Purchased a P9 frame to customize

[jlottmc]

I know how to do it, I just don't have the time and materials anymore to do it. And by hand I tend to get rather impatient and end up leaving swirl marks and scratches. I am the worlds worst in that respect. Now if I was back in my shop, and some one had brought one in to do, well for some reason I was always more particular with their stuff than I ever was with mine. Besides, where I work now, a mirror through this thin uniform shirt would be beyond bad things and trouble. I'll leave it alone, when I change jobs maybe then I'll do something about it. That's still a couple of years away though.

[Bawanna]

I know how to do it, I just don't have the time and materials anymore to do it. And by hand I tend to get rather impatient and end up leaving swirl marks and scratches. I am the worlds worst in that respect. Now if I was back in my shop, and some one had brought one in to do, well for some reason I was always more particular with their stuff than I ever was with mine. Besides, where I work now, a mirror through this thin uniform shirt would be beyond bad things and trouble. I'll leave it alone, when I change jobs maybe then I'll do something about it. That's still a couple of years away though.

I can relate to that, I've never screwed up anyone elses gun that I've done stuff too but sometimes my own are questionable. For some reason I'm usually not afraid, always cautious but not as afraid to do stuff for others that I'm hesitant to do to my own. I'm trying this though. That's just gorgeous to me. I already started a week ago and looks decent but not no where near nice as this. Kind of chilled my jeweling idea too, this just looks sharp. We'll see how it goes.

[Copper&Black]

Some sun pictures...There are still a couple areas I might give a little more love.

[jlottmc]

You know the trigger needs love too. I'm just sayin...

[Bawanna]

We can rename that a survival gun now. You can signal aircraft if your ever lost, no longer have to carry a mirror. Dang that thing is looking just prime. You've set a way way high standard my friend. I sure don't see any spots that need more love myself but as every stroke of the polishing was done with our hand you will know more than anyone.

[Copper&Black]

Thanks! The trigger and the slide stop are getting polished. Luckly the slide assy came with a spare trigger so I'm already set. Also I will be putting a polished stainless guide rod in.

[Bawanna]

Thanks Guys



Thanks, I understand being apprehensive about taking sand paper to your slide. But 800 grit is the roughest I would use and it will leave it brighter then the rough texture your slide already has. Step it up slowly from 800 1000 1500 2000 then you almost won't even need to use the wheel with compound. You are essentially doing the same thing when polishing with just a wheel; you are removing material until you get down far enough removing any irregularity in the surface. Only with sand paper you can have more control of the specific areas and can sand it all down to one plain, not to mention worlds faster. With just a wheel it would be like trying to get a mirror finish in a car's paint job with a palm sander. Sure it might shine, but it will be wavy. For a mirror finish you need long blocks of not so coarse sand paper to get everything on the same level. The slide may look flat but when it comes to a reflection it is not.

Ok, I'm already stuck. Where do I go to get paper that fine. Brownells has 1200 and then it drops to 600. I already got the stainless guide rod a couple weeks ago so we're good to go there.

[jocko]

bawanna, if you go to any of those auto paint shops that sell to dealers they have that 3M paper in any gradeyou want. U can also go to walmart or to auto zone or O'Rileys and find that type of auto sand papers... No need to order that stuff, it is all around..

[Copper&Black]

Yup what Jocko said, the paper at the auto paint suppliers will most likely be better quality then the brands at a major auto parts store but won't make that big of a difference.

[Bawanna]

I came up with a better idea, why don't I just send my slide and stuff to Copper&Blacks house? He's already got it all figured out and that way I don't have to reinvent the wheel.
I thought about body shop supplies but didn't think even they went that fine, I figured they would laugh at me when I asked for some 1500 grit. I've spent most of my life looking dumb but I still hate it ya know.
I shall go in search of fine paper soon.

[jlottmc]

I had other second thoughts about doing that to my P45 now as well. They go something like this: Bright top+sights, sights get lost in light very easily with out something to break the reflection (serrated top), I sure don't have the capability to mill those into the top of my slide so I don't loose the sights. (Noticed when I was looking at my GP100, and it has them, and is shiny too.) I really like how it looks on yours, but I like the way mine shoots too. Let us know if you have any problems with that.

[Copper&Black]

I thought of this also, and if once it's complete and I'm not comfortable with the glare I'll simply mask off the area in between the sights and give it a quick glass bead blast, no milling needed, and it will give me a cool clear glass/etched glass look.

[jlottmc]

Now that would look cool. I wish I still had my shop, and the bead blasting cabinet. That was where my old man started me, then I moved to the boring block, and then to valve grinding. Gotta say though I DO NOT miss the boring block. We did a lot of automotive stuff and some prototyping as well. The prototyping was fun, but the boring block... that's what hell looks like, endless days on the boring block.

[Frankhenrylee]

One thing I've thought about is making the PM mag so that it does not show at all. This would give you a little more grip than the PM grip and a true flush mount. You would need some of those half moon cutouts in the sides though and probably have to smooth out a bit of a magwell to make it fit. Another benefit to duracoating the frame is you could go with a color that blends with your normal attire, camouflaging the gun so that it doesn't scream gun if someone sees it by accident. I've have heard that duracoat will chip though. Considering your taste in colors why not copper and black?

[Copper&Black]

As a matter a fact I've already pulled the trigger on what color duracoat the frame will get (pic below). And I also shortened up the 7 rd mag I had so that it now sits flush with the base. Took about 3mm out of the bottom and bent new tabs accordingly. She still holds a full 7 just looks a lot nicer.

Pics...
Duracoat color


Mag