Should I polish the underside of the slide?

[sgt-spam]

I got my Mil-Spec back from SA today and immediately noticed the action was not as smooth.

They installed a dovetail front sight and refinished the slide. They didn't re-finish the frame (yeah, they don't match), and they installed a brand new idiot mark beneath the slide stop. We'll save those for another thread though... :mad: :mad:

The custom shop had previously done some work to the gun, which I made note of in my repair letter, but that was obviously discarded when they received my gun.

All I have is a Drem*** tool at the moment, and I've found about a hundred billion threads about polishing (or not to) and the like...

The question here is, will the added (noticeable) friction adversely affect the functionality of the gun and the tuning that the custom shop did? Should I make an effort to polish the underside of the slide to smooth things out?

[pa_guns]

Hi

I'm a little confused here. Most of your post deals with cosmetic details....

What part of the slide are you planning to polish?

What has changed on that part of the slide to make you believe it's the problem?

Bob

[sgt-spam]

What was previously polished from some work I had done is now freshly Parkerized - they didn't cover that part up or re-polish it after they park'd the slide...

It's the part of the slide, underneath, that rides on the spring / nub that protrudes from the top of the frame.

[pa_guns]

Hi

Are you talking about the disconnector riding on the bottom of the slide?

Bob

[sgt-spam]

The disconnector - yes. Parts diagram here helped out a bit. :blush:

[pa_guns]

Hi

I wouldn't worry about it. The hammer will wear it smooth pretty fast.

Bob

[luvshooting45]

dont use the dremel if you do polish it, tripple o steel wool and elbow grease ide let the hammer smooth it out as bob said shouldn't take long .

[pa_guns]

Hi

The real question is why the slide is rough now.

Bob

[luvshooting45]

depends i no mine meaning my trp has small fine groves little tiny slashes sounds like a zipper when u rack the slide there there to keep oil in place his problem is it has parkerazation all over i really dont no if that will cause a problem i guess a pic might help so we can judge the problem better for him ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[John]

Emery clothes and elbow grease!

[Tom]

Emery clothes ...
What are you masochistic Greeks wearing these days? LOL

The word is "cloths", not "clothes". Cloths are what you use for washing or polishing. Clothes are what you wear on your body.

Silly man. And you dare make fun of my Google-translated Greek! LOL

They didn't re-finish the frame (yeah, they don't match) ...
Give the slide a good coating of oil and let it soak for several hours. Repeat this several times. After a short while I bet the newly Parkerized slide will start to match your older, seasoned frame.

Did you send the entire pistol back just to have the sight replaced? Why not just send them the slide? When I had my front sight replaced, that's all I had to do.

[sgt-spam]

I sent the pistol, not just the slide.

Each time I've talked to SA, they've explained the importance of Park'ing the whole gun so it matches. I sent the whole gun in the event they would dovetail the slide, so the whole gun could be refinished. Go figure.

I will see if the oil helps. The current finish on the frame is only a month old...

Hopefully I'll have a chance to shoot it this afternoon.

While I'm glad the sight is fixed (and I hope it stays that way), I don't understand why they wouldn't take the time to make it 'right'... I also don't understand why they didn't call like I asked, as I would have paid to have some additional stuff done while it was there.

[pa_guns]

Hi

Have you called them and asked them about it?

Bob

[sgt-spam]

Hi

Have you called them and asked them about it?

Bob

No, but I will. It's been to SA four times since Jan. when I bought the gun. I wanted to cool down a bit before calling again.

100 rounds this afternoon and five or six times the gun wouldn't return to battery. It ran flawlessly before, so the Park job did something...

Seemed to shoot OK besides that.


Thanks.

[Tom]

100 rounds this afternoon and five or six times the gun wouldn't return to battery. It ran flawlessly before, so the Park job did something...

Not that am not discounting the possibility of the refinishing being the cause, but have you tried different magazines and ammo? When the gun fails to return to battery, is it with one magazine, or on the last round of the magazine? Are you using factory ammo or reloads?

Just trying to eliminate some possibilities.

Also, when they refinished the slide, they likely removed the extractor for the process. I wonder if there is something gumming up the extractor tunnel, or if they put in a different extractor (they do all look alike). Have you checked the extractor tension?

[sgt-spam]

Not that am not discounting the possibility of the refinishing being the cause, but have you tried different magazines and ammo? When the gun fails to return to battery, is it with one magazine, or on the last round of the magazine? Are you using factory ammo or reloads?

Just trying to eliminate some possibilities.

Also, when they refinished the slide, they likely removed the extractor for the process. I wonder if there is something gumming up the extractor tunnel, or if they put in a different extractor (they do all look alike). Have you checked the extractor tension?

Thanks for the ideas. The ammo was WWB. I had ten magazines with me; four were used twice and the rest just once. I'm pretty sure it wasn't all on the same mag., and it wasn't always the last round (half and half I'd say). Magazines are all from SA (the Loaded coupon).

I'll look through the guides again here and check the extractor tension.

Thanks. :)

[pa_guns]

Hi

Before you go totally crazy, try another brand of ammo. Every so often a "dud" batch does get out in the open market.

Bob