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Saiga 12 bolt and slide polish


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So I've gotten as far as stripping the black coating from the slide and bolt. Now I'm looking for your collective knowledge on how to get it to shine ( I mean it shines now but not like choming it) can someone with experience lend their expertise and give me tips.

 

As always thanks in advance for the advice.

 

1200 grit sandpaper and finish with 2000 or start with 600 and 800 and work my way up.

 

Pending a generous poster to get to the desired shine...what is the best way to keep it that way.

 

OR, can some or all of you point me to someone who can chrome without breaking the bank.

 

One other question...dremel while time saving it just couldn't get into the truly tight spots. They are very very few but it there a chemical that could strip the rest prior to a mirror polish.

 

I value your opinions so please don't short change me with a "look it up. It's that fastest way to shy me away from the forum which I don't want. I like it here.

 

I know search is my friends but you guys are friendlier.

 

Al heard flattery gets you somewhere I hear...

 

DR

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I know I know but a want to be active on the forum to keep active with you guys.

 

With the Internet I can find whatever I want but I'd rather get by asking you.

 

My apologies, I will seek answers elsewhere.

 

Again thanks for the info

Edited by Bauran
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If you want it done right you have to have the right equipment, a dremel ain't gonna cut it. It's also a lot of work (= time) involved so anyone like myself who does this as a business deserves to charge a fair price for all the time, experience, and money they have already invested in the process, not to mention the time it will take to do yours and ship it back. That's just the way it is. Used to be a guy here who liked to do it without charging enough for it. Pretty easy to see where that will lead someone...

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All I'm saying when doing it yourself, there's nothing like seeing it done, as opposed to reading about it. That's all.

 

The higher the number numerically, the more you will close the pours in the metal which will result in a shinier deeper shine like bling bling. It will also dramatically aide in corrosion resistance. But starting off with a larger number will take longer to get it done. I'd imagine you could get it done in 400 grit increments (400/800/1200/1600/2000). You could probably even skip one or two in there at your discretion and be fine. A good buffing compound and wheel (or soft Terri cloth and elbow grease) at the end will really polish it up. A buffing wheel or cloth will also get you into the harder to reach areas.

Its not rocket science, just takes a little time and repetition in steps gradually working your way up.

Oh and with the more course grits (like 600 and under), its especially important to not work over one area for longer than is needed.

Edited by Mullet Man
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If you will look closely at the carrier once the paint is stripped, you will see ALOT of tooling marks. These are deeper scratches and pits where the machining tooling was worn, or the metal working fluid was not right, or the CNC was set up for speed versus final surface appearance. All of these tooling marks are the potholes to your mirror shine, and it takes a coarser grit to remove them. Once you have a uniform, but matte surface, you can continue to move up to finer grits, finishing off with 2000 grit. Final polish with Flitz or Maas will make it look like chrome. Once you get to that finish, you don't need to worry about corrosion. It will remain that way.

 

Now with that said, it will take a lot of effort and a long time, and you will not be able to get in those cracks and crevices without the proper tools and experience. If the rest of your BCG is a mirror chrome finish and you have places here and there that are not, they will stand out like a whore in church. (See pic below) Another thing to consider if you get too aggressive trying to remove all the tooling marks, you may change the geometries of some pretty important areas of your BCG. You need to take that in consideration.

 

Not trying to discourage you or anything, I love DIY. Just want you to know what to expect in the time required, and the consideration of safety/operational aspects on a BCG that is nearly impossible to replace now. I had about (8-10) hours of time in my carrier below, and I did not touch the bolt or the bottom of the carrier.

 

post-37530-0-77201500-1410237501_thumb.jpg

 

I still plan on sending it into Cobra to have it properly profiled. (just need to get my S12 back from a family member) for as much time as I had into it, I consider what he charges an absolute steal.

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The problem I'm having is twofold.

 

First, yes once you strip the black coating away you can see the imperfections in the metal. It's very noticable.

 

I strive to keep from subtracting as much material as possible from the assembly so I was looking for tips and tricks to smooth it out without going overboard.

 

Two, all I got was 1600 and 2000 sandpaper and it's not doing anything but making me angry. I just wanted to confirm with you guys that going to a lower grit wouldn't screw it up.

