DIY Barrel polishing write-up

[Uraiit]

Thanks! I'll order some this week.

Jewler's rouge worked alright on the barrel, but your's just looks phenomenal! Still haven't gotten around to finishing the slide, so I'm gonna try your method to do the polishing on that as well.

[Bill in San Jose]

Here's my progress 'report'.

I bought some buffing compound, type E5 (ferrous, remove surface irregularities) at ACE hardware, and went to town on the slide. Most of the polishing I did was on the flat, visible surfaces, but I did clean-up the barrel itself quite a bit. Afterwards, I gave it all a good buffing with Blue Magic metal polish.

The 'lines' from the original machining are barely visible to my eye- but the flash from the camera really picks them up.

Overall, I'm really happy with how it came out- not quite the 'perfect' mirror finish I see on some other folk's, but a really nice upgrade to the XD.



And the slide with my brand new XS big dots. I tried the gold lacquer stick from Brownells to color-in the XD, and I'm not happy with how it came out. I'll remove it next time I clean the gun. I use electronic-grade pure silicon on the slide, gives it a smooth texture and I think helps waterproof it (or at least can't hurt it).


I was thinking, has anybody polished the takedown and slide release levers and the exposed parts of the trigger? Other than making the gun look like an Oakland Raiders souvenir , the bright metal against the black might look good.




.

[dasanii19]

No shot outs to Dasanii19 for introducing the Heavy metal polish to XD talk?

[rogerxd45]

Originally Posted by dasanii19

No shot outs to Dasanii19 for introducing the Heavy metal polish to XD talk?

well if i knew it was you i would.
but its nice to see we have some modest members here lol im just messing with you.

well thank you soooo much for the heavy metal polish. it is amazing stuff i use it on so many different things

[dasanii19]

Originally Posted by rogerxd45

well if i knew it was you i would.
but its nice to see we have some modest members here lol im just messing with you.

well thank you soooo much for the heavy metal polish. it is amazing stuff i use it on so many different things

After I got my XD I read about how some XD owners were "polishing their own barrels and what not so I said well hell, I bet that heavy metal polish would do just as good if not better. It really is amazing, I have used it on many things.

Anyways, nice step by step write up!! I was also getting a bunch of PM's asking "how to polish", now ill just link them to this thread. I gotta get some credit right? just a little bit? just a smidgen? tad bit? just a dab?

I have evidence I was the first!! Evidence I say!! Evidence!!

What kind of metal is the XD? - XDTalk Forums - Your HS2000/SA-XD Information Source!

[Bill in San Jose]

Has anybody done the 2 levers on the left side and their trigger's exposed metal? Any reason why-not to polish them, leaving rest of XD black?

And while dissembled, would polishing the contact points in the trigger parts (sear, etc) make any difference and be worth doing- short of doing a trigger job?

[nortron]

I received my heavy metal polish today and went to work. The results are 10000x better than wet/dry sandpaper. The finish is awesome, almost a mirror.

I highly recommend this method to anyone considering polishing their barrel. I was a bit nervous about doing my first polishing job on my xd, but the results are amazing, and the process straightforward.

I will post some pictures up today.

[nortron]

Originally Posted by Bill in San Jose

Has anybody done the 2 levers on the left side and their trigger's exposed metal? Any reason why-not to polish them, leaving rest of XD black?

I have seen pictures of the controls polished. It looks great and really sets the gun off. I plan on doing mine, once i figure out how to disassemble the lower portion of the gun.

[nortron]

As promised. Here are my pictures.

Here is a picture of the barrel previous to the heavy metal polish. I achieved this level spending a considerable amount of time with some 600, 1000, and 1500 grit wet/dry sandpaper. I watched tv for an evening while working on the barrel non-stop. You can't tell in the pictures, but the finish was not all that great. It was not black anymore, but you could see slight imperfections in the finish and the overall finish, though an improvement over factory, was dull.



Here is a picture of the barrel out of the gun. A MUCH better finish was achieved with the polish. It is almost mirror like honestly. I was VERY impressed with the heavy metal polish. If I had known i could spend 1 hour with the dremel instead of 6 with sandpaper it would have made this process much easier.



After taking the picture I assembled the gun. After uploading the picture I noticed a fingerprint on the barrel, but I assure you the finish is flawless. A HUGE improvement over wet/dry sandpaper alone.



These pictures really made me wish I had a macro lens for my Nikon. I could really show off the finish I was able to achieve with a little time, a dremel, and the polish.

[nortron]

Originally Posted by rh4runner

that looks really good, im glad that the heavy metal polish worked out as good for you as it did for me

p.s. i had to create a new account so if anyone has any questions you wont be able to send them to my old name rogerxd45 so if sending a PM you will have to send it to this new account

Thanks, the heavy metal polish that was recommended was obviously the missing piece to the finish i was looking for. For anyone reading the post that is hesitant on doing it themselves I highly encourage them to try it out. I had zero experience polishing/buffing previous to this and the results turned out great.