[Dustin98SS]

I have wanted to polish my XD for awhile. All I used was the polishing bits and the 421 compound it came with. My pics suck because its only a cam phone but the parts came out looking like a mirror. The finish on the barrel and locking block just melt right off. My XD's see pretty tough abuse, the 45 GAP stays in the case and the Sub 40 stays on the nightstand So I'm not worried about rust. Plus, I keep em coated with CLP 8)

On the stainless 45 GAP I polished the barrel, locking block, slide stop and dissassembly lever. And the 40 Sub, I polished the barrel and am getting ready to polish the locking block. I'm not a dremel expert so if I can do it, anyone can. I found the using an up and down motion and then side to side works really well. Wipe off the black stuff and put on more compound. The polished barrel looks sick on the stainless. As for the slide lock, I left it on the pistol. I put a piece of thin cardboard under it and polished away. I did take the takedown lever off though. Hope that helps anyone.

 

[jkswiss]

I was bored so I grabbed my Dremel and the XD.. :lol:

Thats never a good statement to read. Asthetically pleasing, but your just asking for rust. I'm just not partial to shiny guns but forgive me if I use this cliche`, to each his own. Be sure to give it a good coat of oil or rather, give it a good layer of Armadillo or car wax.

 

[Dustin98SS]

Bet a hundred bucks I can take a pic 1 year from today and I will have zero rust. 8) My XD's go to the range, come home and are cleaned.

Plus, as easy as the coating comes off when shooting, its not like its some sort of super coating anyway. The barrel looks good with the stainless GAP and the black coating on the barrel of the sub was coming off after 200 rounds. I just though it might look better with all the coating off rather than half of it off and half on. :wink:

 

[DJDan]

I think your work looks amazing! Good job. I have polished one of my barrels with my xd and it looks great as well.

I don't think you will have a problem with rust....not to disagree with anyone but I have found that since I have polished certain parts of my XD I have had LESS problems with rust. I have coated with Armadillo but ANY high quality car wax will work like a champ.

Looks GREAT!

 

[Gadget]

We had a similar thread not too long ago. I made an observation that it seemed like the ones that had polished their XDs had less problems with rust afterward. I thought that the rust problems were actually due to the finish that Springfield puts on them. I believe their is something in the finish and/or the way it is applied and/or due to how porous the finish is that was causing the rust. Keep us up to date on your experiement Dustin. Good work!!!

 

[FatMatt1981]

If ya slap a coat or two of Armadillo on there you're set.
I'd hurt myself with a dremel

 

[Snakeoil]

Nice looking, but I wouldn't have done it.

 

[Captain Ray]

It does look like you did a good job.. but had you asked, I would have warned you not to do it... I know, because I did it too.. It will not rust now though. Something about the finish itself makes the thing rust.

Raymond

 

[R/T Performance]

I stripped all the controls trigger and back strap saftey two weeks ago on my tac.Been in my range bag no rust yet

 

[03RangerXLT]

i did the chamber and teh grip safety on my XD .40. The chamber looks great, but I have to touch up the grip safety with sandpaper to kill the rust... and I keep her oiled a lot! I guess its just the constant handling she gets.

 

[Dustin98SS]

Thanks guys I also polished up the chamber on the 45 GAP and 40 and am heading out to shoot now. It SEEMS like the slide slides on easier with the locking block polished.

 

[DJDan]

It does look like you did a good job.. but had you asked, I would have warned you not to do it... I know, because I did it too.. It will not rust now though. Something about the finish itself makes the thing rust.

Raymond

Why would you warn him not to do it?

 

[ampleworks]

Anyone else have the disturbing feeling on how easily the finish can be polished from these things?

Yeah, I knew I wasn't alone!

 

[[TASF]Maverick]

I went out at 6:45 to Lowe's that closes at 7:00 to buy a dremel to do some trigger work on my Romanian AK. I'm glad to see someone else had the urge to do something like this today too

Now I'm having a problem because i want to experiment with it... now nothing in this apartment is safe

 

[Dustin98SS]

Shot the polished XD's today. 150 thru the GAP and 100 thru the 40. Came home and cleaned them. No rust yet :lol:

I can tell you that a polished locking block is SOOO much easier to clean than the coated one. I still need to polish the block on the sub. I wiped down the polished parts once and all the gunk came right off.

If you want to polish some parts on your XD's and are unsure about your dremel skills, just start with the locking block. The finish really comes off easy.

 

[[TASF]Maverick]

Shot the polished XD's today. 150 thru the GAP and 100 thru the 40. Came home and cleaned them. No rust yet :lol:

I can tell you that a polished locking block is SOOO much easier to clean than the coated one. I still need to polish the block on the sub. I wiped down the polished parts once and all the gunk came right off.

If you want to polish some parts on your XD's and are unsure about your dremel skills, just start with the locking block. The finish really comes off easy.

Yeah, coming from a Dremel newbie, it's easy as hell to take the coat off of anything. If you can use a pencil to make a stick person, you can do fine with the dremel. Just make sure you read what all the little parts are specifically for...

 

[SLCDave]

I'd worry about messing up the crown of the barrel by polishing it with a Dremel. I'd probably use a lead-away cloth to remove the finish there, rather than a Dremel.

An excellent gunsmith once told me there has never been a gun problem so bad that it couldn't be made worse with a Dremel.

 

[Dustin98SS]

SLCDAVE....I used the felt polishing bits. I wasnt using rocks to not off the finish :lol: The finish on the end of the barrel comes off with about one swipe of the dremel. Its easy. With the felt polishing tip and some compound your not going to have metal flying :wink: I think my dremel was 30,000 rpm's. Its a single speed I picked up at Wal-Mart for about 25 bucks. The tips that already have the polishing compound on it are the best IMO.

 

[mike+p+]

That looks more chromed than the shiny polished pics I've seen. wow. I think I'll start with my barrel. Quick! Someone talk me out of this... OK, your slide is stainless right? Anyway, I just hit my barrel with the dremel polishing bit and some polishing compound and the finish won't budge. It's not melting right off. I guess I'm retreaded... NOrmally I would use sand paper for a job like this

 

[DJDan]

Honestly...to screw the locking block up with a Dremel would take serious effort. I am going to do mine right now on my XD-40SC. The finish they put on the block is a joke and IMO I will be better without it.

I will coat it a couple of times with Armadillo after I am done and I'm sure it will be fine.