 

Thanks for the info all

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It is a ton of work. Go to a chrome shop and look in the polishing room. It's NASTY! Fact You have to be very agressive and intentional to get the tooling marks out. It takes skill and technique. Nothing on the top side of the carrier is critical. BUT there are some crucial geometries! And it IS a firearm. No one on here can judge your skill or competency. And asking question does to prove your incompetence. But asking the most basic questions that you are would suggest you don't have a clue about metal working. So I suggest getting a 1/2" ss bolt. Sand smooth and polish the head of that first! It's harder than it looks. You will probably swear to never buff/polish again. Also a firearm bolt isn't a starter project. So if you only plan on doing one bolt one time then it is NOT worth investing the time energy and money to do it yourself, unless you like most of us and view it as investing in yourself! Much like a college degree. It's a Saiga degree. It's open enrollment but few graduate. Anything can be done, so my question to you is are you willing to spend 100$+ dollars and most of a weekend with tore up and bruised fingers. I call it "my" time some would call that insanity! Lol

post-48862-0-49887500-1410297471_thumb.jpg

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The problem I'm having is twofold.

First, yes once you strip the black coating away you can see the imperfections in the metal. It's very noticable.

I strive to keep from subtracting as much material as possible from the assembly so I was looking for tips and tricks to smooth it out without going overboard.

Two, all I got was 1600 and 2000 sandpaper and it's not doing anything but making me angry. I just wanted to confirm with you guys that going to a lower grit wouldn't screw it up.

Thanks for the info all

With 1600 and 2000 grit, it is no wonder you are getting pissed off. Those would be my last two used to polish up the surface once the imperfections were gone. You will probaby need to start with 400 -600 -800 -1000 -1600 -2000. Some of the deeper scratches imperfections, you will just have to live with as it will require removing a lot of material to remove them completely. You will know which ones are better off left. I agree with sticking to the sides and top of the carrier. I would not touch the underneath or the bolt. They won't be visible once installed anyway.

 

I think we made the assumption that this is solely for aesthetics and not for reliability improvement correct? If your goal is to reduce friction on the BCG to improve reliability with low brass cheap birdshot, then you will need to re-profile the bolt and the carrier. Polishing alone won't accomplish this. If that is the case, then I would definitely have it professionally done. Otherwise have fun and good luck.

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Hey, I don't mind claiming ignorance in polishing a saiga bolt and carrier. However, I've been a firearm enthusiast for the better part of 20 years and have been gunsmithing for friends, family and word of mouth referrals for as long as I can remember, and made decent side change while doing so.

 

The best part is to have the opportunity to handle and repair some weapons I would otherwise never have a chance to even see.

 

The reason I got that experience is because I researched prior to any project. Sometimes spending more time finding out how to do it right than it actually takes to do it.

 

That said I'm particularly meticulous about this weapon because it's mine...and its one of my favorite of my collection.

 

I am not trying to reprofile for smoother firing of a range of rounds because it now cycles anything that I can cram down the pipe.

 

It's just that I've done everything else to it and because of so many fine looking saiga 12s I've seen on here I decided I'd like to polish my bolt and carrier. Purely for looks.

 

I've never taken a weapon to a Smith to get something corrected or fixed that I can do myself. It's just who I am, not out of spite but for the pride in doing it myself.

 

I ask questions not entirely out of ignorance though and probably to the point of aggravation to long time forum members. I DO understand the frustration in seeing the same question over and over.

 

When I do ask some of the time it is to learn something new but more often than not its just to get a "yeah you got it, man" before I potentially do something wrong.

 

I'll be more wary of posting in the future though.

 

To be fair though the tooling marks on the saiga was surprising to me. I haven't seen them that noticable on other AK platforms save for a few junkers being sold at fly by night gun shows.

Edited by Bauran
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I think you are being a little too defensive, nobody cares if you ask questions, it's not a big deal. Ask away. Being a DIY guy, you seem like a perfect match for this place. Post, don't post, it's up to you. It would be cool to see some of your pics of the process and the final product, have fun.

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I think you are being a little too defensive, nobody cares if you ask questions, it's not a big deal. Ask away. Being a DIY guy, you seem like a perfect match for this place. Post, don't post, it's up to you. It would be cool to see some of your pics of the process and the final product, have fun.

I know it's just that I want to be active on this forum because it's hands down the best I've found concerning the saiga platform. And really I've done everything else I wanted to do to the weapon save for the polish job so it was really the only thing I could think of to get involved.

 

The defensiveness comes from some implying that my question lead them to believe I'm incompetent and/or have no clue about metal working which made me feel I needed to provide some background to squash that assumption.

 

I ask questions more to verify what I already know or researched, not to build a plan from scratch with no base knowledge to start with.

 

Again though the wealth of knowledge you guys have collected here is spectacular, I genuinely mean that.

