Polishing flats on 1911, anyone done it before?

[FirearmsEnthusiast]

Dan Wesson RZ-45's used to have a polished frame, now they don't. Before I knew this I put down a deposit on the Heritage going by the pics that they have on the CZ website. I also got some Kimber double diamond rubber grips. So know I have to polish it myself and sell the kimber grips

I tried to do some research, but couldn't find any info on it.

Anyone know how to make the finish on the frame look like the slide in this picture.

Needs to look like this.

Anyone have pictures of some they've done themselves?

 

[Jim K]

You will need to completely strip the frame and remove the spring tunnel and grip screw bushings. Then you can use a surface grinder or emery paper on glass to polish the frame sides. If you want to polish the grip straps and trigger guard, you might get by with hand work but careful use of a Dremel tool will be faster (warning - you can mess it up faster, too!).

Jim

 

[Quick Karl]

I've done it but do not have a photo of a 45 to show you...

3M Wet-or-dry, a rubber sanding block (NEVER polish a flat surface without a sanding block) starting with 400 grit and WD-40 and work your way up as high as you like. 800 grit is nice but I have gone all the way to 1500-grit (could be hard to find).

The idea is to keep changing sanding direction with each successively finer grit, which makes the sanding marks from the previous coarser grit easy to see. You sand until the marks from the previous grit are gone (wipe the surface dry to see).

Many hours and lots of elbow grease later you will have a glass smooth mirror perfect finish.

Here is a very old real Winchester I did for someone (hey, they guy wanted it nickel plated so he could hang it over his fireplace, tried to talk him out of it but whatayagunnado)… I will try to post some better photos of it once I dig them out - it is a perfect mirror gloss with no rounded edges, no dished screw holes, and no waves or wobbles.


Or, you could just send your slide to someone with a surface grinder and let them do it...

A 45 frame (once stripped) is actually not too much trouble to do. The only hard part is the safety and slide release detent-spring tube, which if you want to do it right needs to be removed, and re-staking it back on can be daunting if you don't have the right fixture and skill.

 

[schmeky]

Quick Karl is right on the money, you must change directions with each change in grit. Back and forth with 220, then up and down with 320/400, then back and forth with 600, etc., etc.

You must keep the wet/dry paper clean and saturated. This means stopping ever so many strokes and flushing the metal particles off/out of the sandpaper. I use WD-40, I buy it by the gallon, makes it a whole lot cheaper.

Gotta really watch the edges. Even if you don't think you're ever so slightly rounding the edges, you can. Go slow. Take your time.

Better to find a piece of mild steel and practice first.

 

[Beaux Nehr]

I've got some Crocus cloth that they don't make anymore; the stuff works really well.


Also, tape off the areas you don't want to sand.

 

[Jolly Rogers]

Guys, the OP asked how to match the frame to the slide. He wants the same finish as the slide already has. I have never seen a full polish job on a stainless production gun. There for he needs to match the "grain" of the finish on the slide. Stainless guns have a scratch pattern in line not random and not high polish that the last 2 posters are working up to. Even though he called the DW finish polished it really isn't. Better photos would show the scratch pattern that is visible in person. I know Sprinfield Armory would refinish the slide and frame to match but it would require a plunger tube R&R and new grip bushings.
Joe

 

[Jim Watson]

Well, once you were set up for it, it would be straightforward to repolish the slide to the same grit as the frame. The REAL trick is R&R of the plunger tube and to a lesser extent, the grip screw bushings.

 

[Jim K]

Jolly Rogers is correct. One of the big mistakes gunsmiths make in trying to achieve an original look is overpolishing. Generations of "advice" books have said that to "look good" a gun has to be polished to a mirror finish. That is fine if you want a gun that looks like a mirror but it won't look original. There may be a few factory guns polished that well, but they are rare for the simple reason that the cost is more than folks will pay.

Usually, 400-600 grit is about as fine a polishing compound as factories ever use. And they use hard wheels, not glass or sanding blocks, to keep from dishing holes or creating waves.

Jim

 

[FirearmsEnthusiast]

Maybe these images might help a bit more.

 

[FirearmsEnthusiast]

Looks like a dang AMT Hardballer now

 

[Jim Watson]

Good point.
They are really cutting corners on us, saving the labor of polishing the frame to match the slide. I have seen the style in Internet Brag Pictures of some high dollar full custom guns and think it looks like crap. I'd rather have the whole thing beaded or preferably brushed than this pinto effect. But a nice gun ought to have a nice finish, top and bottom.