Polishing The K9 PICTURES INSIDE

[Flieger]

BirdsThaWord,
Amazing job! That must have taken more hours than you imagined before starting the project. It’s now too pretty to shoot, but it’s a looker.

[BirdsThaWord]

BirdsThaWord,
Amazing job! That must have taken more hours than you imagined before starting the project. It’s now too pretty to shoot, but it’s a looker.

Thanks man! Yes, way too many hours. I need to get out into the garage and get it done. Between the heat, humidity and mosquitoes, it takes a bit of motivation. Just the inside of the trigger guard and a few more hours on the slide to go.
I see you are retired Navy. I served on the Independence (CV 62) and Carl Vinson (CVN 70). Were you ever on either one?

[BirdsThaWord]

I was able to get myself to finish the slide and frame. Glad that's over! I hope to assemble it, or at least start to tomorrow. I polished the trigger bar and where it rides against the frame, so hopefully I'll remember to snap some shots of that before gets all put together. I will be shooting the snot out of it, but will treat it with love (range queen).

[yqtszhj]

I can’t wait to see it assembled. Awesome polish job.

[BirdsThaWord]

I can’t wait to see it assembled. Awesome polish job.

Thanks! I super can't wait!

[Bawanna]

A lot of work in that. Beautiful.

[BirdsThaWord]

A lot of work in that. Beautiful.

Yes sireee! Thanks for the compliment!

[BirdsThaWord]

Ok, so pretty much done. A few issues... Neither the factory grip screws fit (protrude into the magwell preventing mag insertion) nor do the aftermarket screws (screws to short to reach the frame on the bottom). Too brain fried after getting the trigger back in to even think about that stuff for a while. Second issue is the REALLY poor fitting rear sight (pic attached). Not sure what they were thinking there. Forget if I got those from Kahr or flea bay, but again, thats for another day when my brain isn's smoking (about to crack a coldy over this). Function check is fine. New stainless guide rod in there too. New grips came in for a Kimber, so snuck a shot of it in there too! Lastly, a shot of the trigger bar contact point of the frame. It was difficult getting in there. I polished both sides, so it will also ride smoother against the grips. I have not shot, or pulled the trigger in a while, so I can't tell you if there's any seat of the pants difference in feel, but she feels smooth as buttah!

[Bawanna]

That rear sight isn't even close to being the right one for that gun.

Every thing else looks marvelous. I've heard installing the trigger and trigger bar are a bit of challenge. Never went there myself. Hopefully will never have to.

Did you try the grip screws out of the Kimber for length, might just work. Not sure what Al uses for screws on his grips.

[BirdsThaWord]

That rear sight isn't even close to being the right one for that gun.
Right! I hope I can find who/where I got it from. Hope they will make it right.

Every thing else looks marvelous. Thank you sir! I've heard installing the trigger and trigger bar are a bit of challenge. Never went there myself. Hopefully will never have to. This one and a Bersa Thunder Pro I did once will go down as the toughest. Bersa takes the toughest though as there are zero videos, blogs, etc about anyone taking one all the way down. I had to take a lot of pics and make drawings as I went. Yes, I hope you never have to. The trigger pin requires an arbor press. Absolutely would not budge with hammer and punch. Getting the trigger spring and spacer alligned for reinstallation was the brain fryer. Lol!

Did you try the grip screws out of the Kimber for length, might just work. Not sure what Al uses for screws on his grips. Now that's a great idea. I have a few guns I can try screws off of, as well as a few sets of grips screws in my "extras" box. Thanks for the idea! Once I get the right ones I will be polishing the heads too. (Of course, Lol!)

On a side note, once I complete the little AMT, it's on to the MK9. I already have the LL grips, but waiting on the mag sleeve and floor plate. I want to put a stainless guide rod in it, and new sites as well. I just have to take a break from polishing and spending, or I may be a single guy soon! Lol!

[yqtszhj]

Those grips with that polished pistol just makes the whole project sing. Very nice work.

[Alfonse]

Wow. You do nice work. Thanks for sharing it.

[b4uqzme]

^^^ Beautiful work. FYI - I've filed down grip screws before. It's easy. Just file a little, test and repeat. It's even easier if you have a grinding wheel. Hope that helps.

[BirdsThaWord]

Thanks guys!
b4uqzme, I have considered that. Problem is, the one's that are too long are the flat head, not hex/allen in stainless that I'm wanting on there. I think once I find longer ones, your approach is most likely what I will have to do. Man, can anything be easy with these things?

[Alfonse]

I missed the grip screws thing earlier. The factory grip screws should work fine. They do on both of my K9s with those grips. One pretty easy way to take up some space that has another advantage is taking a small o-ring and putting it under the screws. You have to find a pretty thin one. The additional advantage is it keeps the screws from backing out while shooting too.