About to polish new 686, questions for all you smart people

[wild cat mccane]

Hey there,

I just picked up another 686 Plus. It won't be my first Mothers Mag Polish revolver rag/hand polish, but it will be my first 686 polish. I have done a few Taurus 66s and a GP100. So feel good about the outcome. But on the 686 specifically...

-Can the mim hammer and trigger get polished to remove S&W's fake case hardening? This new one is particularly bad in appearance. It's a single streak of black down the middle of the trigger. Just looks like an oil drip more than an appearance "pretty." I'd like to just go metal look. I know for a fact S&W will not "fix" this as I tried to get them to fix another that was also ugly. If it can be polished, do we know what appearance it would have under that fake black?,

-would the flat face muzzle to an area to avoid? Done them before and makes clean up quicker, but want to check from you 686 experts. It doesn't appear to have any crown to worry about and polish isn't really removing any material of note,

-That S&W logo stamp. It's so darn weakly printed. I'm wondering if I'm going to end up polishing it out?,

-I've never removed the screw held on cylinder release. Is it ok to just remove it with a screwdriver with tape around it? Simple on and off? No idea, but I want to polish under that area without playing the q-tip game.

Thanks!

[bobn]

i have a newer 629 classic. i though about polishing it. then I realized that only the top of the metal would be polished. however the swirling tool/grind marks in it would be still there making it look worse.
...my 66-5 has none of those swirl/grind marks on the metal so it might be a candidate for mothers.
...i hope it goes good for you, me i chickened out and likely will send it to smith wesson. the performance center lists a polishing option for stainless revolvers. bobn

[44 AMP]

-That S&W logo stamp. It's so darn weakly printed. I'm wondering if I'm going to end up polishing it out?

As I understand it, today's logo is "laser etched" and isn't rolled into the steel like they used to do. It can be polished off.

So could the old rollmark logo, but it took a LOT more work to do that. A LOT more, not something done by hand.

[arquebus357]

Be careful polishing the area of the cylinder capture screw. If you remove that screw make sure that the side plate is fully seated before you do any polishing. You don't want to mess up the seam between the side plate and the frame area that contains the S&W info. Turn the gun upside down and check the seam inside the trigger guard. Check it with the screw in place and after you remove the screw. If there is ANY difference you will need to correct that before you do any polishing.

This may all sound stupid but it's not uncommon to see this particular area screwed up after a polish job.

[The Happy kaboomer]

I have 2 S&W stainless mtn guns that through use ALL THE LAZER ETCHING has worn off........CHEAP way for S&W to do it.

[wild cat mccane]

686 is still at S&W for trigger job.

I'd almost be okay with it since the logo is kinda huge...but that changes more than I want to....

Going to go around it and see what that looks like first...

[ballardw]

Perhaps use a flat stiff backing when working over the logo so that you don't polish into the lines, similar to a sanding block. And very light pressure.

[wild cat mccane]

That's a great idea

[Roughedge]

MIM parts cant be polished. They just get dull gray.I have a few customers that like thier triggers and hammers jeweled but MIM parts look like crap if you try.

[Bob Wright]

I just opened this to see who the smart people were.

Bob Wright

[lamarw]

I understand Mother's Billet Polish is slightly milder than their Mag Polish. I have used both products and find it to be so.

[wild cat mccane]

I would consider Billet first if it werent sold out online. Mag Polish just came. Come on s&w...the crowd of smart
people is waiting to see me screw this up

[Dave T]

I've never liked nickel plated guns and never owned one. Don't get the desire to turn a stainless gun into something that looks like nickel but YMMV!

Dave

[Alan0354]

Ha ha, if I were to do anything on the 686, I would change the trigger to a wider one and work on the inside to smooth out the DA and lighten the SA. I did that in my former M19. Forget that little strip!!! Make it work better.

[CleanDean]

I had to work down the rough areas on my Mod. 67.
Using 600 wet or dry … 1000 grit next. Most of the polishing was with Jeweler’s Emery cloth.
Simichrome got it to look streak free . Never really mirror finished but had an even Luster overall.

I touched it up with Mother’s Billet but saw no extra shine from the Simichrome.

[wild cat mccane]

I've only used Mother's Mag Polish.

Is it that Billet is more abrasive? A finer polish should go shiny vs a rougher, right?

Could you give me an idea what the "Jeweler’s Emery cloth" was? Do you mean to say that just in the grit levels you listed?

On the MIM hammer and trigger, someone mentioned it will only go grey. Is it an ugly grey? Uniformed color? The "color" this 686 on these is just terrible. I would accept pretty much anything. Just don't want to damage.

Revolver delivers tomorrow.

[wild cat mccane]

Welp, Mother's Billet is discontinued. Made that decision easy.

[CleanDean]

On line / Amazon has a few grades of Jewelers Emery Cloth ( med. & light)
WENOL Blue tube is a fine polish … not very different from Simichrome .
( The paste polishes , I am told that both are …. still made in Germany)

[wild cat mccane]

Alright. 686 Plus is back from S&W for trigger action work. It's fantastic. No gauge, but everything is more light. It was already perfectly smooth. But I can tell it is more so now.

I put on my Altamont grips from handgungrips.com which stocks out of stock Altamont grips. Grip has a date of 1/2022...so don't know why Altamont didn't have any and could only put me on a wait list. Came cheaper too. Feels great.

So...S&W on the work order did, without me asking, "refinish the revolver." Awesome. That's like a $250 add-on they did free...but....

Haha...welp...it was in better shape before. It is clearly more shiny from afar. However, in pic three, that break in the lighting at mid barrel isn't my light, it's the light catching new swirls. It's everywhere on it now. Wasn't there before. So upgraded the shine, downgraded the markings.

Going to sit with it a second. It got the shine up...but the swirling is pretty obvious in hand. I am 100% certain the swirling would be wiped up easy with the hand polishing. They actually removed deeper classic 686 finish that none of their other revolvers get.

In the meantime, I also bought the Simichrome referenced. It comes tomorrow. Might test both the Mag Polish and it under the grip to see if there is any difference to my eye.

90% sure I am going to polish because the new swirling is pushing me to it. Just not 100% now with the new luster.

[4V50 Gary]

As suggested earlier, don't polish the hammer or trigger. I suspect both are MIM today. Leave the hardened surface alone.

[wild cat mccane]

Thank you. I thought it was just appearance and will leave alone.

So….the Simichrome. It polishes extremely bright. However it doesn’t knock out the factory scratches all that well and adds it’s own. Very odd.

Mothers Mag on the other hand knocked out the factory scratches. Not as bright as Simichrome.

All very odd. I am regrouping. The refinish by A&M’s is bright like my Python, it’s just swirled.