Polishing feed ramp? I have questions.

[Dueeast]

I've never had a Dremel before, and am afraid I might over-do-it. I see on Dremels website, some diff. shaped felt pieces. Would this be what I should use? Also, They make polishing compund, Is this too much? Or should I use Flitz polish? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Rob.:confused:

[Bawanna]

The feed ramp polishing is pretty much an old thing now. Most of the new Kahrs going out now have the ramp polished real nice from the get go.
If yours needs it those bullet shaped felt tips are the ticket, they work great. Any mild polishing compound will work. If it's fine it might take ya awhile.
If it has bad spots on the ramp I start with like 600 or 1000 sandpaper on a dowel and carefully clean things up making sure I don't mess with any angles or radius's, just clean up the rough spots.

If your having issues, I'd say polish, if not I'd leave it. Any life you can go through without owning a dremel tool is a good life. I'm on about my 3rd or 4th but this ones lasted a long long time.

[CJB]

To answer yer questions - Dremel makes a mandrel to hold the little felt wheel. I think the wheel is about 1/2 inch in diameter - its not the larger wheel.

You can use Flitz - which is a self degrading abrasive (starts a little coarser, and self destructs to micro fine particle size).

Use a fairly low speed - not so much for over-doing it, but because Flitz and fuzz fly off the Dremel.

~~~

Three Kahrs in my arsenal here - 2 PM45's, 1 PM9. All three have very smooth ramps, and range in production from very early 2011 to maybe 2006 or so. No machine marks, lines, tool marks etc... just smooth. A barrels ramp is nickel plated along with the rest of the barrel. That plating will appear a little frosty or rough, but... its not. With very little use, the contact spots will be "bright" as the nickel smooths out. If you polish your ramp it will be mostly cosmetic... not a functional improvement.

[OldLincoln]

Use a fairly low speed - not so much for over-doing it, but because Flitz and fuzz fly off the Dremel.

It took me hours of frustration and a box of wheels to figure this one out! I suggest starting out with the lowest speed.

[TominCA]

I use Brownell's "green glow" - Puts a mirror shine on everything - But you have to be careful - Dremels are like chainsaws - lots of fun to use so you want to keep going. If you use a felt wheel and a mild abrasive it's tough to do a lot of damage - but don't go near your gun with a carbide or stone tip on a Dremel - no matter how tempting it may seem!

I polished up the inside of the slide - the outside of the barrel, barrel hood, the breech face and some of the other inside parts I could reach. You can also get little rubber Dremel tips for about $3 which will hold compound and get into tight spaces. A good idea would be to practice on another piece of metal - like an old stainless steel pot and some old scrap - try different metals. If you paractice you will have more confidence - and cause less damage.

Good luck and Beware the Dremel!

[Cokeman]

I polished my chamber because I couldn't drop a round in easily. I had to push it. I used a felt wheel with no polish or anything on it. My ramp was already polished.

[jocko]

a wise move IMO, u certainly enhanced feeding ..

[jzsjr]

My new CM9's feed ramp looked like a mirror. I chose not to polish.
Jim

[Mr_D]

When I need to polish a feed ramp I use the rubber cones that have the compound in them already, then finish with a felt wheel and jewelers rouge.

[Ressom]

My new CM9's feed ramp looked like a mirror. I chose not to polish.
Jim

Good choice. These Kahrs come from the factory with a polished and smooth feed ramp already. Usually it isn't necessary to do more work on it.

But, this is the dremel tip I use for feed ramps (not actual size :D):
4997

[druryj]

Unless you really know what you're doing, I recommend you leave the Dremel alone. Your Kahr's feed ramp should not need more "polishing" and you could end up screwing up the function of the pistol quickly. A Q-tip and some CLP brings mine back to the factory shine very quickly. If you think your ramp needs to be "polished" more because the gun isn't feeding or chambering properly, either somebody before you has been in there or you need to contact a good gunsmith or Kahr. Lots of damge has been done by tinkering with a damn Dremel. (trust me on that; I screwed up a pistol long ago getting excited with a Dremel).

[Spork]

I usually polish the feed ramps in my auto's but on my CM9 it was already nice and shiney from the factory.

I was on another forum though and someone posted pics of his CM9 barrel and it showed what looked like chipped and flaking plating. The responses said that the inside, chamber and ramp of the barrels from Kahr are nickel plated and sometimes that plating fails. Is this correct?

So, my concern with polishing a Kahr barrel would be you could damage the plating on the ramp or chamber.

[JFootin]

I have heard that rubbing some TW25 into the ramp and edge of the chamber really helps.

[KMA]

A Dremel is the home gunsmith’s best friend, but it can very fast become his/her worst enemy if he/she does not know how to use it. Unless it is really necessary I would not touch the feed ramp; you can easily overdo it if you do not know what you are doing. But if you decide to use a Dremel to polish it I would recommend you to use a flexible shaft; it will give you more control over the Dremel. And if you do not have a Dremel yet I would recommend you to get one with variable speed as well as a flexible shaft and a foot pedal switch.

[Cokeman]

My feed ramp was polished. I polished the chamber because I couldn't drop a round into it.

[O'Dell]

The three Kahrs, PM9, CW40, and CW45, I've gotten in the last few months required no polishing. The ramps were perfect from the factory.

[jeepster09]

My PM45 got it's feedramp polished when they jeweld the barell at Ahlman's for $55, it's cheaper for them to do it than me screw it up.:59:

[dogchild]

I polish my feed ramps (Kahr P9 & Taurus PT 1911) by hand using Mothers Mag & Aluminum Polish,seems to work just fine, Both gun ramps are smooth and shine like a mirror!

[OldLincoln]

Doggies, Ressom! You could polish a cannon with that thing. Maybe it's for a .50000000. But I want to see the Dremmel that spins it!

http://kahrtalk.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=4997&d=1324642318

[kahrnut1]

i saw the other day where they were selling the barrells off of a wwII battellship maybe ressom could use his big felt polisher on them

[n2brk]

You tube has how-to vids on polishing and throating from Wilson Combat. It is worth watching them to learn how the pros do it :)

I used to use the dremel, but found a way that works better for me. I just did my new CW45; it wasn't bad from the factory, but just a little buffing made it slicker than greased owl poop. lol

[michpatriot]

I would just hand polish and forget the dremel... too easy to take too much off.

[cesande]

To answer yer questions - Dremel makes a mandrel to hold the little felt wheel. I think the wheel is about 1/2 inch in diameter - its not the larger wheel.

You can use Flitz - which is a self degrading abrasive (starts a little coarser, and self destructs to micro fine particle size).

Use a fairly low speed - not so much for over-doing it, but because Flitz and fuzz fly off the Dremel.

