BEWARE of Idiot Scratches on polymer frame when reassembling your pistol!

[deadeye]

If you find a solution, let me know what it is. Mine isn't as deep as yours but it is there.

[kahrinca]

PlastX works great for smooth shiny surfaces. Been using it for years. For what you want, not so much/don't at all think so. As others have said, anything you try to do to fix this will very most likely make matters worse. Understand your frustration but this is one of those best to just live with it thingys.

Thanks for your input. Will not get the PlastX for now, and will not do anything at all for the time being. But I remain open to reading other comments.

Saving grace may be that I don't see myself selling this gun for a long while, if at all, so cosmetics are not as important as in the past where I usually end up selling most of my handguns years later.

And it's not really noticed unless gun is placed on its right side on a flat surface and one looks up at it from below the trigger guard, as in the photos without flash, above.

Below is how it looks with flash and high contrast- kind of 'ugly-nasty', worse than in normal light.

Since I am a left-handed shooter, I don't look in the area all that much unless I am taking gun down. Later, and after this photo, I applied a black Sharpie to the area and it looked worse, so I removed it.

[kahrinca]

Thinking out of the box here because I doubt you will come up with a good solution. What if you went to the local used car lot and asked to talk to the guy who does their vinyl interior repairs? They are trained to match the color and the texture of plastic surfaces. He might be able to fix it reasonably or tell you how to do it.

Something to consider, but this isn't vinyl. But I may do that and show a photo depicting the scratches and mention that it's a hard polymer.

[Armybrat]

Your scratches don't look bad, IMO. You oughta see the one along the bottom edge of my CW45 slide where the stop left a 2" mark when I reassembled it the first time several years ago.

[berettabone]

Must be tough to be a gun owner, and have all pristine firearms.......................................... ...some of mine are, and some aren't..............................they do get marks on them, which means they are being used. If you don't use them, and just sit and stare at them, might be time to sell them, or get a slingshot............

[Armybrat]

Well, do ya think it's a little late to buff out one of my '51 Navies?

[kahrinca]

Must be tough to be a gun owner, and have all pristine firearms.......................................... ...some of mine are, and some aren't..............................they do get marks on them, which means they are being used. If you don't use them, and just sit and stare at them, might be time to sell them, or get a slingshot............

I like them without marks or scratches for aesthetic reasons. I take pride in that and always think of resale down the road. I tired of my CW9 after 5 years and did not shoot it all that much so it was time for a change and I sold it. That gun had become 100% reliable and was in excellent cosmetic condition.

[kahrinca]

Well, do ya think it's a little late to buff out one of my '51 Navies?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I would never want such a firearm unless it were valuable for investment purposes.

[Armybrat]

I like the history such an old gun conveys. Somehow an antique that spent its life in a town clerk's sock drawer doesn't say much to me. I don't buy guns for investments anyway, plus that one was given to me.

But yes, a new gun is one to avoid getting dings & scratches on, like you would a new car to keep it looking as good as possible as long as possible.

[muggsy]

Nothing that I know of will remove a deep scratch from polymer and anything that you try to do to remove the scratch will just draw attention to it. It isn't necessary to hold the slide stop against the frame when turning the slide stop from 4 to 3 0'clock before pushing it in. It's only necessary that the slide stop pin be properly located within the kidney shaped hole. That prevents scratching the gun during reassembly. Consider the scratch a character mark. It won't affect how the gun shoots in the least.

[kahrinca]

Nothing that I know of will remove a deep scratch from polymer and anything that you try to do to remove the scratch will just draw attention to it. It isn't necessary to hold the slide stop against the frame when turning the slide stop from 4 to 3 0'clock before pushing it in. It's only necessary that the slide stop pin be properly located within the kidney shaped hole. That prevents scratching the gun during reassembly. Consider the scratch a character mark. It won't affect how the gun shoots in the least.

It might've been better if the owner's manual and 'proper prep of a new kahr' did away with the 4 o'clock suggestion. Perhaps it was included to ensure that the slide stop spring becomes situated above that landing on the stop.

Live and learn...

You may well be correct about scratch removal with these polymer frames. I will just live with it and move on, unless there is a surefire DIY remedy that works. It appears NOT. Haven't really found much to be of benefit here or while doing a Google Search.

I'll admit that I've been tempted to place a heat gun over the frame, while on 'high'- go to 2:15 of the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7vS6F8EHxI

According to the video, it is supposed to cure the plastic/polymer and help with scratches by not completely eradicating them but returning them to original color, making them less noticeable.

But I hesitate to do so based on other DIY remedies (on firearms) where condition had worsened, and made me even more upset. In this case, the scratch area is very close to the slide stop spring and its holder- would not fare well if that area melts. Then I'd really go nuts and probably suffer my first seizure if not coronary...

But wonder if anyone here has tried this method on a polymer frame?

In any event, thanks for your comments.

[gb6491]

If you got a bead blaster or have access to one, that might be worth a shot.

Any sanding would probably make it stand out worse than it is.

I honestly don't know if a bead blaster or sand blaster would do anything or just bounce off but it might help camouflage it a bit.

Very fine stippling with a wood burner but you'd probably have to come up with a pattern or something and do both sides as again it would stick out worse than the scratch.

It's been my experience that Bawanna is correct on all accounts.
Stippling will cover up that up.
Sanding: It seems that polymer has a "skin" where it was in contact with the mold, hence the slight shine/satin finish: sanding will definitely cut through that "skin" leaving you with a much flatter appearance.
Bead blasting can "camouflage" scrapes and bruises on polymer, but again you will have a much duller finish, so I think it best to blast the entire frame.
That's what I did to this P250 frame (actually, the whole gun has been blasted as this was a nitron coated slide)

Now, with that all said, let me share this with you. BTW, This is not a "how to" just what I did, so proceed at your own risk.
It's hard (impossible?) to match the polymer finish as it comes from the mold, but I've had some luck blending scratches on/in polymer frames with the surrounding area.
Here's a S&W Shield that I sanded down the trigger guard and then blended the sanded area:

The technique I use needs some finesse, a striking instrument, 80 grit sand paper (other grits could be tried as well), and a green scouring pad.
I'd advocate practicing technique on any similar plastic that would be suitable. I think it easier to explain what I do with a video and had thought to use a polymer kitchen knife handle to illustrate, but noticed that there was a small gouge on the front of my CW9's dust cover. Here's what I did:

Before

After(not perfect, but IMO, better

Regards,
Greg

[kahrinca]

Thanks, GREG!

I will try to learn about your method but unable to view the video because it's listed as 'Private'.

[gb6491]

Thanks, Gary. I will try to learn about your method but unable to view the video because it's listed as 'Private'.

It should be published now.
Regards,
Greg

[Bawanna]

That's brilliant GB. Super idea and it worked quite nicely.

I couldn't help but think of a wood pecker when you had the hammer on hi speed. I laughed some.

We done as usual. I have a couple spots I might have to try that treatment on myself.