Blindsided by S&W 43C

[SeriousStudent]

Ive been using wet-or-dry sandpaper, 320, then 400, then 600, on a piece of glass. You can go finer, 1000 or 1200 I believe, but 600 grit is a mirror polish, making very sharp image reflections, a finer polish than any factory finish Ive seen. The idea is 320 to clean up factory machine marks (or file marks if youve been working on something, like flat topping a Ruger SA), the 400 to remove the 320 marks, and 600 to remove the 400 marks. Stop well before you think you should, you dont have to take off a lot of metal unless simply going for looks, and the dimensions arent that critical. A small nail, head and tip removed for a uniform diameter, and a small piece of the wet-or dry taped to it (tape one edge, wind around the nail and tape), and chucked in a drill (slow speed) can polish inside the hammer and trigger pin holes. The small triangular ceramic file stones from Brownells also cleans up many spots, and is perfect for cleaning up trigger and hammer edges and corners where they are often sharp. Clean it with warm tap water and dish soap, keeps them looking new. They turn black with metal particles quickly.

Very cool, I have copied that down.

I used the high-digit waterstones because I like to remove metal slooooowly. Plus, they were sitting on my work bench and I'm a lazy bastige.

Thanks again for the techniques, I may be using them on another wheelgun that will likely follow me home later this month.

[UNK]

Is there really such a thing as a .22LR snap cap? A-Zoom calls theirs "Action Proving Rounds" and says they aren't for dry fire:

Attachment 18752



I use yellow drywall anchors.

Attachment 18753

For rifle and pistol .22 dry fire I use this. Maybe they could be cut to work with revolver? http://www.larrysguns.com/Products/C...lugs__LGI.aspx

[Malamute]

Very cool, I have copied that down.

I used the high-digit waterstones because I like to remove metal slooooowly. Plus, they were sitting on my work bench and I'm a lazy bastige.

Thanks again for the techniques, I may be using them on another wheelgun that will likely follow me home later this month.

I think youll like it. I had a glass shop cut me a piece of 1/4" glass about 6x8 inch, they sand the edges to make them safe. Be sure they understand it isnt for a window or they may not sand it at all. i asked for minimal sanding, just enough to make it safe to handle. I told them it was for polishing small gun parts and I wanted to be able to get into a corner as tight as I could. They did a fair job. It may be worth asking to leave one side nearly unsanded (JUST barely enough to be safe), and do the other 3 a bit more for handling comfort. It makes a perfectly flat surface to work parts on. Ive noticed my stones wear unevenly over time, the glass and wet-or-dry ended up working very well. I cut pieces of the paper in sizes adequate for what I'm working on.

If you want to go slow, use finer grade paper and keep checking it. You need to keep changing the area you work on or get a fresh piece of paper pretty often. A couple sheets of each goes a long ways though. If you cut it up into smaller pieces, write on the back of each piece what the grade is. Its easy to lose track.

Besides a nail, you can also use the shank of various size drill bits, chucked in the drill backwards for polishing holes. Ive been doing that for an AR rifle barrel extension opened up for M4 upper to match the ramps.

[SeriousStudent]

Sweet, there is a glass shop on my way home from work. I've printed your post and will ask them to cut me one.

Thanks again!

[Malamute]

Glad its of use. Little tricks like that arent much good kept to oneself. Let us know how it works out for you. The perfectly flat surface is nice when working on most gun parts. Its also interesting starting to polish things like Ruger hammers, and realizing they arent all that flat when you start.

Smiths can benefit from a slick up to some degree (without going crazy), Rugers often show large improvements in feel with an action slick up. If doing any Ruger revolvers, take the mainspring assembly apart and deburr and polish the 4 sides and corners of the mainspring strut. I think they are die punched out and barely, if at all, deburred.

[SeriousStudent]

Interesting. I've only got two Ruger revolvers - a Single Six .22 and a blued 3" GP-100 that used to belong to Dagga Boy and before that Chuck Haggard. It's been smoothed out nicely.

I wish there were more of the old used Model 10's that you used to be able to snag for less than $200, that would be an idea test bed to learn on. Now they are close to $350, and that's a case of carbine chow.

[OlongJohnson]

Is there really such a thing as a .22LR snap cap? A-Zoom calls theirs "Action Proving Rounds" and says they aren't for dry fire:

I use yellow drywall anchors.

Attachment 18753

Yellow drywall anchors are universal in the rimfire world. But they don't feed very well in semis.

Tipton Snap Caps 22 LR

22lr Plastic Safety Snap Caps/24 Pachmayr 3200

They wear out pretty quickly, though. This is one reason I have the habit of being on mailing lists and stopping in the local Academy when I'm driving by. Snap caps are one of the things that sometimes are discounted massively.

Glad its of use. Little tricks like that arent much good kept to oneself. Let us know how it works out for you. The perfectly flat surface is nice when working on most gun parts. Its also interesting starting to polish things like Ruger hammers, and realizing they arent all that flat when you start.

Smiths can benefit from a slick up to some degree (without going crazy), Rugers often show large improvements in feel with an action slick up. If doing any Ruger revolvers, take the mainspring assembly apart and deburr and polish the 4 sides and corners of the mainspring strut. I think they are die punched out and barely, if at all, deburred.

Agree with the Ruger advice. Mine came out surprisingly nice.

I like to use the small-diameter stones. They are dedicated for working on guns, so they don't get worn out doing other stuff. I use baby oil because it's cheap and doesn't hurt anything when it gets on my skin. Dispensed from a needle tip bottle. I picked up most of the stones from Enco before they were absorbed by MSC Direct, when they would have significant discounts site-wide and free shipping with no minimum.

Midway sells a set that is almost identical to the one Brownell's sells, for about half the price. It's rare that I buy anything from Brownell's, as they are usually the most expensive place to buy anything they sell.

You can get that set, plus the same thing in a coarser grit that will knock down the big lumps and rough edges a little faster, from Zoro tools. Good vendor, I use them a lot. They also sell through ebay. They often have hardware that's difficult to find anywhere else, and if you get on their mailing list, they sometimes have substantial site-wide discounts.

[NEPAKevin]

Late shooting buddy of mine used to keep heavy rubber bands in his shooting box and had some creative ways of fitting them to use for dry firing rim fire guns.

[Eastex]

I like the old school,stocks on there. After shooting and seeing how light the recoil was it started me wondering what the lightest set of stocks are that fit on a J frame?


"Hell bent on being intentionally anachronistic"

[Gun Mutt]

My wife's around-the-house gun, she dubbed it Little Boy Blue, which of course, makes me respond, You're my boy, Blue!

S&W 351c holding 7rds of .22mag. Heavy trigger, but a lovely shooter: