Barrel and Slide Repaint?

[gandar]

I have a buffing pad on an electric motor, it looks a little ghetto but it does a great job of polishing stuff, just put some polish compound on it and giv'er skippy, comes out looking like a champ. Takes all the elbow grease out of it.... But correct me if I'm wrong... isn't buffing the same as polishing?...

[gzibin]

for the most part yeah it is, but if you were to go to a metal work shop, it'd be a completely different thing. I think anyways. I was just going to use car polish to do it. If thats wrong stop me please now!

[Freedom Fighter]

So how well exactly did the brass brush work on your gun? I know it's supposed to be softer than the aluminum your slide is made from, but did it get the paint off without causing any damage to the slide at all? Just got my new KJ and well, the paint job really has to go so I guess I'm going to have to do the same as you.

[gzibin]

you know, the damage (if any) was extreamly minimal. The only damage that you'll see on mine when I get it all compiled and pictures taken, was from what I did to try and get the paint off with a scraper :| and that wasn't smart. The BEST thing you can do is use that brass brush it was an excellent idea. But the outcome isn't s shiney silver its a slightly darker silver and gives it more of a beat up look. From what I could tell, the only way to get a shiney silver is to do a flat out repaint, but the beat-up look looks excellent for me. And I won't be painting the sights, I'll leave them black, looks cool to me. The pictures should be here in an hour or so if I can find my camera around here.

[Freedom Fighter]

Good show. Personally I don't want a chrome Beretta, but I really need to get rid of the stuff that's on there.

[gzibin]

Ok so IT'S DONE! I have attached some before and after pictures and a picture containing the 3 parts needed to be done. I'll just give a summery of what went down here. Important to note, I have a metal barrel and slide, DO NOT DO THIS FOR PLASTIC!!!

1) look on here for the post containing the parts breakdown picture for your gun, VERY nessisary for this project. Take the slide off and take it apart leaving the main three sections, slide barrel and I'll call it the bb catcher. Take the barrel apart so you have just the outside and same with the bb catcher. Take off the plastic sights too.

2) Get a bottle of paint remover from home hardware, its about 6 bucks or so, and pick up a brass brush at the same time.

3) wear gloves and goggles, I wore a t-shirt and got some of this remover on my arm, it burns, wear a long shirt too. Drench the area of paint that you're removing and let it sit for 5-10 min, then you should be able to easily take it off with the brass brush. You may do this a few times to get it all off.

4) after you are done I submersed all the parts in water to wash most of the remover crap off.

5) I used carpolish to do the barrel, not wax, just the polish, and it came out ok, but I wouldn't waste time again. It wasn't worth the lack of improvement.

6) put it all back together. Then I used my propane adapter and used TONS of oil because most was in water, and used up a full clip. Then I used 2 drop and fired some bb's out in the second clip, and she worked like a charm

Conclusion: I like the look that came out, it was a dull look not a shiney look. Plus it kept all the engravings on the gun which sanding would have eliminated and too much paint would have eliminated. I noticed that the base of the gun stick out a little in the front about 1 mm. It never did taht before, but the gun works 100 percent ok after all of this so I am assuming its just that way because of the layer of paint. It was a very thick layer. I don't know if you can paint after this is done. A gentleman (I am assuming if its a woman I appologize) posted a product here for repainting gun surfaces, if you wish to paint it after this, I'd reccomend atleast checking his product out. Can't vouch for it because I didn't use it, but its a good heads up.

Difficulty Rating: 2 / 10. I've never taken the slide apart but I have taken it off, very easy to do, and relatively quick to take apart and put back together
Epected outcome Rating: 8 / 10 It came out almost exactly how I expected. The only exception was the base sticking out a little.
Reccomendation Rating: 9 / 10 I would definately reccomend this mod to anyone looking for a cheap colour change. If you want shiney then I would consider painting after the fact.

Any questions feel free to ask. And if you know why the base now hangs out, let me know, but the gun works fine so it must be seated in there correctly.

[gandar]

Looks good man. It's got a little bit of a brushed look to it from the brass brush you used. Good show man, and using a metal polishing compound on it, specifically one made for aluminum (can't recall the name of the one I use, but it turns black after you've rubbed it enough for it to be complete... if someone can remember it, please, share).... Anyway, works like a champ with a cloth and little elbow grease at all... Use it on our snowmachines all the time.

[ILLusion]

If you want a shinier finish to it, I recommend the following after removing the paint:

1. Get some 1500-1800 grit wet-dry sandpaper and get to work on the slide. The best is if you sand it in a sink/bucket/tub full of water or just under running water. Try to follow one direction, but keep going till the surface is smooth as butter
2. Get a buffing wheel and some polishing compound (I use Dremel's No. 421). Jeweller's Rouge also works... that's how they get the shine in metal. Car polish pretty much won't do squat because that's meant for smoothing a clearcoat which is WAY softer than even zinc-aluminum die-cast potmetal. The grit in car paint polish will barely dent raw metal.
If you don't have access to a polishing wheel, then just get a bottle of Brasso from CanTire or Wal-Mart, get an old rag and put some elbow grease into it. You'll get similar results.

It's hard to see it in these old pictures taken of my old Glock with my old crap digicam, but the finish on the outer barrel is near mirror-like:

[gzibin]

you would get a simular result if you didn't sand right? You would just see the major scratches correct?

[ILLusion]

Not necessarily. That's totally dependant on how smooth the original surface was.

If they're painting over the surface anyways, chances are, they'll just totally skip sanding it smooth and just leave it pitted/rough and drop the enamel on.

The powdercoating process can leave the surface rougher than before the application.

So your slide for example, can be much nicer looking if you go through the process I mentioned.

[gzibin]

but if I sand won't I lose the engravings? That is why I ruled that out for me in the first place because I didn't want to lose those engravings.

[ILLusion]

of course you'll lose the engravings





.... if you sanded for a year straight with no rest!!!

Anything above 1200 grit sandpaper is very smooth and is used for final steps in polish preparation. You're probably thinking of a 100 or even 300 grit paper. 1500 grit is only slightly rougher than emery cloth.
Follow my recommendations, go to Canadian Tire and get a sheet of 1500 grit wet-dry sandpaper and get to work if you want that mirror finish. From your pictures, it looks like you might want/have to start off with a rougher grit to take out any serious pits/scratches before you move to the 1500 grit. Don't go any lower than 800 grit wet-dry as a starter. You might even be able to start with 1000 grit since you've already got all the enamel off.

But your surface could definitely use some smoothing out before you move to the 1500 grit if you want to get that mirror shine.

*BLiNG*

[gandar]

Personally, I'd just go with a 1200-1500grit, and keep the deeper grooves to give it a nice polished, but brushed look. Could look sweet.... And the name of that stuff... couldn't remember but I called my dad to ask him... Autosol. Works like a champ.

[gzibin]

I did 800 grit and then 1500 and am using "bluemagic" aluminum polish. All I can say is, THIS IS WORTH THE EXTRA TIME. Thank you Illusion, here is my position on this. To me it looks awckward but sweet. Its good personal touch though.

[gzibin]

Ok, here is the final finished product. It adds personality. I'd reccomend taking the extra steps after stripping the paint. WEll, enough said, here's the pics.