Mainspring housing polishing tools

Does anyone have the Brownells Mainspring Housing Polishing tools (fine/medium) that I could borrow to polish out the inside of of a couple of mainspring housings with?

I just measured the hole diameter and it's .285 . Take a 7mm bore brush or a worn out 30 cal and wrap a piece of 320  emery cloth or wet / dry and put it in the hole and go to it . Use a drill and it'll go faster.

Bubba Blaster wrote:I just measured the hole diameter and it's .285 . Take a 7mm bore brush or a worn out 30 cal and wrap a piece of 320  emery cloth or wet / dry and put it in the hole and go to it . Use a drill and it'll go faster.

Thanks!

I would use some oil to so you're wet sanding.

Achieved reasonable results by rolling up emery paper until it is approximately the diameter of the hole.

Thanks all! Just got home with some wet dry sand paper. 400 and 600. Gonna go rob the garage of a piece of dowel rod.

Is this...

What...

Why...

Uh...

Is this something that people do? Why, pray tell? (I'm genuinely curious, and genuinely baffled. Never heard of this before.)

I'm glad you asked, as I was curious as well!

I could see a benefit if a 1911 was DA, but the hammer is cocked by the slide and the trigger simply releases the sear, so why is the resistance caused by the spring "dragging" in the sear housing an issue?

I do think it’s funny when folks talk about bullseye guns with 3.5lb triggers like they’re something special, when most of my USPSA guns had triggers around 1.5-2.0lbs and ran reliably with major power factor loads. Heck, CZs that I’ve shot would have have their factory triggers increased  to qualify for bullseye.

Bulls Eye shooting discipline is like socialism, - folks deliberately create difficulties for themselves, and then work non-stop to successfully overcome previously created difficulties.  In BE sport (or any sport) it is an overcoming the challenge.  When it comes to political system, - remediation falls more into field of medicine.
AP

Dang shit's getting real, where's my popcorn...

Look it, I had a 1911 frame and it’s parts cerakoted and I’m polishing off the finish from inside the mainspring housing. Cerakote is not very good for contact points that’s rub on each other. It’s a 22 frame and it’s behaving finicky right now. Myself and a couple of others have been over this gun heal to muzzle and we’re running out of options. So I’m trying something in effort to get her back up and running reliably. That’s all. Thank you for the help to the few that offered.

A few years ago I swapped the MSH and racking the slide felt sandpaper dragging against sandpaper. It made me cringe. Twenty minutes work with some fine sandpaper and the gun felt like a bullseye gun again.

Is it necessary? probably not. Does it eliminate a distraction I don't need? yes. It's possible a polished MSH will allow a slightly stronger recoil spring (because there is less drag) and get better lockup.

Yeah, a lot of mainspring housing castings have some flash inside that makes cocking the hammer feel gritty. It’s not a huge deal but polishing the inside out with a piece of sandpaper or drill rod or whatever is an easy fix for a minor annoyance. 

Now, somebody say something about lock time so we can really get in the weeds with this argument...

If it rubs on anything in the  gun it gets polished. Main spring hole. Extractor hole, FP hole, lug area of the slide, disconnector hole,  trigger slot......

Well you get the idea

BTW, when i Cerakote a slide or frame i never coat any part that slides mainly because you end up having to remove it and polishing the area. Even made up a set of dummy pins for all the frame holes to keep it out when spraying.  
The average person doing cerakote is is not a BE shooter nor smith..  it's a great product. I love it simply because i now never worry about any rust. 

Just me

I happen to use flex-hones for polishing holes.  Great products.. most of mine came from a background of engine building.

I'm pretty sure Jerry Keefer mentioned doing this and polishing the mainspring plunger as well.  He was also a "if it contacts something it gets polished" gunsmith. Believe it or not, this made a world of difference in reliability for my Kart conversion. I used dremel type polishing wheels.

Polishing is ok, but if you get it too smooth it actually might increase drag.  Been there...

It just needs to be smooth. Some housings have very deep gouges from being drilled. You don’t want to open up the ID of the hole. Polish the mainspring cap and then lightly oil when reassembling.
Jon

PhotoEscape wrote:Bulls Eye shooting discipline is like socialism, - folks deliberately create difficulties for themselves, and then work non-stop to successfully overcome previously created difficulties.  In BE sport (or any sport) it is an overcoming the challenge.  When it comes to political system, - remediation falls more into field of medicine.
AP

I had a similar issue when I started shooting Service Rifle,  (mostly the trying to buy  points with better equipment)

was fortunate early on to have a few conversations with some good shooters (state team guys and a few  high masters)  that were very helpful in getting my head on straight, 

whenever I mentioned a thought about xyz,, the first question each asked was why,, 

all suggested spending time on ammo, and practice,  vs any do dads or improved this or that (buy once cry once applies)




none of this applies to the OP however, so sorry for the drift, 

as far as the MSH, if emory cloth or  paper is too much, maybe some clover compound on a piece of cloth, wrapped thru a jag (and spun in a drill)

Ol give it a light polish or smoothing over but I believe I may found the real culprit to my issues. Thanks all.

why not just buy them?

Jon Eulette wrote:It just needs to be smooth. Some housings have very deep gouges from being drilled. You don’t want to open up the ID of the hole. Polish the mainspring cap and then lightly oil when reassembling.
Jon

This.

It is not always about mirror polishing as it is finishing up the job that did not get done right at the factory.  There can be burrs and crap in there from multiple drilling operations, or not, just depends.

I have used sandpaper, MX wheels or Cratex or polishing bobs, etc. basically the same tools I already have for other jobs.

Still, it didn’t stop me from ordering some fancy flexhones for revolver cylinders, just seemed a bit overkill for the mainspring housing.  Yet you never know what Santa will bring.

Things can get out of hand when 320-grit is good, so 400 must be better, and that means 800 is the bestest!  

Yet, I have learned not to judge other folk’s tooling desires as I ask them not to judge my own.  

"Yet, I have learned not to judge other folk’s tooling desires as I ask them not to judge my own" 

Amen

Things can get out of hand when 320-grit is good, so 400 must be better, and that means 800 is the bestest!  

Yet, I have learned not to judge other folk’s tooling desires as I ask them not to judge my own.  

 
You know they make at least up to 1200 grit right ;-)