Metal refinishing

[yggorf]

I need some guidance in finishing a rifle project I inherited. Right now all parts are bead-blasted a uniform gray. I plan to Duracoat the barrel and receiver, but am wondering about the other parts (the action). I assume they shouldn't be duracoated, and that they should be polished and blued, or left bead blasted and blued. To be clear, I'm talking about the bolt, safety, trigger -- internal parts.

Any good reasons for or against leaving them with a coarser bead blasted finish rather than polishing?

One part I have special concerns about is the bolt face. First, I can't really "get in there" with any of the sanding or polishing tools I have. (I can get to parts of it, but not into all the corners). Second, I worry that polishing too much could change headspace. But there are some pits there now which I think should be taken out.

I thought about throwing all the action parts into my reloading case tumbler, with walnut shell media, and "polishing" them that way. Anyone ever tried that?

 

[GURU1911]

Parts refinishing

Send all the small parts & the bolt assembly, to robar company in arizona & have them plate those parts with their famous "np3" plating, in fact, it would be a good idea to have them plate the complete rifle. Go to their rocking website & check out what they can do to make that rifle look like a million $$$$$$.

Guru1911

 

[yggorf]

NP3 looks like a nice finish, but their price list shows it to be $350 for the complete rifle -- that is about twice what the rifle might be worth.

I don't mind polishing the parts and leaving them polished (some may call this "in-the-white" but I don't), especially if I can use my case polisher.