I just picked up my sti spartan and I would like to make the barrel shiny! Is it possible to polish the barrel? I asked the guy at my local shop and he said if you do it will make the gun wildly inaccurate, but I think he misunderstood me, I meant the outside of the barrel. I know how to polish just don't want to ruin my gun.....O and what polish should I use?(if possible)
Polishing barrel?
- Thread starter lil_juiced_coupe
- Start date
Depending on how rough the barrel is (machining marks) you might need sandpaper to start with.
Just don't remove material around the outside of the muzzle, where it contacts the barrel bushing. However if you remove too much material, then you can always get a new, tighter barrel bushing.
Loose/sloppy barrel bushing to barrel fit = decreased accuracy. (probably what your guy at the shop was referring to, and he is partially correct.)
Just don't remove material around the outside of the muzzle, where it contacts the barrel bushing. However if you remove too much material, then you can always get a new, tighter barrel bushing.
Loose/sloppy barrel bushing to barrel fit = decreased accuracy. (probably what your guy at the shop was referring to, and he is partially correct.)
In polishing the barrel you make the outside diameter of the barrel smaller, not much, but some.
The barrel bushing holds onto the outside of the barrel, and is the part that aligns the barrel with the slide, which is where your sights are. So in making the outside diameter of the barrel smaller, you are loosening the alignment between barrel and sights, and therefore decreasing accuracy.
How much? That depends on how much material gets removed, the more you remove the bigger the groups get. Reducing the OD two thousandths of an inch, introduces four thousandths of an inch of play. On a 5.25 inch barrel that will open your twenty-five yard groups about three quarters of an inch.
Would it take some real effort to polish that much off a steel barrel? Yep.
Have enthusiastic folks with power tools managed to do so? Also; Yep.
The barrel bushing holds onto the outside of the barrel, and is the part that aligns the barrel with the slide, which is where your sights are. So in making the outside diameter of the barrel smaller, you are loosening the alignment between barrel and sights, and therefore decreasing accuracy.
How much? That depends on how much material gets removed, the more you remove the bigger the groups get. Reducing the OD two thousandths of an inch, introduces four thousandths of an inch of play. On a 5.25 inch barrel that will open your twenty-five yard groups about three quarters of an inch.
Would it take some real effort to polish that much off a steel barrel? Yep.
Have enthusiastic folks with power tools managed to do so? Also; Yep.
Apologies to the OP but I'd have to agree. Mine is pretty shiny as is. The only parts of the barrel that are normally visible are the chamber area when the slide is closed and the end when it's open. I'd be leery of polishing the end for the reason already stated- there needs to be a tight- and even - fit into the bushing. And if you overdid it and needed to replace the bushing, it would cost you $50+ for a match bushing from Brownell's, which would have to be lapped to fit. Admittedly, the amount of metal being removed would be miniscule, but since it isn't normally visible, why bother?
As to the chamber area, you could use the 3M Micro abrasive sheets sold by Lee Valley Tools. 5 micron= 2500 grit, .5 micron = 9000 grit. You'd probably only need the latter. But as mentioned by others, it will likely get scratches in use.
Stuart
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I have to disagree with the OP's smith........ I ALWAYS polish up the inside of my pistols barrels with JB bore Cleaner and then JB Bore Brite........ It makes all my pistols 'wildly accutare'. It also resists leading when shooting cast.
To polish the exterior, a polishing wheel on your bech grider and polishing media is all you need. Follow the link to Princess auto a previous poster gave and you should be just fine.
Cheers!
To polish the exterior, a polishing wheel on your bech grider and polishing media is all you need. Follow the link to Princess auto a previous poster gave and you should be just fine.
Cheers!
I suspect the 'smith was envisaging something fairly nasty being pushed down the barrel to polish it. JB's been around for ages and, in the words of the old Bon Ami label, "Hasn't scratched yet." (I wouldn't recommend Bon Ami for bore cleaning, however
) Stuart
