DagoRed Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Hey guys, I have a Rock Island Tactical II, the gun shoots fantastic, it's tight, accurate, trigger is great. the finish is blah and the edges of things a bit "crisp", but nothing to complain of. While I have had no feeding issues the ramp is not "shiny" and has a small gouge in it (was like that when I got it). it was real hard to capture in pictures. My grandfather used his dremel and polishing compound (just rouge I think) to polish the ramp on his 70s combat commander, to no ill effect. I was wondering: 1. if I have had no feeding issues yet do I need to worry about this? (maybe it is lower than the bullet is engaging, I'm shooting flat point xtreme 185s, I'd think there would have been an issue already) 2. I have read that it is very important to keep the ramp angle and the distance between the ramp and the barrel just right, is it safe for me to polish this myself? 3. last one, I know hard to tell from pic, but would simply polishing with rouge even get rid of a gouge like this? Thanks guys. red Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HI5-O Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 If it is working, don't need to fix it. I doubt if the gouge is having any effect on feeding as it looks way down the ramp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StraightUp_OG Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 1-No 2-yes 3-No Final verdict: if it ain't broke don't fix! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyhunter Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 The golden rule of gunsmithing is that the Dremel should be in the closet with a bowling ball set on it before any gunsmithing begins. I think it was the old John Wayne movie were he looked at some bad guy and said "He killed more men than smallpox!" I think Dremels have screwed up more guns than any other cause. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bountyhunter Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 If you insist on smoothing that ramp, get a small wooden dowel of suitable diameter (Home Depot sells an assortment) and wrap some #600 paper around it and sand up and down by hand. Don't go nuts with it, stay parallel to the ramp angle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alma Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 You're can also use fine sandpaper wrapped over the spent casing and use that. I like 600 to 1000 grit for this type of application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DagoRed Posted June 4, 2014 Author Share Posted June 4, 2014 I think I'll go the ain't broke don't fix it route, thanks guys for the advice. It seems mostly cosmetic, and since it's inside I won't sweat it. I concur on the Dremel being bad news. They're about as precision as a chainsaw. For an entry level 1911 I'm very very pleased w it functionally. Red Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmorris Posted June 12, 2014 Share Posted June 12, 2014 (edited) I think that is wise. Would suck to "fix" a gun that runs into one that doesn't. Edited June 12, 2014 by jmorris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pjb45 Posted June 13, 2014 Share Posted June 13, 2014 When I first got my Trojan I polished the feed ramp to a mirror finish. All my guns have a polished feed ramp. It is no big deal to do. Remember you are polishing not recontouring the ramp. Brian talks about doing with a spent case with very fine grit sand paper. Or Dremel with polishing compound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Endurokids Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 When I first got my Trojan I polished the feed ramp to a mirror finish. All my guns have a polished feed ramp. It is no big deal to do. Remember you are polishing not recontouring the ramp. Brian talks about doing with a spent case with very fine grit sand paper. Or Dremel with polishing compound. I polish all of my ramps and barrels. It looks good on the barrel and it's way easier to clean. I touch up all of the polished areas with 3M's 5000 grit Trizac paper by hand after cleaning to keep it up. It's pricey but I have easy/cheap access to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DagoRed Posted July 2, 2014 Author Share Posted July 2, 2014 Well I think I need to polish at least the throat of the barrel, might as well do the ramp as well. I was shooting a local match on Saturday and had a jam no joke on my last target of the course, 2 shots left to fire. Currently I'm shooting some flat point bullets, but this was the first jam I've had with over 400 through the gun. I think just to be on the safe side I'll do the polish. I'm also going to start another thread because I think I have an extractor tuning problem to deal with. Since I plan for now to shoot primarily 1911 I'd like to learn to do the work myself, even if I need to invest in a few things (extractor tensioner, gauge). Anybody here try the Ed Brown 1911 cd vs the Jerry Kuhnhausen books? My buddy bought the books and I asked if they had instructions for tuning up, smoothing up the 1911 and he said no. IDK if he didn't look well or if the cd might be better. input appreciated. Red Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heavyopp Posted July 2, 2014 Share Posted July 2, 2014 The 1st JK book doesn't go into tuning -- Its basics only but very detailed and a must read Supposedly the 2nd JK book goes into tuning but I don't have that one to confirm... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DagoRed Posted July 2, 2014 Author Share Posted July 2, 2014 Thanks. I guess I could get it too just for reference materiel, never hurts to have lots of information. Red Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOF Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 Dremel offers soft cotton polishing tool heads. I have a conical one. Take a small container of jeweler's rouge, spin up the Dremel polishing bit, dip it into the jeweler's rouge and polish away. It turns feed ramps glass smooth and doesn't change contours. A lot of feed ramps have tool marks. This clears them. Jeweler's Rouge is designed to polish fine... and expensive jewelry ... it doesn't cut metal... just makes it smooth & shiny. Does the same for feed ramps. BTDT. I think Brownell's carries all this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dranoel Posted July 9, 2014 Share Posted July 9, 2014 I concur. And while I can appreciate what was said before about dremels being a bad idea, much like guns themselves a dremel in the hands of the inexperienced and or foolish is a disaster waiting to happen. But used properly and carefully it can be an invaluable tool. Years ago I did a lot of work on 1911s for friends who liked mine. I started out polishing ramps the same way I did mine, dowel rod and sandpaper/emory from 600 gr all the way up to 12,000 gr. When finished they looked like they were chrome plated. But it took DAYS. I tried using a dremel on an old military 1911 starting with the fine scotchbrite wheel to start and then polishing with a buffing wheel and rouge. End result? I honestly could not tell the difference between my hand polish jobs and the dremel. But the dremel job took less than two hours. The biggest mistakes most people make with the dremel is using the wrong speed and trying to take too much off all at once. A lot of people use a speed that is too slow for the bit they are using on the particular material and the bit chatters and jumps and gouges something you didn't want to touch. Or they turn it up too fast for the bit to work effectively and then put more pressure on it to get it to cut. This usually leads to broken bits and gouges or the pressure slows the bit speed and suddenly it cuts deeper than you wanted to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DagoRed Posted August 19, 2014 Author Share Posted August 19, 2014 Well I went ahead and let my grandpa polish it, he'd done his and it came out well. I have not shot it yet but if I can get a babysitter I'm going to try a shoot this weekend at the club. I'll report back. it looks much better, but it made me nervous, I couldn't watch half the time. I'll put some before and after pics up too, if it works out well Red Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garp Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 I just polished a feed ramp on one of my guns this past weekend. I started with 400 wet/dry wraped around a empty case. Just a few lite strokes to get the sanding going the right direction. (sanding the same direction the bullet tip would travel up the feed ramp) As stated, only a few strokes with this low grit count. One does not want to remove metal with to many strokes. I moved to 600 w/d wrapped around an empty case. Sanding duration depends on how you preceive what finish you desire. I then moved to using 1200 w/d to achieve a mirror like finish. Again, wrapped around an empty case, using sanding storkes going in the same direction as the bullet tip would tavel up the feed ramp. Here is where I committed my sin to some. I used my Dremel tool. Please, don't throw the Holy water at me and call me heathenistic names just yet!! I used the polishing wheel (not the one that looks like a bullet) with just a small dab of Mothers Polishing compound. I held the Dremel so the wheel was spinning in the same direction as my sanding strokes. Thus, producing a final mirror finish. Some may ask why I needed to polish the feed ramp when the gun worked just fine as is. Answer: I have guns, so there fore I am drawn to theme. To tinker, dissasemble, reassemble. To shoot, to clean. To do it all over again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billm67 Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 do the dowel rod and sandpaper if you must polish it. Power tools can get you in trouble fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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