Polishing the feed ramp?

[hogger129]

What do you guys use for polishing your feed ramp? Wire brush? Light sand paper? I have a few nicks and scratches due to my hollowpoints not feeding well in my gun and want to polish up my feed ramp a little.

[hogger129]

I field stripped my pistol and gave it a good cleaning, cleaned up the ramp real nice. Feeds better than it did. That ammo I had wasn't "round" enough at the tip and wouldn't feed very well. I think another problem is my magazines, so I'm going to buy a couple of Kimber mags like I had for my RIA. They seemed to always feed well. It's the Springfield magazines without the supported follower are what I believe is causing my problem. Tried out some Remington 230gr JHP and they seem to feed a little better. They are a little more round than the Gold Dot 185gr I had.

[JLA]

get some chip mccormick shootn star mags. the 8 rounders without the floorplate blued are like 20 bucks, stainless are 24. They are absolutely fantastic and utterly reliable...

Oh yeah, I use white buffing compound and a felt wheel in my dremel for feed ramps and triggers. They sell white and red buffing compound at harbor freight. Both will do well, red is courser than the white...

[fleetwood1976]

I use buffing wheel on a dremel with polishing compound also.

[Insulation Tim]

Dremel felt wheel and Flitz

[oscarmayer]

dremal with a felt wheel some ftiz or use crous cloth

[JLA]

flitz is a more liquid form of the white compound i mentioned before. i t works just as well and can prolly be bought at walmart

[carver]

Me, I use a Gun Smith to polish my feed ramps!

[WILD CAT]

Hogger, You didn't mention what pistol it is. From the posts I imagine it is a 1911 or some variation. Some old issue barrels, come with a less pronounced feeding ramp, other newer issues have the ramp at a somewhat tighter chamber mouth. I imagine that these new pistols are supposed to use factory jacketed rounds. Before polishing, look for dents or scratches, no matter how slight, they show on the side of the case. The scratches are caused by a rough or tight down side of chamber mouth.

Jamming could be also caused by a light main spring that fails to strip a round from the magazine, especially if the spring of the magazine is too hard.

I would not use power tools of any kind, a small error might ruin the barrel.

My method, is simple but time consuming. I cut some wooden rods, about 7 inches long an 3/16 thick. I cut a strip of sand paper, the one used to polish metals not wood, Nº 400 and after coiling it I glue a strip 1/2 an inch wide around one end of the wooden rod, at a distance of 1/2 an inch from the tip of the rod. I prefer using finer grain sanding paper. You don't need water.

Holding firmly the barrel start grinding gently the lower end of the chamber, until the step of the lower half has been rounded, nearing the point of removing the step. Very important: every now and then put the barrel in place over the frame and check how much steel you have removed to avoid exessive grinding. By now, instead of the step between the chamber and the frame, you will have a continuous sliding shape, so the round won't be bitten when entering the chamber.

At this stage you switch to finer grain paper, and still finer until only the slightest marks of the grinding could be felt.

The last step, take a nail polishing file, the one ladies use, curve lenghtwise the tip,taking care not to break the wooden strip inside the file and start polishing until the area you have worked on looks like a mirror. If you fire the assembled pistol and rounds don't slip swiftly in the chamber, You might need a little more grinding and polishing. Great care should be taken to keep the fit of the barrel and the frame. No iron files should be used. Dremels should be used only by professionals and in such case they should be firmly fixed to the working bench, at the lowest speed.

I tried to describe the method I use. I'm very careful.
Instead of the wooden rods I mentioned, you can simply roll the sanding paper taking care not to scratch the chamber walls.

One tip, jamming could occur if the load isn't hot enough or if the main spring is too weak. Another don't try to tinker with the magazine lips, they usually come quite reliable and are cheap.

If your pistol is new or of considerable value, I suggest you have a qualified gunsmith check it before you do some work that might affect its reliability.

For reloaders; on 45 ACP ammo, including factory made, alghough they chamber on the cases mouth, a very very light crimp, increases considerably the good functioning of the gun and might save you all the polishing trouble.

WILD CAT

[hogger129]

Originally Posted by WILD CAT

Hogger, You didn't mention what pistol it is. From the posts I imagine it is a 1911 or some variation. Some old issue barrels, come with a less pronounced feeding ramp, other newer issues have the ramp at a somewhat tighter chamber mouth. I imagine that these new pistols are supposed to use factory jacketed rounds. Before polishing, look for dents or scratches, no matter how slight, they show on the side of the case. The scratches are caused by a rough or tight down side of chamber mouth.