~~~


+100

I have used these pads and flitz on MANY feed ramps of many different weapons and had great results and zero issues....
Revived a bargain price Buckmark that was sold as "junk" in less than 10 minutes and it has been flawless since!... One of my best buys !
you just have to remember that you are polishing and not grinding...
A little bit does a great job here..
This is one of the places where more is NOT better....

[carkarrier]

I do like to do a minor polishing of my feed ramps. I guess it is an old habit. I do not recommend a dremel. Hand polishing is more precise. You can use your finger or a pencil(or dowel). I use 3-m 2000 grit wet/dry found at most automotive stores. I usually put a small drop of oil and polish it wet. Use only a vertical motion and check the shine often. No need to over-do it. My cm9 is supposed to have nickel on it, but it still slicked up really nice with little effort. I also use the 3-m to polish inside of magazines, magazine lips and usually I polish the outside of the magazine to a shine(it drops better out of the pistol.) Nuff said, I am taking up space!!

[jocko]

dremel or by hand, u can make it better than out of the box. I will say that kahr does an excellent job on their ramps. I do recommend the magazine feed lips polish though, U just never know or cannot feel if there is a slight burr there, so why not just error on the side of caution and polish it. I polish (smooth) my kahr plymer followers to--just becuase I can.

[Sneakypete]

I just bought a new CM9 yesterday and my ramp looks like a mirror? Kahr must be polishing the new ones to help with any feed issues.

[kerby9mm]

I believe the feed ramps are nickel plated. I use Flitz liquid for everything I polish and hand polish so I don't remove something I can't put back. Takes longer but I like to work on my guns anyway.