Got bored, took the Dremel to my P-01...

[GFridrich3]

And ended up with a clean and shiny outer surface on the barrel.

I only touched up the areas that you will actually see when assembled.

Started with a buffing wheel and paste for the breach area and brought the rounded part to a near mirror finish.  For the barrel, i started with a piece of wet/dry 1000 grit sandpaper and a few drops of oil and worked the paper around the barrel, wiping clean and rinsing off to check the progress until it was ready to be hit with the polishing wheel for a few minutes to give it a reflective sheen.

After i was done, i wiped it down with a nitro soaked patch, inside and out, then dried it with a bare patch, followed by a microfiber cloth.  Ran my bore snake thru the barrel a few times just to be sure and finally applied a light coat of oil to the barrel inside and out before reassembling.

Here are some pics of the finished product for you to enjoy.  If anyone would like to use any of my pictures, please have the courtesy to ask me first.  Thanks.





















EDIT: Before anyone comments on it, I did NOT remove the serials from the gun, its just a little photoshop magic.  All three pieces of the gun still have their full serials intact.

[glock26]

It looks nice with chrome barrel.. well done.

[Kevin Quinlan]

If you use Mothers Mag Wheel Polish it won't leave the swirl marks.

[GFridrich3]

Ehhh...  It was just a little project cause i was bored.  I didnt really intend for it to get that reflective in the first place.  With the naked eye, you cant even see the swirls, the flash on the camera really brought out all the little flaws in the finish.

[Kevin Quinlan]

Hi GF,

If you use a little Mothers by hand it will clean them up. It also works on stainless. It does look cool though doesn't it?

[goishi]

That looks pimp.

[Cleft-Asunder]

I  hope you didn't polish the front of the barrel, because then you will have to recrown it. I polished mine after I caustic blued it, but the steel makes the bluing come out red, so I polished it on the buffing wheel. I recrowned it afterward with a rounded brass piece I made on the lathe.

[GFridrich3]

Nope, just the outside surface.  I was too worried i would cause any damage to the front of the barrel so i stayed away from it.  I think it would look better thou to have the end of the barrel polished as well so that it would match the little sparkle of the stainless guide rod I have now.

[amc31b]

GF- I am looking to do the same thing to my P-01 and was wondering about the specifics. Which speed setting did you use on your dremel? Also, which polishing attachment did you use?

Kevin-thanks for the tip about using mother's mag wheel polish

It does look great!  Thanks for the tips guys!

[GFridrich3]

I don't really know, i kept tweaking it while i was polishing it.  I think its more in running the polishing wheel slowly in straight lines arcoss the barrel to get it to shine up nicely, more than the right speed of rotation.  Just keep the polishing wheel clean and loaded with compound during the process.  It will take a while to get it nice a shiny if you take your time thou, so dont rush it or get discouraged at first when your not seeing results up front.  Also, dont be afraid to use a little wet  sandpaper with a few drops of gun oil on it to get to the bare metal on the barrel to speed things up a bit.  Sand a little at a time, and rinse and repeat for best results.

[amc31b]

I always wondered why CZ put that ugly greyish coating on the barrel.
So you used the flat cloth wheel? I was thinking the foam shaped cone would work well for something like this. Dremel's website recommends the RPMs for polishing stainless steel be 20-30k thousand rpms. I'm guessing i'll use the slowest speed. I have some 800 grit wet/dry laying around, is that too abrasive?
I'm thinking I am going to find a practice peice of steel to test all this out on before I do it to my barrel. I would recommend using a practice peice before trying it to anyone else like me that wants to do this but has never done it before.

[GFridrich3]

Its supposed to be some hard coating they use.  What i dont get is why even after just a few rounds the surface gets rubbed off.  Thats another thing...  Even after you have polished it nice and clean and perfect, your going to get pissed after the first visit to the range when the finish gets all tore up by the gun cycling rounds thru it for an hour or so.  It will still be shiny and all that, but wont have a smooth finish anymore.  Dont waste the time getting the barrel part to a mirror finish, just shine it up.  The breach area has held up pretty well, but that too, the mirror finish i put on it has worked its way to what looks like a badly scuffed chrome finish now.

As far as polishing, just go to town on it, your not going to damage the metal with polishing compound.  800 grit wet/dry should do the trick to get the hard coating off the barrel.  I think i used 1200 or 1500 grit wet/dry.  Make sure it is wet/dry paper thou.  I really dont think the speed is critical for polishing, just set it to a comfortable speed, keep it loaded with fresh compound and keep your polishing strokes straight and even.

[tblt4]

I would watch polishing towards the end of the barrel even on the outside.If you polish just .0005 off ,you will get more end play whitch could hert your accuracy down range.Just .0005 or .001 will make a big difference down range.Most other guns have some play at the end of the barrel ,not the cz,that is one reason it shoots tighter groups than most pistols.That is why I am buying one.This will be my fifth pistol.My friend has one and it is tight I love it.Most pistols like this shoot 4 to 5 inch groups at 25 yards,the cz will shoot 3 or less.

[tblt4]

I would not polish the end of the barrel on the outside.The guns are tight with no endplay polish it too much and you will have play like most the other crap out there on the market under 600 bucks and then you will loose your accuracy.Just .0005 to a .001 will screw you up down range.You will go from a2 to3 inch group to 4 or 5.