Dry Shooting/Polishing Internals

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Waveski

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There is a school of thought - for better or for worse - on polishing internals of a revolver , the idea being based on placing a mild abrasive on the contact surfaces then cycling the action many times to mate those surfaces.

Is this a valid concept , a workable technique? Obviously there would be a need for very thorough cleaning and complete removal of the abrasive afterwards...

My questios: a) Is there validity to this practice?
b) If the answer to a) is yes , what are the particulars to the procedure?
 
JMO, but there’s validity in that pulling a stick through a picket fence will event lead to a smoother stick being pulled through smoother pickets ;)
 
Yes ther is validity to this technique. Polishing or stoning of internals is simply another way of producing wear rather than letting time and use do the job. A mild abrasive between contact points also produces wearing of the components. Although, it likely isn’t as precise as the skilled hands of a gunsmith. There are many owners who simply dry fire their weapons hundreds, if not thousands of times, in order to wear in the contact parts.
 
I have had only 2 revolvers, both benefited from stoning the trigger sides, hammer sides, and mating frame area. Lightly stone all sliding and rotating parts, doubleaction will be improved, and of course single also. There is, on YouTube, a tutorial. Easy to do.
 
I agree with Varminterror.
I personally do not fix things that aren’t broken.
With my revolvers I apply a little lube and shoot them...a lot. That seems to do the trick without fooling with the workings of the parts. On single actions I have changed springs but left the trigger and it’s works alone. My single actions are Ruger Vaqueros and my other revolvers are all Smith&Wessons.
 
I'm with varminterror aswell. You're not setting a set of valves to a cylinder head. That lapping compound doesn't like to go away unless thouroghly cleaned and may do more harm than good. I've never tried it on a fire arm, but I do head jobs at work almost weekly. Just my two cents.
 
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I've improved a couple of Airweights by simply dry-firing a bazillion times, but I didn't use any abrasives. PWC's stoning suggestion is a good one, and I've done that to most of my revolvers, along with lighter rebound springs where needed.
 
Waveski - I’m not completely sure what you’re asking, so my reply was as best I could do with it.

Cycling a new revolver will likely mate some surfaces, and I suppose more cycling equals more mating, and that mild abrasives might speed that up.

But if you’re asking if it (or lots and lots of cycling) is a substitute for a bona fide action job, my answer is “no”.
 
Waveski, I would like to expand on what I said earlier. I used to shoot 1911’s in competitions. I learned how to do my own action jobs BUT I was a novice. In the beginning I replaced a lot of parts because I didn’t know what I was doing. I also created unsafe firing conditions because I didn’t know what I was doing. When I found I had created an unsafe situation (by dry firing - not with live ammo) I threw away the parts and started over. I also took a gunsmithing course on 1911’s at a work shop held locally by a professional gun smith. I took this course when I figured out the experimentation could be dangerous.

When it comes to my S&W revolvers I have always been happy with their actions do I never tamper or modify them. I do as I said above.

On my Ruger Vaqueros, I have owned 7, I changed springs and I do lightly, and I do mean lightly, honed the trigger interfacing surfaces with the finest Arkansas stones I have, but that is it.

If you aren’t experienced in working on revolvers I would recommend looking into getting a good manual for gunsmithing your particular brand and model. Honestly though, I would take it to a gunsmith. Tell them what you want. Have them explain the process and learn from them, but have them do the work for you. It’s not rocket science but it should be done properly and the result should be safe. Safety is most important.

Even though I do most of my own work I still rely on competent gun smiths. We need to keep these local folks in business and they can be a very valuable resource when you have questions, but they do not work for free. Give them some business and establish a relationship with them.

But please don’t use abrasives in your gun. Who ever told you this “school of thought” needs to go to school.
 
The problem with filling the action with abrasive is that you will lap every part in the action - not just the parts and surfaces that actually need it. It will lap the pins of the hammer and sear and trigger that ride on those pins. Les Baer has stated for years that he refuses to use any kind of lapping compound because "once you put it in there you can never get it all out". This is from a man who has built high performance engines most of his life. The wear from the lapping compound just keeps going and going. I agree with him. It is much better to stone only the surfaces that need it and then flush and blow everything out.
 
Well , I thought that it was an idea worth floating past the collective. I'm going to file "Dry Shoot With Abrasives" under the heading of "If It's Too Good To Be True ..."
I was not considering applying abrasive to all of the internals , just the key surfaces , but it is reasonable to think that the stuff is going to go where it should not.
I'll go the conventional route of disassemble , clean , lube , clean up the rebound slide , then consider springs after some range time.

I appreciate the input. 'Ski
 
As mentioned above lapping valves is now considered a no-no. Same should apply to firearm actions.
 
Yes ther is validity to this technique. Polishing or stoning of internals is simply another way of producing wear rather than letting time and use do the job. A mild abrasive between contact points also produces wearing of the components. Although, it likely isn’t as precise as the skilled hands of a gunsmith. There are many owners who simply dry fire their weapons hundreds, if not thousands of times, in order to wear in the contact parts.

This has worked quite well for me in the past. I'm not going to claim it's as good as having a smith do an action job, but it certainly has helped smoothing things out for me in the past.
 
Dralls answer is exactly what I was thinking when I read the OP, that stuff will yo everywhere instead of staying just on the surfaces you want to smooth out.

I also agree that no amount of dry firing will equal a good action job on a Smith, but it will improve the feel over stock as surfaces smooth out with wear.

Stay safe!
 
Years ago there was a article about a top shooter who used toothpaste in the action of his revolvers. This along with a few hours of dry firing while watching TV resulted in a smooth action. (I suppose it also helped to prevent cavities also). It was a short lived fad that never seemed to catch on.

Of course the reason toothpaste worked was it is a very mild abrasive.

Best advice I read was years ago. A top S&W executive was asked what was the best way to smooth up the action on their revolvers. His reply was "Shoot it. Shoot it a lot."
 
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Stoning and polishing is one thing. But putting an abrasive in and dry firing seems too uncontrolled.
 
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