Jamming could be also caused by a light main spring that fails to strip a round from the magazine, especially if the spring of the magazine is too hard.

I would not use power tools of any kind, a small error might ruin the barrel.

My method, is simple but time consuming. I cut some wooden rods, about 7 inches long an 3/16 thick. I cut a strip of sand paper, the one used to polish metals not wood, Nº 400 and after coiling it I glue a strip 1/2 an inch wide around one end of the wooden rod, at a distance of 1/2 an inch from the tip of the rod. I prefer using finer grain sanding paper. You don't need water.

Holding firmly the barrel start grinding gently the lower end of the chamber, until the step of the lower half has been rounded, nearing the point of removing the step. Very important: every now and then put the barrel in place over the frame and check how much steel you have removed to avoid exessive grinding. By now, instead of the step between the chamber and the frame, you will have a continuous sliding shape, so the round won't be bitten when entering the chamber.

At this stage you switch to finer grain paper, and still finer until only the slightest marks of the grinding could be felt.

The last step, take a nail polishing file, the one ladies use, curve lenghtwise the tip,taking care not to break the wooden strip inside the file and start polishing until the area you have worked on looks like a mirror. If you fire the assembled pistol and rounds don't slip swiftly in the chamber, You might need a little more grinding and polishing. Great care should be taken to keep the fit of the barrel and the frame. No iron files should be used. Dremels should be used only by professionals and in such case they should be firmly fixed to the working bench, at the lowest speed.

I tried to describe the method I use. I'm very careful.
Instead of the wooden rods I mentioned, you can simply roll the sanding paper taking care not to scratch the chamber walls.

One tip, jamming could occur if the load isn't hot enough or if the main spring is too weak. Another don't try to tinker with the magazine lips, they usually come quite reliable and are cheap.

If your pistol is new or of considerable value, I suggest you have a qualified gunsmith check it before you do some work that might affect its reliability.

For reloaders; on 45 ACP ammo, including factory made, alghough they chamber on the cases mouth, a very very light crimp, increases considerably the good functioning of the gun and might save you all the polishing trouble.

WILD CAT

Springfield Armory 1911-A1 Loaded. I have a pretty strong feeling it's my magazines, I'm gonna get some magazines with supported followers. I think it had a little to do with that ammo I had too. It was this Speer Gold-Dot 185gr JHP. The Remington 230gr JHP feed better in my gun.

[TheGunClinger]

I am a firm believer in Wilson Combat mags. Pricey, but they work. Always. If you use a really good mag and your feeding issues are still present, go to a GOOD smith. 1911 owners should not be allowed to own a Dremel!
There are exceptions, of course, but I am not one of them.

[Slabsides]

I use a method similar to what Wild Cat posted. I use fine sandpaper and proceed with great care followed by a polish with the dremel. The key is to take as little off as possible to only smooth imperfections and not distort the shapes. If a scratch is deep, it must be left and blended as best as possible.

The danger in doing this is taking off too much from the lip of the barrel which can cause case blowout (nasty) or taking off too much from the ramp on the frame which can cause improper feeds and can only be repaired by major repair (insert) by a well-qualified gunsmith.

[JLA]

Originally Posted by Slabsides

I use a method similar to what Wild Cat posted. I use fine sandpaper and proceed with great care followed by a polish with the dremel. The key is to take as little off as possible to only smooth imperfections and not distort the shapes. If a scratch is deep, it must be left and blended as best as possible.

The danger in doing this is taking off too much from the lip of the barrel which can cause case blowout (nasty) or taking off too much from the ramp on the frame which can cause improper feeds and can only be repaired by major repair (insert) by a well-qualified gunsmith.

or milling the ramp out and changing to a ramped barrel. either way it goin to the doctor

[ampaterry]

I just used crocus cloth wrapped around a pencil, and a bit of patience. Polish a little, shoot a little, and stop polishing when it quits jamming. This will also improve your field-strip time!
It fixed up my issue 1911 feed problems. That was about 35 years ago, and it still feeds fine, even with reloads using cast lead unjacketed bullets.

[cluznar]

Never had to polish any Feed ramps on pistols I bought.