DIY polishing SS Ruger Redhawk

[Palladan44]

Here's the results....and a new set of "dress up" grips"

The deepest swirls from the Ruger factory brushing did not come out. It was evident that it would have required a lot more polishing, so I opted to stop and leave well enough alone.
This was wet sanding beginning at 1000grit.
Then on to 2000 wet, then 3000 wet.
When that was done I put a large polishing wheel (new and clean) on my electric hand drill and started working it with Mother's mag and alum. polish while spinning it SLOWLY. By slowly I mean about 150 RPMs No need for speed. All said and done this took about 5 hours.***
Edit** Thats a lie, it took more like 10 hours, scattered over the course of about a week or so.

 

[The Glockodile]

If Ruger wants to sell these pistols “for the working man,” their prices need to be reduced correspondingly.

Too many hours of work on our part to get these pistols where they should be.

 

[csirre]

View attachment 1070488 View attachment 1070489
I'm not really a super perfectionist, but I'm just used to a higher standard of finish. Before this brand new gun, my next oldest revolver is a new Colt King Cobra which has much nicer of a stainless finish. I only own one post-pin barreled Smith and Wesson, and the rest are mfg. between 1916 and 1986. It's clear they used to care more about the way guns looked at the end of the line.
Special thanks to the advice given by those who get exactly what im talking about and have successfully made decent guns even better looking with a little elbow grease, and a 6$ can of polish.

Your result looks great. I bet you like the gun better now. However, on a different route, you could have used 3M Scotch Brite to add lines (scratches) on your gun. This will result in a very uniform 'brushed finish'. Watch collectors do this to brushed stainless steel bracelet all the time to keep the bracelet in 'like new' condition. This is why I personally prefer brushed stainless steel.

Bead blasting is also another option, you can control the look by bead size. The smaller the beads, the shinier the result. But if you want mirror finish, polishing is the only way to go, and for guns, hand is almost always better than machine.

Good day!

 

[Nature Boy]

I found Simichrome to be the best polish for very nearly anything

That’s my favorite for metal polishing too. I also like Maas polishing compound as well.

 

[MifflinKid]

I did a fairly good polish job on a security firm turn-in S&W 64 years ago using Mother's Mag and Aluminum polish. I did it in one evening using some cut up sweatshirts. I was watching the Texas vs Texas Tech football game while polishing.

One of my nieces calls that M64 my Pimp gun.

 

[Scout21]

I use toothpaste on my stainless knives and it polishes them right up. Don't see any reason why it would work on a gun. Plus, you won't have to buy any polishing substances.

 

[kwb377]

You claimed:

"the Stainless "Matte" finish from the factory is absolutely hideous"

I find that hard to believe "hideous"??

So why did you buy one then??

If you wanted a shiny gun then buy one of those,

He probably bought it because that's the specific gun he wanted and it only comes in that finish. Not really a hard concept to understand if you don't look at everything like a curmudgeon.