What to use? Polishing..

[Scubastevie00]

My buddy just called me while he was out. He wants to polish his barrel/feed ramp ect... What should he use? Emory cloth? Thanks...

[niemi24s]

What should he use?
Your buddy should use the greatest care. Lots of frames and barrels get messed up really bad by folks whose guns don't really need them polished at all.

Does your buddy want to polish in an effort to fix a feeding/functioning problem, or does he just want to make the ramps look pretty?

[Scubastevie00]

Mainly feed issues from the ramp not being polished... Its a RIA compact...

[niemi24s]

OK, so your buddy says his gun has "feed issues". What is there that leads your buddy (or you, for that matter) to believe these issues are caused by the ramps and not the magazine(s) or the ammunition?

And what, precisely and in great detail, is the nature of these "feed isssues"?

I ask these questions simply because I'm hesitant to offer advice to a third party who (for all I know) has no 1911/1911 clone experience or no metalworking experience and have this third party botch the job - when the ramps may not even be the cause of the problem!

A close-up pic of the cleaned frame and barrel ramps taken with the slide removed and the barrel fully aft and down against the barrel bed would be most helpful.

Bear in mind that one of the leading causes of feeding problems is the magazine.

Cheers

P.S.: And botching a polishing job on the frame ramp can lead to very expensive machine shop repair.

[RickB]

I don't have a polished ramp on any of my guns, and they all feed fine. More likely a problem with the mags, or the dimensions of the frame or barrel, than the surface finish.

[gfavaron]

This feedramp polishing fad is a dangerous thing. Many many 1911's have been ruined by indiscriminate polishing. I would examine and test EVERY other possibility before attempting to solve a feeding problem through altering the ramp.

[Scubastevie00]

Thanks for the responses... I took care of it..

[niemi24s]

Hi Scubastevie00:

Hope we didn't turn you off by our responses.:o

Just wanted to make sure the gun really, truly needed it. Seen too many horror stories about frames and barrels goofed up by folks thinking the ramp's just absitively, posolutley gotta have a mirror-smooth surface to work right.

What was the fix?

Cheers