Once the firing pin bore is cleaned/polished I do the same for the firing pin block.
Less friction here increases reliability and safety of the gun.
So here is the Luxury Part.
I do polish the slide rails.
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY POLISH, NOT CUTTING THEM.
For this I used ONLY 3000 grit wet dry sandpaper. Not 200 not 400 1200 etc.......
I DO NOT WANT TO CHANGE THE DIMENSIONS AT ALL.
I always use something like a file or benchtop to maintain a square edge to the slide.
Mine was very dirty when I bough the gun and showed a little rust on the rails.
I focus a lot on the bottom of the rails for a reason.
Your trigger bars uses this surface as a cam surface.
The bottom of the rail is used for the trigger reset function.
So the smoother this is the less the trigger bar will drag on it once the trigger bar is polished as well.
Which will be soon.
See the notches in this picture here. It has already been polished in this shot but I dont have any prior to polishing for these camming notches.
The sides of the rails themselves I typically wrap my sandpaper around a file, (in this case a triangular file) and make sure I run it flat to the surface.
The camming notches are more difficult and I find it easier just to use my finger to polish them with the sandpaper.
The smoother these are the better the movement of the trigger bar during reset.
The bottom of the rails are actually really easy,
My trick is to lay 3000 grit sand paper on my work bench and hang it over the edge of the bench,
Then I take the slide with the muzzle end toward me, and the hammer end over the bench.
Remember the guide rod hang down so you have to have the guide rod hole over the edge of the bench.
Then I will move the slide forward and back in the same direction as when it is racking in the gun.
This not only polishes it but it also polishes it in the direction of the racking action which is always best.
The next area to be addressed is the center rail.
Have you ever noticed as you rack the slide, that you can feel multiple increases in the effort as the slide moves back.
Part of that is the camming action of the trigger bar we already talked about.
But the biggest part is the slide cocking the hammer and pressing it down until the sear locks it in place.
This is done by the center rail and the increase in effort is the drag of the hammer on the center rail as it cocks it.
I decrease this effort by polishing the center rail and polishing the face of the hammer.
Another thing I do is I round off the back edge of the center rail ever so slightly.
To me it does not make sense to have a sharp edge dragging across the hammer face as the slide moves backwards
I again use the triangular file with 3000 grit to polish both the back edge after rounding and the whole face of the center rail.
Last item for smoothing the slide is back to the firing pin block.
While moving the slide is moving the firing pin block drags across the face of the lifting arm.
I always polish the face of the firing pin block just as that last detail trying to remove any and all drag I can.
I probably makes no difference, but I can honestly say I try to leave no stone unturned when I do my action jobs.
I usually take items like this and grasp them in my fingers and do circular motions on 3000 grit sand paper until the face is mirror smooth.
