[Coyote Hunter]

OK, give me a minute here without blowing coffee through your nose onto the keyboard laughing.....

Back in the "old" days, an old police trick (yes I did it!) was to put some tooth paste into the internals of our new Smith 19's and 66's, set in front of the tv over a weekend and work the action over and over. This was to (we thought) smooth out the action without taking to a gunsmith. If I remember right, it seemed to work pretty good.

Of course you had to clean it out before next duty shift. But your gun did smell minty fresh.

Now, I hear complaints of the Italian clones having soft internals. Do you think they may wear too fast if this is tried?

Or is it a worthless wives tale we fell for?

CH

[mgregg85]

I've heard some top cowboy action shooters mention that they used this method when they were just getting started.

I guess I don't see why it wouldn't polish the internals a little bit, it is a mild abrasive compound and people have used toothpaste to polish metal.

Field and Stream even said you could use toothpaste to polish the bottom of a pop can until it was mirror smooth and then use that to start a fire.

Gunblast.com has posted instructions on how to 'marry the trigger' (http://www.gunblast.com/Poorboy.htm). Its rather simple, you just cock the hammer and push hard up on it with your thumb and pull the trigger. If you do this several times it is supposed to help out.

[Coyote Hunter]

I haven't heard of the mating up the trigger and hammer, but seems reasonable. Some used to polish their Stainless duty guns like you said, with tooth paste. It worked pretty good..

CH

[Old Fuff]

Old Fuff puts down his coffee cup.... :evil:

Yes you can use toothpaste, but there are better ways. Run a search using the key words "Tuner" "slurry". It was invented by our own 1911 Tuner, and it will beat toothpaste seven ways to Sunday.

[Coyote Hunter]

Okee Dokee

[Starter52]

I'm guessing the "old days" were back in the late 1960's - late 1970's?

I (for one) do not miss those Bangor Punta revolvers. :neener:

[sundance44s]

I`ve also heard of this being done with valve lapping compound ...but heck every one has a tube of tooth paste lying around ...go for it ...and if you sit in front of the tv while working the action ..you are gaining .

[Old Fuff]

No, don't use valve grinding compound...

It's too much of a good thing, especially if you're working with case hardened parts. :what:

[mykeal]

Several years ago the Italian replica makers did produce guns with 'soft' action parts, some more than others. I've seen no evidence that is still the case, in fact the opposite is true. The message is that you do risk getting action parts with short lives when buying older guns, but new ones are much less likely to have that problem.

Should you polish them to 'smooth' the action? Emphatically yes! If you happen to have a gun with soft action parts, polishing them will tell you pretty quick and you can take corrective action by getting new parts before you are unable to use the gun any more. If the gun has good parts, you'll be very pleased with the effect on the action.

What to use? Toothpaste is just fine. I use India stones - faster and easier to control and clean up after, but they cost more than a tube of toothpaste and don't smell as nice. Use valve grinding or lapping compound on your bore, not your action parts. You want to take your time and take it easy on those small parts; a little at a time and test frequently.

Marrying the trigger and hammer risks damaging the sear and I believe it results in untypical wear - places on the sear that would not normally wear when the hammer is exercised without forcing. I was taught to do that years ago but abandoned it in favor of stone polishing because I could see the effect I was having on the parts as I went. I could be overly conservative here, but I don't think so.

[Dithsoer]

Friends thought that I was crazy when I told them that I used fine rouge on my internals the same way that you describe using toothpaste. Heck, I thought that I was the only one nuts (or maybe smart???) enough to do it. I'm glad to see that the idea is a valid one in the eyes of other shooters.
And yes, it worked for me.

[Misfire99]

I agree with MyKeal about using a stone to clean up the mating surfaces. But there is one thing that wasn't mentioned. That is the use of "Action Magic II" from Brownells. This stuff is great. It was made for the final step in 1911 trigger jobs. No reason it shouldn't work on a replica. What it does is lay down a fine layer of molybdenum that is permanently bonded to the metal. This makes it very slick action. A little goes a long ways. I have used the stuff on many different parts and it always worked. The only time I had a problem with it was on the bore of a 45-70 shooting pure lead over BP. It made the bore so slick that the bullets didn't obfuscate so they didn't grip the bore properly. But it did do what I wanted it to do. Make the bore so slick that the fouling didn't stick to it. Give this stuff a try. If you have a leading problem on any pistol put this stuff on the bore and it will not happen again. Here is a link at brownells for it:
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=1151&title=ACTION%20MAGIC%20II~

[jojosdad]

Found the Tuner thread. Post #4 . http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=1057096&highlight=tuner+slurry#post1057096

[Bad Flynch]

This is still a common practice in some quarters and it works. It works because toothpaste has a mild abrasive in it (Calcium Carbonate). Well, at least some toothpastes do, anyway.

Calcium Carbonate is Chalk and, when finely ground, really does not move much metal. Not only that, it is soft and breaks down further with working and gets finer and finer, etc., as time goes on.

Most of these guys will admit to sitting and working their revolvers for hours on end.

I'll bet just working the revolver by hand for that long would produce nearly the same results, paste or no paste.

[GENTLEMAN OF THE CHARCOAL]

I remember years and years ago that people would use toothpaste to remove scratches from their watch crystals. I think it took a lot of rubbing but I know people used to do it....

[JohnKSa]

...the bullets didn't obfuscate so they didn't grip the bore properly.That was probably confusing... :D (Or not confusing, I guess. :confused:)

[Mausermike]

Toothpaste has pumice in it as the abrasive. Same deal with the paste the dentist uses to polish your teeth.

As for soft parts, the trigger and sear on my new Pietta 1851 are colour case hardened. What you don't want to do is to wear through the hardening or you will wear the parts very quickly. On older guns you could heat the parts cherry red and quench them in oil if their hardness is in question.

[The Tourist]

Yes, I have used whitening toothpaste to polish the edges of knives. But there is better stuff.

Contact Keith at Hand American for some chromium oxide liquid or paste. The quality control is a lot better.

Right now I'm using Mothers Mag wheel polish and Billet paste for some edges and to repair the cosmetic portions of scratched knives. Good stuff.

I imagine you can get it at most auto stores, but since I'm a company, I buy mine at Auto Geeks.

[Old Fuff]

As for soft parts, the trigger and sear on my new Pietta 1851 are colour case hardened.

I have no doubt that your trigger is colored, but I suspect that it isn't hardened... :scrutiny:

Parts in most current cap & ball revolvers (hammers and triggers in particular) are colored to look case hardened, but that's all you get - color. The hammers in Colt-made reproductions were actually case hardened, with the colors being a byproduct.

A part that is truly case hardened cannot be cut with a file, or they can only filed with great difficulty until one is through the hardened skin and down to soft metal.

In the original guns the only part in the lockwork that was case hardened was the hammer, and because all of the parts were file-fitted they were fitted to the hammer, and not the other way around.

[SAKOHUNTER]

I use India stones

Where do you buy them and what grit do you use?

[RecoilRob]

My Uberti Dragoons had some serious burrs on the workings inside that NO amount of toothpaste would have gotten rid of.

Some time with the stones to remove the parts that weren't supposed to be there, and then some grease made them work just fine.

[Coyote Hunter]

The old days (for me) was late 70's and early 80's before switching to autos..

Thanks for all the replies...(good think I didn't mintion the flossing! :rolleyes:) haha

CH

[mykeal]

India stones are sold by Brownell's, amongst others:
http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/ProductDetail.aspx?p=9618&title=INDIA%20STONES

[icebones]

interesting idea...

toothpaste contains diatoms that act as microabrasives to polish your teeth,
so i guess it could be used to polish just about anything.

just goes to show you, necessity is the mother of invention huh?

[buttrap]

I use the stuff on my silver belt buckels when I cant find the can of silver polish. Its very labor intensive to get anywhere as its not that abrasive.

[sundance44s]

The best use I`ve ever found for tooth paste besides brushing me pearly whites ..It works well to take road tar off a cars paint job ..better and quicker than rubbing compound .
okok not gun related ..but it does work well.

[FuzzyBunny]

Up until 20 years ago, or so. Toothpaste had a mineral in it called Dolomite. They had to remove it as it was a little harder than tooth enamel.
Now they just use chalk and a byproduct of aluminum making, Floride.