Abrasives and guns

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7.65browning

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Hi All,

I've been having an issue lately with anxiety over having abrasive substances near my firearms. I'll elaborate:
I know sandpaper is a commonly used tool for firearms related work, both for wood and for metal parts. As an example, when looking at gun repair videos on youtube I frequently notice people using sandpaper for timing muzzle brakes. Sometimes they will not clean off the surfaces, just sand, put on the muzzle brake and fire away. I would assume that the residue left by sandpaper being silicon carbide or industrial diamond powder, both being harder than steel would abrade or scratch a firearm's bore if it was left in there and then the gun was fired.

I've gotten to the point that I stay away from using nail files unless they are the bare steel type. I'm also only using files that don't have any coating and I make sure to very carefully clean the surface I worked on. I have a feeling my anxiety over this whole deal is overblown but I'd like to know what the genral thoughts are on this type of thing? Am I just being justifiably cautious or overdoing it?

Thanks!
 
7.65browning said:
Hi All,

I've been having an issue lately with anxiety over having abrasive substances near my firearms. I'll elaborate:
I know sandpaper is a commonly used tool for firearms related work, both for wood and for metal parts. As an example, when looking at gun repair videos on youtube I frequently notice people using sandpaper for timing muzzle brakes. Sometimes they will not clean off the surfaces, just sand, put on the muzzle brake and fire away. I would assume that the residue left by sandpaper being silicon carbide or industrial diamond powder, both being harder than steel would abrade or scratch a firearm's bore if it was left in there and then the gun was fired.

I've gotten to the point that I stay away from using nail files unless they are the bare steel type. I'm also only using files that don't have any coating and I make sure to very carefully clean the surface I worked on. I have a feeling my anxiety over this whole deal is overblown but I'd like to know what the genral thoughts are on this type of thing? Am I just being justifiably cautious or overdoing it?

Thanks!
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Nothing wrong with being justifiably cautious.
I have a host of sanding, buffing, and polishing tools and compounds on my bench. Sandpaper, Chrome Polish, Flitz, various grades of steel wool- all have their uses for different applications. Personally, I almost never use sandpaper on metal parts, preferring sandblasting or a wire wheel for heavy rust pitting or scale, but it certainly comes in useful on wood.
As far as cleaning your parts before and after working on them, absolutely!:eek::)
 
I use alot of sand paper, for timing brakes among other things. I also use abrasive pastes, grinding wheels, mechanical polishers, saws....all Lindsay dust creating tools.

Properly disassembling before, and cleaning after, is what keeps crap out of moving parts. At the very least I suggest shooting everything out with brake clean after the job is finished.
I've timed a few brakes at the range, for other folks.
On those they just get a blast of brake clean to get the crap out of the threads.

Like the other guys said, clean your project properly after you done and there's little reason to be concerned.
 
When I use abrasives on a gun, I make sure it can't get into areas I can't easily clean. When I'm done with the abrasives, I flush the appropriate areas of the gun with a cleaner like Gun Scrubber to make sure no traces of the abrasive remain in the mechanism.
 
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