure on the area to be polished the plastic stick of the cotton swab will give way and you will have to start over. Replace swabs with fresh compound as needed.

I found that I needed to polish the chamber area several times to remove the black powder that was deposited there.

Finally, clean the entire barrel and feed ramp area with your favorite cleaner. I like to use the non-chlorinated brake cleaner that you recommend, Jocko.

Apply a coat of lubricant to all barrel surfaces following your standard procedure.

I'm happy with the noticed results... clean, shiny, and smooth surface.

The process noted above has been added to my 1,000 round preventative maintenance regiment to keep my PM9 happy so I can continue to “shoot it like I stole it.”

.

Too Tall Todd
07-21-2011, 07:01 PM
Thanks guys, I started with a test on some stainless bandage shears with some white jewelers rouge, flitz and the polish paste from my tormec. It's 1500 grit diamond paste and while it was close the tormec paste won out. I used common sense and it looks spectacular. Thanks again T3

jocko
07-21-2011, 09:29 PM
common sense alwqays prevails. Nice job Tall Todd. I polished y6 entire barrel on the outside. it shines like a diamond in a goats ass and cleans easy to.

Screendmon
07-28-2011, 08:24 AM
the one on my CM9 looks polished from factory

steve666
07-28-2011, 10:21 AM
flitz will do well, a dremel with a cotton type swab will polish it easily. Ur not gonna hurt anything. I am surprised u hav eany "sharp"
edges on ur kahr feed ramp. Most a just great out ofthe box, most never need touched at all. auto sand paper in the 1000 grit will do great and again ur not gonna hurt anything..

Caution is advised, I've heard many a gunsmith refer to Dremel tools as their worst nightmare.

Quickdraw
07-28-2011, 12:27 PM
My new CM9 already looks polished. Very smoot, shiny and zero tooling marks. It looks chromed.

wyntrout
07-28-2011, 01:20 PM
They are nickel-plated, but sometimes there are sharp edges form when the barrel and the slide, etc., mate.

Wynn:)

TominCA
08-02-2011, 12:56 PM
I've had very good luck with "Green Glow" from brownells - it comes as a part of their polish media kit. I use a Dremel (Danger Danger!!) and the green glow will put a mirror polich on stainless. In fact, it was during polishing that I discovered the metal on a Kahr is a lot harder than the metal on most of my other guns. I believe this is one reason why they are such a pain to break in. But you probably make up for it in pistol longevity.

jocko
08-02-2011, 02:48 PM
I've had very good luck with "Green Glow" from brownells - it comes as a part of their polish media kit. I use a Dremel (Danger Danger!!) and the green glow will put a mirror polich on stainless. In fact, it was during polishing that I discovered the metal on a Kahr is a lot harder than the metal on most of my other guns. I believe this is one reason why they are such a pain to break in. But you probably make up for it in pistol longevity.

one of the characteristics of nickel plating..

Bawanna
08-02-2011, 03:36 PM
Caution is advised, I've heard many a gunsmith refer to Dremel tools as their worst nightmare.

I just always tell people sparks equal grinding, not good. Polishing = good. Grinding = Bad.

Unless of course you really want to grind to reshape and then everythings right out the flippin window for sure.

jocko
08-02-2011, 04:07 PM
not sure with the cotton swab on a dremel that it is gonna hurt anything, I do agree sparks equal grinding and if one can't figure that sh-t out, he should hot have a dremel.

Dremel is a great tool, common sense is a better tool, combination of both makes for a very shinny feed ramp IMO>

Cornhusker
08-02-2011, 04:08 PM
the one on my CM9 looks polished from factory

I noticed that on my CM9 also. Decided not to try and improve it.

Suthrncop66
08-02-2011, 05:14 PM
new project for me!

bamaman
08-10-2011, 10:40 PM
Mothers mag polish and a Q-tip seems to work well.