Can you polish a hard chrome gun without removing the hard chrome?

[The Wiry Irishman]

I've got a matte hard chrome 1911 that for a variety of reasons is getting shifted from carry duty to competition only. Now that its much more toy than tool, I'm thinking I'd like to polish the slide flats. I know how to do it properly, and I've done similar things plenty of times before, but only on stainless. Since the hard chrome is not very thick, I'm wondering If even the small amount of material removed by 1000+ grit sandpaper and polishing compound would completely strip off the hard chrome leaving the bare carbon steel exposed.

I experimented a little section of the back of the mainspring housing, and all I need is 1500 grit sandpaper followed by a light touch of polishing compound to get the matte finish to a mirror shine. Do you think that doing so would remove the hard chrome plating?

 

[CraigC]

No. What makes the finish "matte" is the bead blasted surface which is below the hard chrome. So, to polish that, you have to cut all the way through the chrome to the underlying metal which leaves bare steel exposed. The good news is that it's usually pretty inexpensive to have a slide stripped and replated, not to mention the money you save by only shipping the slide.

 

[dfariswheel]

As above, a bright hard chrome slide is polished mirror bright BEFORE the hard chrome is applied.
How the steel is processed before plating determines the appearance.

Since hard chrome is typically applied in a layer only 0.0002" thick, any polishing would break through.