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Polish it up Buttercup!

21K views 62 replies 7 participants last post by  Ratfink 
#1 ·
I stripped the CM9 apart when a little trigger grit was aggravating my 'Type A' self. You know the type. It's ugly! The trigger bar was a mess. Well, it was sort of OK as a normal trigger bar, but you know what I'm driving at. I already had it apart at one time to clean things up when it was new (what, a week or two ago?) and even stoned things down here and there, but it wasn't enough for us anal types. This time I took the trigger bar to my old Corvette hot rod project shop, AKA garage, full of nasty powerful tools, and worked of that piece of stamped steel. Alot! Cause it needed alot! And "alot" isn't even a word! Moving on... The Dremel was my friend. I started with 220 grit, then 320 then 600 and finally got to the rouge. White. green, the the very fine red. Holy mother of God it was shiny and smooth! The secret was to polish any contact surface, of course, and the primary villain, the lower edge where the trigger bar spring slides while cycling the trigger. I just kept at it until it was smooth and super bright.

Three beers and unusual French cuss words later, the trigger, spacer spring, bar, doohicky, were back in place and I was ready to give her a whirl.

What a difference!

Talk about butter smooth! I can't detect the slightest tic or bump or anything other than a super slick pull on the trigger right through the break. Amazing. You know how you can usually pull the trigger back at a normal speed and it feels just fine, but at very slow creeping speeds you'll feel the bumps and grit and surges? Not now! Pulling the trigger back very very slowly and deliberately transmits zero feedback other than gliding along to the break. How impressive is that!

The circled area in the pic shows where the trigger bar spring rides while pulling the trigger. That's the area to focus your attention.

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#33 ·
Hey looky here.......another free spirit. Red works great if you're up for it.
 
#35 ·
We do get carried away don't we, Sorry.

I would like to someday take mine apart polish everything but I must say I have no complaints with what I have. I can't imagine them being any smoother than they are now.
 
#36 ·
Yeah same here.........I'm sure there's an improvement...........but if it's smooth already and running fine as is.............would the improvement be worth the effort.......,toss up I think...
 
#37 ·
as I have recently discovered, you can OVER polish parts...whom ever owned my Thompson 1911 prior over polished the ramp and I'm having feed issues...the angel is all off. :sad:
ON TOPIC!
 
#43 ·
That's not too bad...I have a gun smith buddy working on it to ensure that is what it is. We've replaced the extractor and polished that and replaced the sere, hammer, grip safety tang and got the pull down to 2.5 lbs. It just chooses sometimes not to go completely into battery. Not always, it improves with JHP rounds. I thought I'd have to replace the receiver?
 
#44 ·
I had a lot of that type work done on a metro arms officers 1911......and basically the only thing stock left is the frame, barrel, slide, and slide release, also a trigger / action job, along with tightening the slide to frame fit.......the gun is basically a custom now and is a sweet and accurate shooter........
 
#47 ·
Interesting read gentlemen.
 
#50 ·
Anything to do with the art world I enjoy and I just happen to be getting in what your talking about. My Air brush is an older model too but not as old as your 1911. I didn't know they had air brushes back then. Learning learning. And Battery Powered too....wow.
 
#61 ·
I agree, you'll never get the big bucks back for all you've blindly dumped in it now. Geeze how could do that Mr. Rat?
 
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#54 ·
That's about where I'm at there Ron...spend another $200 or make it a safe queen. I can't sell it in good consciousness...even Rats have ethics. (chime in anytime bob):ass:
 
#56 ·
Yea, thanks. I called and it requires precision cutting of the frame as does the drop in ramp barrels...so either way, it's $$$$$$ in machining and labor...:huh:
 
#62 ·
Well, gunny sez way too expensive to machine all that out and replace either way....so we'll try something else but thanks for all the info!:fat:
 
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