Beretta Innox project

[Gi14]

Disclaimer: I suck at photography.

Okay, got that out of the way. I bought this Beretta Inox from a member through this site not long ago. It's the third pistol of my collection. I wanted to do something 'special' with it, so I took it to the polishing wheel. I know, I know. Depreciated value, altered steel finishing...I get it. But it's my toy and I like to play with my toys. Even if I break 'em.

Here is what I came up with.

BEFORE:



AFTER:














Took it to the range today for the first time since hitting it with the wheel. Right target is first 20 rounds at 5 yards. Left target is second 20 rounds at 7 yards. I've shot better, but I've shot worse too. I'm no pro. Honestly, I was a bit nervous. Proof that it still works...





I'm sure I offended Beretta lovers everywhere by photographing one in a Glock case, lol. Suck it up! If only I could take pictures like Rocketfoot...that Colt duo is too pretty.

-Giovanni

[00leland00]

I think it looks pretty damn good.

[bdevil73]

Wow. Looks great. Nice job.

[moose]

Wow, that was a great polish job! Well done!

[RUDY850]

Very nice

Can you tell how you did this

Type of polishing wheel

Polishing compound

Did you remove the rear site

Do tell all. Start to finish if you don't mind

[Mity2]

I had 92F/S Inox before, and I wish I did that.

I LOVE shinny gunz!

You must explain in detail how you accomplished that
(as above post said)

[c.sander]

great job polishing that bro looks way better than when i owned it glad you love the gun

and mity its a 96 not a 92 ;p

[40twist]

Daayyyyuuuummmm that looks nice man!!!!! I actually polish the feed ramps and chambers and the outer surface of the barrel in every firearm I own but I have yet to attempt such a cosmetic change as that yet ..... Againg man it looks VERY GOOD!!!!

[Gi14]

Thanks!!

I'm really happy with how it turned out. There are a couple spots that I'm not 100% satisfied with, like the concave portion along the slide from tip to firing pin, and the flat portion just above it that runs along the barrel. But both were really hard to get to and I was worried about removing too much metal on the edges. Plus, the edges destroyed the polishing wheels. Cotton flying everywhere.

Rudy, Mity...

I've never done any polishing like this, so my methods probably aren't what a professional would use, where my methods weren't flat out wrong. I came into this clueless. Some might say I finished clueless too, hehe. But I'd like to do it again. Next time I want to try and only do certain areas of the slide, but leave the rest stock. Get a nice two-tone look. That would look awesome with a blacked pistol. I'd have to find one with lines that would work. Sig or XD come to mind. Worse case, if it doesn't work I can do the whole thing. But I have no clue how to mask areas without just burning adhesives all over the surface and making a mess. My Dremel is cordless and takes a dump if I stress it too hard. If I got a better Dremel, corded with speed adjustment, I might be able to do the selective polishing with it. I don't know, food for thought.

I detail stripped the slide before I did any work to it. I used this link which had great straight forward step-by-step instructions. http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/6078/92f.htm I did take the rear sights off, but I boogered them up with deep tool marks. I used a B&J universal sight remover. The tool worked fine, but I had to crank on the removing screw, then tap it with a hammer, then crank it another turn, tap it again... I had to do that the whole length of the sights, they were in there friggin' tight. By the time I got them out, they looked like crap. So I picked up a set of adjustable ones and installed them when I was done. They're easier to see, and went in much easier, but feel kind of cheap. I can still grind down the sides of the original sights for future use, they're not completely destroyed. Just beat up.

To do the polishing, I used a 1/3 horsepower motor I bought from Eastwood Co. They are here in Pottstown (behind Wal-mart), I bought it from their little retail shop. I also got their stainless steel polishing kit and a tripod stand. That way I'm able to store it in the garage and take it outside when I want to work with it. Only bummer there is I have to wait on nice weather. There was a crazy amount of metal/compound dust, I can't imagine doing it inside, even in a well ventilated area. The whole setup cost $220 after tax.

The stainless steel kit came with three six inch wheels (sisal, spiral-sewn cotton, and loose cotton) and three types of compound (emery, middle one ? grey colored, and white rouge). And a little instructional pamphlet that really didn't tell me too much. I used an old wood saw blade as a buffing wheel rake. A board with nails would do just as well.

I used the sisal with grey compound to knock the texture off the metal and give it a low luster. But I was scared to do too much with it, it just felt too aggressive. I probably switched wheels too early and created more work for myself, but speed wasn't a priority. I used the spiral-sewn with the same compound for most of the hard work, getting the metal grain going in the same direction, putting a shine onto the surface. There were hundreds of little holes I could see when I wiped it clean, where the metal hadn't 'smeared' together yet from the original finish. Slowly, those holes reduced. As they reduced, the metal got brighter and started looking good. Some holes showed a little tail against the direction I was polishing. They looked like tiny comets. Once I got it to the point where the comets were minimal, one per square inch, I switched to the white rouge on a loose cotton wheel. This part took a fair amount of my total project time, but it was easier work. The metal got hotter, I guess from more cotton contact area, but it was a softer response in my hands. Not quite as rigid as the first two wheels. The loose cotton glazed everything together. It actually looked worse in the beginning with the white rouge highlighting imperfections, but then the surface sort of glassed over and got very bright.

I think my biggest mistakes were timing. I was just guessing on when to switch between wheels and compounds. Next one I do, I'll try it a little different, see what works better. Maybe use the sisal with emery compound a little longer. Or get several spiral-sewn wheels ($6.00 a pop), and use each one with a different compound. I felt like the spiral-sewn did the most work insofar as transitioning the metal. I'm curious to see what they would do with the other two compounds. The loose cotton will still probably be a requirement to seal the deal.

After about 5 hours total time polishing, I cleaned it. No question, cleaning it was the hardest part. The compound grease and cotton fuzz hardened into adobe inside the firing pin channel, decocking channel and all the roll-pin holes. I used toothpics, metal pics, and q-tips to get out all the big chunks. Then gun cleaner to soften the hard gunk and try to wipe it all out. I kept doing that until the patches/q-tips came out clean. Cleaning took a couple hours easy. I also removed the red grease-pencil safety dots under the decocker/safety and in the front sights. I didn't care for them.

Start-to-finish, it took me one week. Working on it when the weather was nice during the work week, and then on Saturday. Sunday, I shot it...the really fun part!

I think I had just as much chance of totally screwing it up, but I got lucky. I tried different motions and piece positioning, then stuck with what seemed to have the best effect on the metal. Swapping back and forth between angles of attack didn't do anything positive. So I made sure that whatever direction I had started polishing a particular part of the slide, that's the direction I stayed with until it was done.

I also polished my G23 barrel, but didn't post any pictures.

Anyhow, that's pretty much it. I'll post whatever I do next, I'm sure it won't be long. Thanks again for the compliments.

-Giovanni

[MartinBrody]

I love the high polish look on that Beretta, looks better than the factory finish. Congratulations!