When you really want to impress your customer or your good buddies -- On a hand polished piece of gun metal, such as an action of parts of an action, what is your final polishing step, and what equipment do you use for that final step.

I hand sand it with 8oo grit sand paper.I have hot blue tanks & they come out pretty nice. Make sure to catch every nook & cranny.

Renaissance wax

No one wants high polish Weatherby rifle polish any more. For you young guys, turn back your DeLorean to 1966 and you will see plenty of them. Hideously glossy then, and now. At least no one I know, or build rifles for, does. If you mean internal parts, super high polish is not required either. Steel has to be able to hold oil.
That is why rust blue is so popular; definitely not high polish.

quote:

Steel has to be able to hold oil.

dpcd
That is very true and not understood by many.
Under a microscope the surface of steel has peeks and valleys. On an action people should try just fine sanding the "peeks" and let the "valleys"hold the oil, and see that it works very well. Brian

I'm 80 years old & still like a polished gun. Any body can throw it in the sand blaster & then blue it. Look at the old Colts & Smith & Wesson.

Critters see highly polished guns too easily, too. I wonder about people who want their firearms looking like kostbaren schmuck.

I want permission to use that term, kostbaren schmuck.

Yawohl! It is probably bad German, but you're welcome!

Didn't take much: VZ24

Accepting that the receiver ring is the easy part, that looks pretty good, Rich. Regards, Bill

quote:

Originally posted by sambarman338:
Yawohl! It is probably bad German, but you're welcome!

Nothing bad;
https://www.google.com/search?...GKAB&sclient=gws-wiz

RichJ

Good. Now how did you do it, and what did you use to do it? And what particular action is that?

I'll answer; that is a VZ24 with the double tailed Lion Crest. (Czech). One of the best, if not THE best, military actions to use. Certainly the best for uniformity of heat treatment. Year to year.
It is not polished to mirror finish, as some apparently still like.
He will tell use the grit he used.

quote:

Originally posted by sambarman338:
Critters see highly polished guns too easily, too. I wonder about people who want their firearms looking like kostbaren schmuck.

Hunyaks, more than likely.

I always have the action body surface ground then go from there, and rust blue..BTW there are stages of shine in a polishing wood or metal, its not all gloss! Keep in mind that sand blast is a bunch of holes that hold "oil" but also hold water! The popular bead blast has a tendency to rust in the field. Most hunters have learned that the hard way,,

light draw file and sand paper. and yea that was the easiest part to do.

I've never had a problem with a highly polished/blued finish in the field.

I consider that if I'm doing my part correctly.....the only part of my rifle, that the game animal will possibly see, is the hole at the muzzle.

If not......well...I guess that's why they call it hunting....and not shooting.

Everyone's mileage....can,and will,vary.

Kevin

Do all VZ-24s have that Lion's crest on the front ring?

By the way, how does one lengthen a 1909 Argentine floor metal to take longer cases

No. There are other markings on VZ24s. I can show you all the markings and crests, like BRNO, the ones just dated, and the Rumanian crest, but not here.
You cut the front out and weld in a U shaped piece for longer cartridges, but I no longer recommend doing that.
You can also thin the back wall. Realize that Argentines are often soft and will set back with anything but the original 7.65.
What cartridge do you want in a 98?
Oh, high gloss rifle metal; just no. Garish, hideous, ugly. I don't care what they do to game; that is irrelevant.
I know, some like them. Not me. I. yuck.

I just have three of the bottom metal, was thinking about using them in mausers that don't have that feature like the vz-24. I like that one with the lions crest in Olson's book on page 169.

high polish makes me think of nice rifle that had all the edges buffed away crests that dissapered etc

Does polishing so much off the receiver ring weaken it at all? I seem to recall reading that Old Mausers are made of relatively soft steel, hardened on the outside.

No; you aren't going to polish off enough steel to weaken it. In fact, you can grind off a lot of steel off the outside with no ill effect.
Mausers are made from basically 1020 steel, case hardened, you are right about that. But the locking surfaces on the inside are much more important.
The 98 Mauser is a wonderful design, and very forgiving. Also each maker treated them differently, from soft steel suitable for low pressure 7.65 ammo, to modern alloy steel. Each year and maker is different.

" Realize that Argentines are often soft and will set back with anything but the original 7.65."


David Miller didn't seem to think that the 1909 Argentine was too soft to use for a custom Rifle.

Douglas would not barrel my 1909 (in 7x57) until it came back from Blanchards. This was in 1990-ish

How has it worked out for you since you had it barreled?

How do you know if he didn't have them re-hardened?

quote:

Originally posted by Kolo-Pan:
" Realize that Argentines are often soft and will set back with anything but the original 7.65."


David Miller didn't seem to think that the 1909 Argentine was too soft to use for a custom Rifle.

Done by Bobby Debaney, trinidad guy. Spent time in aftica then worked at getting Iron Works gunstore going in NYC. I think used to own a gunstore in Lorain, OH.

polish with hones is a good idea and it works but time consuming..

David Miller had those 1909’s re-carburized often by Lone-Star Heat Treat in Texas

I used them for a few 09’s until they decided to discontinue the service

Great Company