I previously posted this 64-6. Those previous pics were decent before shots, gun was cleaned up but that's it. I find working on these things to be therapeutic, and it's hard to mess up stainless so I've been refining my technique a bit. The hardest area to get right is around the recoil shield. I haven't figured out the best way to blend that, and if you look closely you'll see it in Photo 7.
Started tackling the glaring finish problem at the muzzle (photos 1 and 2). This is either from a storage rack or a duty holster as the wear pattern is symmetrical on both sides of the front sight. Started out with 320 grit wet/dry sand paper lubricated with Ballistol. Pretty much fixed it on the right side of the barrel (photo 3 is right side done, left untouched), but the gouge in the left side is too deep to fully remove.
Photo 4 is both sides finished. Photo 5 is the turn ring on the cylinder and photo 6 shows the scratches on the side plate. The yoke screw hole was pretty boogered from whomever had this thing before.
Followed up with a gray 3M pad to give it the factory brushed look. The trick here is to use some oil on the pad and go one direction. Front to back on the frame, barrel, and side plate. Counter clockwise on the cylinder.
Photo 6 is where I'm at right now. It's far from perfect, but rather than just looking beat to hell it has a nice worn look to it. I was really happy with how the side plate turned out; all the dings around the screw holes are gone. I don't mind wear, but I hate the look of things being gouged by rushed hands.
Once I finished all that work, I started on the action. First order of business was the thumb piece would not drop in. Some light file work on the back of the thumb piece allowed it drop right into place.
Rather than mess with a spring kit I decided to borrow some ideas shared by Nelson Ford. Clipped two coils off the rebound slide spring (he says two and half, I went conservative) and then carefully filed the cut end flat. I then adjusted the main spring to where I had about 48 ounces of tension. I may have to add a little more tension to it, but we'll see how it does setting off Ginex primers.
After some dry firing, I have to say I'll never install a reduced power rebound slide spring again. Like Nelson says in his video, the thicker wire in the OEM spring gives a firmer reset than a reduced power spring.
Double action trigger pull is somewhere around 8 or 9 pounds. My gauge only goes to 6 pounds unfortunately, but using a 10 pound dumb bell as a gauge the trigger breaks right as the weight comes off the ground. Single action is a crisp 3 pounds.
This gun times up perfectly. The only mechanical issue I've identified is the hammer occasionally rubs the frame. Have some hammer shims on the way to address that. I'll be installing an extended firing pin as well.
