When people say they "polish" their action, what tools are use

[Notlongago]

So I know most of you pay the pros to do open up your loading port, polish the action, etc. well I have some beaters I'd like to try my hand at, but what tools, polishing compounds, techniques are used? Are there tutorials out there that could helps learn?

Thanks!

[Onagoth]

You could do some very light sanding with 1000 grit sandpaper followed up with a polishing with a dremel. I usually just use the polishing compound that came with the dremel kit.

In terms of where to polish, just shoot the gun for a while and look for the wear marks. Those are the friction areas.

[Nik Habicht]

Pretty much that......

The other suggestion is to consider looking at Patrick Sweeney's gunsmithing books -- they provide a pretty good guide......

[Thecelt]

cratex tips for a dremel work great. start with medium and then fine. like mentioned above you can hit anywhere you see wear marks. but otherwise it never hurts to polish the chamber as this helps with smoother function/extraction. the extractor groove and extractor plunger, the rails that the bolt carrier ride on, the bolt carrier, the shell stop or carrier latch (same thing but different manufacturers sometimes have different names). a dremel with medium grit cratex cant really hurt anything.

[bigbrowndog]

If you want to learn , then start doing it by hand first, use machines after you know what your doing.

[Thecelt]

just a heads up gunsmiths are well worth money spent because they also change angles, tuning, tweaking that most regular people know nothing about. polishing is only a very small portion of what goes into building a highly tuned gun... but doing some polishing on your own is well worth the effort and rewarding.

[HRider]

Good advice from Trapr. Metal or plastic, you can remove material easily, can't put it back in most cases. Go slow, take material off in small amounts until you get the desired effect.

Hurley

[BirdTown]

I worked for several years as an under paid helper. Roy would have fired me if I even thought about "polishing"a firearm action with any power tool. Use only high quality ceramic stones in fier and finer grits. Use only very fine crocus cloth. The idea is not to polish to a mirror finish. 1200 to 1500 grit will be all you need. Using polishing wheels will do more damave than good.

[George16]

And we just have a new response five years later..........

[BirdTown]

39 minutes ago, George16 said:

And we just have a new response five years later..........

 

Better late than never. I just had to put my thoughts in. This topic has been coming up in other forums usually in reference to M3000 or M3K. 

There does exist a very dangerous situation where some owners think that "polishing" every surface will help, this includes the locking lug area. Never ever do this!! You could end up munching on the bolt.