I snagged a P220ST slide on eBay yesterday I want to use for a project gun. It has a lot of surface scuffs and scratches on it. Would I be able to clean it up significantly with some metal polish or a polishing cloth? I don't want to send it out for refinishing.

I would find someone local with a bead blasting cabinet. It’s a pretty simple job that could be done quickly and make it look brand new. If you’re looking for a polished finish, it can be accomplished by hand and there are plenty of videos online detailing the process.

A gray Scotchbrite pad from the auto supply paint and body department will produce a nice matte finish.

Flitz has been pretty good to me for polishing for a shiny finish. Bead blasting would give it a flat finish and looks really good. Now if oyu really wanted something different, try bead blasting and then polishing on the flats/raised portions of the slide, like on the Equinox versions.

Rick Lee,

What we really need with your project is a before and after picture. I'd like to do the same and it will be interesting to see the results.

I will report back on this. The slide will arrive while I'm on a business trip and I'll be pretty busy when I get back, but I will get on this in a few weeks.

It depends on how deep the scratches are.

Minor stuff, yes- depending on the equipment you have. Flitz or anything similar and a lot of elbow grease. Buffing wheel on a Dremel, you might not get an even finish.

Larger buffing wheel on a table grinder is going to work better.

Think about removing the sights before cranking this project out.

I put a brushed finish on the flats of a 1911 slide with black sandpaper, down to about 400 grit. (The non-flats were bead blasted. The flats were a little beat-up, and I thought the contrast would look good.) I made a little jig out of wood and slid the slide back and forth along the jig, which ensured the "brush" marks were perfectly parallel to the length of the slide. This also prevented rounding over the edges. It looked really good, and I should renew that finish, because I have used that gun a lot in IDPA, and it looks a little beat-up again.

Dishing the screw holes or pin holes, and rounding over corners are real risks with freehand efforts. Unless you know what you are doing, power tools like wheels make this likely. It takes real skill to polish freehand.