Glass beading....

Have been putting together a stainless Caspian lower to use under the Colt 9mm conversion, and also a Advantage .22 kit at the Pawn Shop. (Haven't bought it yet, but plan to.). The front strap checkering and undercut, grip safety blending, etc., are ready to blast before polishing the flats, and finally putting on the plunger tube. We can get beads in town, but only in 80 grit.....that seems really coarse. Would like to match the soft silver finish that the raw frame had on it when we started, and feather the two together if possible. Can anyone tell us what size beads and pressure you use on your work. Can't find much on the forums, and my buddy the Gunsmith and I will do some experimenting and practicing on old stainless knife blades from the flea market before trying the receiver. He's used ultra fine sand that's in his cabinet now for satin bluing and parkerizing and cleaning up rust. He says the beads aren't as likely to dull the straight lines and crisp,sharp edges that were so gosh darn hard to make. Sure could use a little advice here, and as always,..... Thanks in advance.
                                                                Bill

Greetings,

Do you have a Grainger store nearby?

I bought a pail of Balotini 320 glass beads a while ago.

Here is a link to some of their items...

https://www.grainger.com/category/abrasive-blasting-media/abrasive-blasting/abrasives/ecatalog/N-14xn?okey=glass+bead+media&mkey=glass+bead+media&refineSearchString=glass+bead+media&NLSCM=17&EndecaKeyword=glass+bead+media&searchRedirect=glass+bead+media

They, Grainger, will also ship to your local store free of charge.

Cheers,

Dave

Thanx for the reply and the links Dave....guess we'll have to figure this one out on our own. Did some more reading on the 1911 sites......seems like 160 grit and low pressure would be safe to start.  
                                                      Bill

   Finally finishing this up. Used 80 grit beads at 40 psi, and polished the flats to 400 grit. Been following the photo posting thread and had to give it another go.

   Think we got it now..... and thanks again to those who posted the instructions.
                                                                                                                         Bill

What grips are those? 

Also 9mm? You might have to change the ejector some do not play nice with Conversion kits.

I need to get my frame for my 22 conversion done so I was looking into this, too. On the Smith and Wesson forum, someone said Brownells 270 glass beads could be used to match the factory satin finish on late model S&W guns. 
http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/metal-prep-coloring/pre-finish-surface-prep/glass-beads-prod1209.aspx

I made the grips from a blank of Ebony Rich...and changing out ejectors is easy enough.  As of now, it runs fine with the bulk Ultramax ammo I bought to test and tune it with. 
 Ralph.....  We tried the 80 grit glass first, on a cut off stainless rifle barrel, and kept dropping the pressure down until the finish looked like Caspians. Masking it was the tough part.
Found that Frog Tape held up to the blasting and left a clean edge. Will try to get some good close up pictures in natural light to show the true color and texture.
                                          Thank you for the replies fellas;
                                                                                          Bill

Nice Work!