Tried Flitz on Old Revolver

I have used Mothers Mag wheel cleaner & polish to deep clean my stainless steel revolvers. Never was trying to actually polish them much, but more to remove oxidation & in the pores dirt so not much pressure needed. I have often heard of and sometimes seen pictures of how well Flitz works so I recently ordered a tube to use on the made in 1960, nickel plated S&W model 27 I bought a few months ago. I like how the Flitz works. It’s milder than Mothers.
Here is how it turned out
WARNING: GUN PORN BELOW




Turned out pretty good. Will have to try it on stainless next

 

Jaw on the floor!

That's a serious shine, and those grips look great.

 

WOW!

Good job!

 

Thanks. The gun came wearing K frame target grips. A friend gave me those grips. I intend to get a decent set of period correct magnas for it at some point when my wallet recovers from buying the revolver

 

Quite the looker!

 

When we took in vintage guns for resale when I worked at a gun shop, they all got a Flitz treatment before they were tagged.

 

I use Flitz on everything bullet moulds, tools, reloading dies and guns. Works great.

 

Mothers and Flitz has always been Bubba's favorite product. You can see it from a mile away. Nothing says "I have no idea how to polish a gun" like Mothers. Ever wonder why people spend rather large amounts of of money to get a gun polished right when they could just sit in front of the TV rubbing it with a rag instead? It takes time, equipment, and skill to do a decent job.

 

A nickel Smith Model 10 5in Detroit PD pistol is how I got into Flitz many years ago. The pistol was milky white at my local shop in MS. I bought it, and the girl behind the counter let me borrow her tube of Flitz and I got it to a mirror.

Your Model 27 is really amazing.

 

while using flitz on stainless guns, do you have to go with the grain of the brushed stainless or can you just swirl it around.

 

Does not matter. Flitz will make it look like a mess either way. Take it to someone that knows how to polish guns and has the equipment. Get it done right.

 

Who peed in your Cheerios? Maybe when you do it, you make a mess but that doesn't mean everyone does.
One of the key things is to not use a dremel or power equipment, or you probably will make a mess unless experienced

 

Flitz will make a mess of it no matter who does it. It puts a shine on the surface but it does nothing about the scratches or any other imperfections in the surface. It makes all the wear on the surface stick out like a sore thumb. Gun needs to be fully disassembled. Power tools are required along with the right wheels and abrasives. But a Dremel should never even be in the same room as a gun. If you don't know what you are doing you are just going to wreck it. Flitz on a plated gun is extra bad. Have to strip that plating off before working on it then put it back on when it is done. Its only about $1000 to get the tools to do the job right. That is less money than the value you lose after screwing up a couple guns with Flitz.

 

Seems to me the OP did an excellent job with Flitz and a rag for substantially less than $1000. On a plated gun, no less.

 

You can certainly get a nice shine on a nickel gun with Flitz. Mothers Billet Polish was my favorite but, discontinued. Pity. It was the least abrasive I ever found.

But, realize, that plating is only gonna stand up to a few polishings. You will wear through it with repeated polishings with any abrasive polish. And, a Polish must be abrasive to work.

Give it a good coat of wax and, the surface corrosion should be kept at bay for years.

Cue the chorus of people stating “Flitz is not abrasive!”

Yes. Yes it it. That’s why it works. When that rag turns black, that’s not dirt being removed. It’s metal being removed.

 

I use Flitz with one of these all the time on internal gun parts. Works for me.

 

Ive been looking at Graphene as a possible gun preservative/ coating lately. Its taking the automotive detail finishing world by storm as an easy and low- maintainance surface treatment.

 

Looks great!

Has anyone ever used Briteworks? It says they make a polish as well as a preservative for the shine.

https://briteworksinc.com/?page=products

Stay safe.

 

I once got a Deal on a nickel plated gun that had been polished too hard or too many times. One area had been cut through the nickel, exposing the copper strike. I finally couldn't stand it, didn't want to pay for refinish, so I passed it along to recover my money.

Interesting, I wonder about all those automotive products on guns.

 

I love flitz for the cylinder face of my SS revolvers about every 10th cleaning or so. I suppose mothers would do the same thing but to this point it’s for tunnels on vintage snowmobile resurrections. With either, any “scratches” will just be more obvious. With anything plated, options and number of opportunities will be limited.

Flitz also excellent for removing the metal transfer from pans in your porcelain sink.

OP’s results look excellent. I tend more toward wax than oil for longer term protection since you get to do the whole gun, stock and all without an issue of oil being absorbed onto the grain.

 

Yep, I realize that it’s possible to wear through the plating. It’s not something I would do regularly.

 

That's beautiful, sir, well done.

 

That’s a gorgeous revolver

 

Generally, the most desirable plating thickness is from 0.0005 to 0.0008 in. (from 0.0127 to 0.0203 mm). Thicker plating could leave a wavy or rough surface that might require refinishing.

 

I have been using Flitz occasionally (every couple of years if it needs it) on my nickel plated Colt Combat Commander for 40+ years now and I haven't removed any plating yet. I also use it on blued guns that need a bit of cleaning after being used for awhile. Does a great job of removing excess oil, powder residue, and just plain old dirt from the surfaces of the gun (also not showing any sign of bluing being removed). I don't use a lot of Flitz and when I do it's always with a clean cotton cloth and I do it very gently as it doesn't require a whole lot of "elbow grease" to get it to work.

Only use Mother's Mag Polish on stainless steel guns as I think it 's a bit more abrasive than Flitz and works very effectively on the stainless steel.

Some guns I clean up with Flitz:




Stainless steel guns shined up with Mother's Mag Polish: