Mothers mag polish(or other) on S&W 5906

[TennJed]

I have used mothers mag polish on stainless revolvers with great luck. I just got a 5906 from cdnn and was wondering if mothers mag would take the matte finish off and put a shine to it

If so is there anything negative I should be aware of? Any other polish work better?

Thank

 

[toocool]

Mother's will do the same to the 5906 as it does the stainless revolvers...I've used it on the barrel hood of my 4586 and it like it's chrome plated. I also used it on the flats of the slide,and it took the laser engraving off; I stopped before I got to a high gloss...

 

[BCRider]

If the gun has a matt finish on it that is duller and more grey looking than the usual brushed finish S&W stainless revolvers then mag wheel polish won't be enough on its own. The matt finish involves a lot of small hills and valleys in the surface to break up the light. To get a shiney finish the first step on such a gun is to go for wet sanding with very fine 800 grit wetordry sandpaper to bring the finish down to what you see on the stainless revolvers.

To maintain the flat surfaces and keep the edges sharp and straight you want to sand the flat surfaces using sandpaper backed up with a good flat block of some sort. I'd suggest that a small block of steel or aluminium is the choice to use. The rounded parts should be sanded down with a flexible backing inside the folded sandpaper. Two or three layers of pop or beer can side metal will form a nice springy resilient backing pad for the sandpaper for those surfaces.

When it all looks like the brushed finish found on the S&W revolvers then I'd spend a little more time sanding it but this time switch to some 2000 grit or similar. That'll remove the sanding marks from the "coarse" 800 grit and set you up so that the final mirror like polish from the mag wheel stuff will leave the gun with a mirror like shine off the flats.

This takes a lot more work and elbow grease than a buffing wheel which would have been the other option. But an unskilled guy with a buffing wheel will leave the gun looking like a shiney half used bar of soap by ruining the flatness of the flat areas and dulling over the edges that transition to the curved areas. The sharpness and trueness of these edges counts for a LOT to give the gun a nice appearance. So just say "NO!" to buffing wheels for a job of this sort.

I suppose the mag wheel polish would eventualy get there but the work it would take to bring a matt finish to that level and the waviness that would result in the flat areas would make it look again like a shiney but half used bar of soap.