A customer swore by using a small dab of valve grinding compound on a sticky 1911 slide.

I thought it was a terrible idea that would just wreck the finish. He said he'd done it for 30 years on his carry gun, so I tried it on a beat up Range Officer I was fixing. I put a tiny bit on the rails, worked the slide maybe 50 times, then cleaned it all out. The action is smoother than any polish job I've done in half the time. I still wouldn't do it on a collector's piece, but for a working gun it works great. What's the weirdest trick you've seen that actually turned out okay?

2 comments

2 Comments

grant90119d ago

Calling it a "working gun" doesn't make abrasive grit in the action any less of a hack. That's how you get permanent wear and future problems.

jana_hill2719d ago

My old gunsmith instructor would have lost his mind hearing about valve grinding compound on a slide. I was totally in grant901's camp for years, thinking it was pure hack work. After trying it on that old Range Officer, I get it now. The key is using a tiny, tiny amount and cleaning it out completely, which I think a lot of people miss. It's not for every gun, but it fixed a real problem for me in minutes.