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Okay, I reread your original post and you begged to not get picked on. So here goes. Through the process of polishing you will not be adding material you will be taking it away. therefore if you want it smooth and flat and like a mirror. you have to take off enough metal to get to the very deepest existing tooling mark,scratch, gouge or imperfection. If those tooling marks are I'm going to say .010 deep you have to take off .010 off the entire surface you're working on. if you just dig into the individual spots you will get a wavy look in your polish. And that is a lot of metal. Not all parts can be polished to a mirror finish. It depends on the quality of the metallurgy, and tons of other factors. Also you have to consider the structural integrity of the item, and it may be corrupted. There are varying degrees of polish. The trick is you have to be super aggressive to get that much metal off without creating worse new scratched in the material. So whatever grit that you select needs to be finer than whatever imperfections you're trying to sand out. If your hand sanding you will have a real hard time getting too aggressive. So step one is to Sand deep enough to remove the imperfections while maintaining the shape of the original part whether that's the flatness or the curvature etc. once you get all the imperfections out no matter what grit that is you gradually step up from there to remove those scratches then a finer step to remove those scratches and a finer step to remove those scratches. When you're ready to actually polish it will be perfectly smooth and only look like it has a light haze or cloudiness in the surface but perfectly smooth and shiny. That's when you start actually polishing. I'll tell you right now, pics get people talking.........use that!

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Basically the guys that actually do shit don't want to sit on here and argue with the keyboard commando in his moms basement cuz they heard about a Saiga12 on call of fucking duty. For you that may be an over exaggeration for some it's not

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Ok what does "grit" stand for? Tell me what "rouge" is?

can't tell if serious or just wanting to feel superior.

 

Grit is the particle abrasives sometimes measured by the particle grit per square inch

 

Rouge is a metal polish, commonly used by jewelers.

 

Did I pass?

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That's pretty good, but it took a little long, so it would raise the question whether that new fancy smart phone help you out or not. Either way we both know that you know, therefore we are all better informed.lol

Ps i'm driving back from a job site and I'm using Siri on my iPhone

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Basically the guys that actually do shit don't want to sit on here and argue with the keyboard commando in his moms basement cuz they heard about a Saiga12 on call of fucking duty. For you that may be an over exaggeration for some it's not

I'm a little confused at what you are implying.

 

If I came off argumentative that was not my intention. There's a big difference in arguing and seeking answers/suggestion.

 

I figured some background on myself would go a long way towards establishing legitimacy among you.

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I was just trying to explain to you why people get so pissy and nobody seems to want to answer any questions, more than likely they probably Artie answer those questions 100 times. Even worse is when they have a big long debate and somebody does their best to try to help them and spends a bunch of time and they either nor the advice or never give any feedback

Truly polishing is a dirty nasty job so unless it's just for personal satisfaction or extreme boredom and you time is worth no more than five dollars an hour you're way better off sending it to somebody like cobra.

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That's pretty good, but it took a little long, so it would raise the question whether that new fancy smart phone help you out or not.

have no idea why I feel compelled to respond to this.

 

I know about you questions from experience or use.

 

But hell keep em coming, Ill turn your opinion of me eventually.

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Ok what does "grit" stand for? Tell me what "rouge" is?

can't tell if serious or just wanting to feel superior.

Grit is the particle abrasives sometimes measured by the particle grit per square inch

Rouge is a metal polish, commonly used by jewelers.

Did I pass?

I didn't...I thought that grit was something you did to your teeth while having a prostate exam and rouge was something you put on your cheeks to make them rosy. :)

 

Seriously though, Bauran take the ribbing with a grain a salt and if you want to polish the carrier go for it. I would hate to see anyone that comes to the forum looking for advice become wary of posting for fear of getting flamed. That is not something that we members of this forum should be proud of. Everyone starts somewhere with any given project or new trial. You may not be an expert on polishing metal, but there are other things that I am sure you excel at. To lose that potential expertise because you have caught crap on your two recent posts would be a shame. So keep posting, research, ask questions, and help others out when you can. Good luck on your project.

 

ETA..lay off of him Wagnikov you have made your point, and driving with SIRI is dangerous, if she cannot take dictation properly, I know she can't drive.

Edited by Spacehog
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You can prep with a the dremel and hand sanding. But I firmly believe you need at least a 6 inch buffing grinder to do a decent job of polishing. Red rouge Is fine enough for steel. (guess I didn't ask if you knew the rouge is color-coded or not)

I got the polishing motor all of the pads and the rouge at Harbor freight

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better off sending it to somebody like c

obra.

i may do just that and send it off to get it done by cobra.

 

 

 I can guarantee one thing you would not regret it. Getting it all shiny isn't even half the battle. Having it actually do some good and make your weapon function far better than you may have thought possible.... well that's what I specialize in.

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