The metal work on the frame is done. I warm the frame with a heat gun to about 100 degrees and place it into the Acetone. Warming the frame will allow the degreaser to get deep into the metal just as warming allows the acid finishes to penetrate deeper into the grain of the steel. Just warm the frame you don't want the Acetone to explode in your face so just warming is all you want to do. I have found doing this gives a more consistent finish by rendering any lubricants out of the smallest crack and fissures in the metal. I will let this soak for about an hour, blow it out, heat the frame again and apply the browning/rust blue solution and hang it outside just in time for the heat and humidity to do it's job.
So while the frame is in to soak I will start on the slide. One of the first things I do is file an angle on the sharp part of the slide that contacts the hammer as the gun is fired. I break the sharp edge on the rear, break any sharp edges on the front of this strip of metal and then polish the whole strip. The polishing keeps the slide from pulling the next round forward in the magazine causing a double feed.
Here the sharp corners are broken on the end of the slide strip that contact the back of the cartridge to feed the next round.
This slide has a slight pucker around the firing pin hole so I lightly stoned down the puckered up portion until it was flat with the rest of the breech face, chamfered the firing pin hole and lightly polished the area around the firing pin hole to smooth up the machine marks.
Next I polished the firing pin channel inside the slide, polished up the strip of metal on the slide that rubs against the top round in the magazine and the 2 notches in the slide that contact the trigger bar.
Next comes fitting the front FO sight and the 10X bushing, then the sanding and polishing of the slide for bluing.
