Springfield Stainless Finish

[Bullauge]

I have a stainless Springfield Mil-Spec and I was wondering if anyone can tell me what the matte gray finish on the front and back strap and on top of the slide is. Is this bead blasting or some sort of coating? I'm assuming it's not parkered because it's not very thick.

The reason I ask is that, after making installing a beaver tail grips safety, I need to touch up some spots that required filing. Is this something only a gunsmith can do or is it something I can buy (cheaply) and do myself?

Thanks.

[John]

Bead-blasted stainless steel.

[olyeller]

some folks use scotchbrite pads to scuff it up back to a similar texture

[shuwtist]

I couldn't match the finish on the top of my slide after I scotch brighted it. So I sandblased the entire frame and re-did the top of the slide using aquarium sand and it came out awesome. Nice dark gray just like the original. I've be "thinking" of doing the entire slide that way, but can't decide if I like the polished sides more.

[Spindly61]

I sandblasted my Milspec and it turned out like this:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j242/Spindly61/DSC00273.jpg
I have redone it with many man hous in it and it looks like this:
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j242/Spindly61/DSC00102.jpg
This finish was done with scotchbrite after allot of prep.

[Bullauge]

I'm not sure I like the original bead blasted finish, so I was tinkering with the idea of removing it and making the frame and slide all uniform. I'm going to do some searches to see if there are others out there who have done the same thing and see how it looks. I suppose if worse comes to worse, I could just have a gunsmith return it back to the original matte finish on the top of the slide and the frame.

[Bullauge]

Well, no going back now! I ended up removing all of the bead blast texture from the frame. It's going to need a lot of prep work to get the steel nice and smooth. You can see the forging, or whatever, process in the steel. Lots of sanding ahead. :)

I'm not sure if I should be mad at myself or happy. Here I buy I brand new pistol that looked wonderful from the start and now all that remains is a stripped frame. I've only had it for 3 weeks! I've come to discover how much I love working on the 1911 as well as how much I've learned from tinkering. When I'm done, I'm hopeful that I'll be able to make this gun look as nice, if not better, than it did when I first got it. <crossing fingers>

I'll be posting pictures when it's complete. By the way, what does "in the white" mean? Is that what you call a part that isn't polished and has the dull sand blasted look?

[olyeller]

"in the white" refers to carbon steel without any coating.

What it really means is "better blue, chrome, or otherwise put a finish on it before it rusts all to heck".

[Spindly61]

Bullage,
Good luck on your project. I would like to see pictures when your done. One thing that I concentrated on while sanding and prepping, was maintaining the graceful lines of the 1911. I tried to make mine look like it came that way from the factory(with a slight carry bevel). Keep the sandpaper away from the lines of the pistol as much as possible. Remove the grip screw bushings and sand the sides flat. Whenever possible use something to back the sandpaper when working near the edges of the pistol. I found that P.V.C. in different diameters works great for allot of this. It helps maintain an even angle and will flatten out the waviness you will find under the bead blasted finish. It also helps out with the sore fingers you will get. :) Hope this helps.

[Bullauge]

Thanks for the advice. My thumb and a couple of fingers are so sore that I may have to take a day off to allow them to recover. :( I was making sure to be careful around the edges and I think I did a pretty good job so far.

The only things I left on the frame are the ejector and the plunger tube. I have some more goodies arriving from Brownells and Midway, so I'm sure I'll be down in the workshop doing some more tinkering.

I'll definitely post pictures when I'm done. Unless I mess everything up... then I'll just hide my shame by sitting in a dark corner rocking back and forth mumbling, "I should have left it alone.... I should have left it alone..." :)

[Spindly61]

"I should have left it alone.... I should have left it alone..."
:) I questioned myself also Bullage, I think everything will turn out just fine.
The fingers do heal.... honest.

[Bullauge]

The texture of the stainless steel is proving to be very difficult to get smooth. Even 180 grit sandpaper isn't having a huge affect on it. Perhaps it's just my tired and sore fingers. I believe a Dremel would be too aggressive in sanding down the parts. I've found that by wrapping some sandpaper around a carpenters pencil is very useful. Are there any other suggestions for smoothing out the steel? I'm almost willing to bet that I'm not being patient enough. :) It's a curse. I think I'm just eager to go shooting.

[Spindly61]

Patience and more sand paper. Don't go near a dremel, one slip and you will be in the corner saying "I should have left it alone". Welcome to the world of forged metals. Tough stuff isn't it? 180 grit is a little light in my opinion. Try some medium emery cloth it comes in 1" rolls I think. If that doesn't work drop down to course to flatten it out. Use the pencil or other backing to keep the emery cloth sanding just the high spots. It is a funny process, you sand and think you have it and go to finer and finer grades of paper. When you get up to the polishing process the flaws start showing up again. I got frustrated also. The best thing to do is take a break from it. You can still clean it up and take it out shooting. It is work in progress. I settled on the scotchbrite finish that you see in the photos I took. Trust me there is some waviness in mine also. The scotchbrite hides it some, but not allot.
It is funny but now that I did this to my pistol,every time I meet a gunsmith I have this sudden urge to either tip my hat or shake his hand. :)

[Bullauge]

Can one get emery cloth at a hardware store or something? I know what mean about the sanding and finding flaws... I have 180, 220, 320, 400, 600 and 1500 grit sand paper. Every time I think it's time to move to the finer grit, I find a spot that needs some more work. Two steps forward, one step back.

I am not contemplating the pursuit of a checkering job on the front strap. For now, that's something I'll decide on later. :)

I'm going to have have to remove the plunger tube so that I can get a uniform look on the left side of the gun. Other than that, everything is progressing nicely. Slow, but that's not a bad thing.

~ Matt

[olyeller]

Why not just get it refinished in duracoat and be done with it?

[Bullauge]

Because that would be too easy. ;) Besides, I like the look of the stainless pistols.

~ Matt