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I'm a fan of stainless. I like the look as well as the versatility. Case and point. I recently picked up a nice Anaconda and over the course of previous owners, the cylinder had been polished to a higher sheen (either on purpose or by accident) than the satin finish of the rest of the gun.
Knowing that you can polish stainless to either a high gloss (looking like/better than nickel) or have it a more dull/matte/satin look, the condition of the cylinder didn't really bother me as I looked over the rest of the gun (no flash cutting, looked otherwise in great shape).
Called Colt and found out it would be $200 plush shipping to/from (another ~$60) and take as long as 7 months. I've read in the past as well as seen videos on people polishing stainless to brite/mirror finish (but never back to satin) and they've only mentioned how to bring it back to satin.
I did some searching online and found that methods range from various wet/dry sandpaper, steel wool, and Scotch pads (not including bead blasting here). Couldn't really find anything on youtube for exactly what I was doing, so I thought I'd give it a try on my own.
Ran to my local Lowe's and picked up the 3M pads (see attached pic) as a majority of posts referred to the white Scotch/3M pads. I decided while I was there to pick up the brown ones as well. Total investment ~$6.
The brown pad is clearly the more abrasive of the two, so I started with the white (should have taken "before" pics, but was a little too focused). I would call the white pads finishing at best. They have very little to no abrasiveness (and not completely knowing what I was doing, wasn't going to press too hard). I figured if I screwed it up (a test area), it was heading to Colt anyways as I would not do any real surface damage.
Decided to go to the brown pad. OMG, this was like the Mr. Clean miracle pads. Instantly amazing with next to zero pressure. Just light surface contact was enough to create the exact satin finish the rest of the gun has. Finished the cylinder in only 10 minutes. Was careful to only go in one direction and I was absolutely surprised at the finish. Used the white pad to buff the work. Looking at the gun now, the cylinder is (from my eye) indistinguishable from the rest of the gun and has a beautiful satin look.
I'm quite picky about fit/finish and for me to be satisfied enough that I'm no longer considering sending it to Colt says quite a bit about how it turned out.
Knowing that you can polish stainless to either a high gloss (looking like/better than nickel) or have it a more dull/matte/satin look, the condition of the cylinder didn't really bother me as I looked over the rest of the gun (no flash cutting, looked otherwise in great shape).
Called Colt and found out it would be $200 plush shipping to/from (another ~$60) and take as long as 7 months. I've read in the past as well as seen videos on people polishing stainless to brite/mirror finish (but never back to satin) and they've only mentioned how to bring it back to satin.
I did some searching online and found that methods range from various wet/dry sandpaper, steel wool, and Scotch pads (not including bead blasting here). Couldn't really find anything on youtube for exactly what I was doing, so I thought I'd give it a try on my own.
Ran to my local Lowe's and picked up the 3M pads (see attached pic) as a majority of posts referred to the white Scotch/3M pads. I decided while I was there to pick up the brown ones as well. Total investment ~$6.
The brown pad is clearly the more abrasive of the two, so I started with the white (should have taken "before" pics, but was a little too focused). I would call the white pads finishing at best. They have very little to no abrasiveness (and not completely knowing what I was doing, wasn't going to press too hard). I figured if I screwed it up (a test area), it was heading to Colt anyways as I would not do any real surface damage.
Decided to go to the brown pad. OMG, this was like the Mr. Clean miracle pads. Instantly amazing with next to zero pressure. Just light surface contact was enough to create the exact satin finish the rest of the gun has. Finished the cylinder in only 10 minutes. Was careful to only go in one direction and I was absolutely surprised at the finish. Used the white pad to buff the work. Looking at the gun now, the cylinder is (from my eye) indistinguishable from the rest of the gun and has a beautiful satin look.
I'm quite picky about fit/finish and for me to be satisfied enough that I'm no longer considering sending it to Colt says quite a bit about how it turned out.
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