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I have a Smith & Alexander one piece Mainspring Housing / Slimline Magwell that I've always had one problem with.
I have always disliked how the checkering runs the engire back length of the mainspring housing. The image above is a photo from Brownells, where I bought the MSH. I didn't think to take photos before and during, so you'll be limited to my "after" photos, below. The photos below are mine, after I did the alterations. Note that this is purely a cosmetic improvement -- I just did not like the way it looked with the full length checkering.
So today I decided to fix the problem. I put the magwell in my vise, and began to file with a cheap set of diamond files.
I first took a permanent marker, and colored the section I wanted to file.
Next, I used a triangle needle file to set a limit line for where the checkering should stop. I did all of this free hand, but I worked very slowly to try and avoid mistakes.
Next I used a flat file followed by a round file to take down the checkering I wanted to remove. The hardest part was making the rear of the magwell rounded, as opposed to flattening it.
Next, I took out the scratches with some gray Scotchbrite. I followed the Scotchbrite with some 2000 grit sandpaper. I did all of the sanding dry.
When I was satisfied that the scratches were smoothed out, I polished the bottom with my Dremel tool and some polishing compound. The result turned out better than I had hoped for. It's not perfect, but I was really happy with the result. This is my first attempt at metal work. Here is the finished product, with my improvements:
I have always disliked how the checkering runs the engire back length of the mainspring housing. The image above is a photo from Brownells, where I bought the MSH. I didn't think to take photos before and during, so you'll be limited to my "after" photos, below. The photos below are mine, after I did the alterations. Note that this is purely a cosmetic improvement -- I just did not like the way it looked with the full length checkering.
So today I decided to fix the problem. I put the magwell in my vise, and began to file with a cheap set of diamond files.
I first took a permanent marker, and colored the section I wanted to file.
Next, I used a triangle needle file to set a limit line for where the checkering should stop. I did all of this free hand, but I worked very slowly to try and avoid mistakes.
Next I used a flat file followed by a round file to take down the checkering I wanted to remove. The hardest part was making the rear of the magwell rounded, as opposed to flattening it.
Next, I took out the scratches with some gray Scotchbrite. I followed the Scotchbrite with some 2000 grit sandpaper. I did all of the sanding dry.
When I was satisfied that the scratches were smoothed out, I polished the bottom with my Dremel tool and some polishing compound. The result turned out better than I had hoped for. It's not perfect, but I was really happy with the result. This is my first attempt at metal work. Here is the finished product, with my improvements:
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