I need some guidance please

[buckwheatpaul]

I have a Ruger Mark III Hunter and the pistol is beautiful .... last week the magazine was stuck and while trying to remove the empty magazine I lost my grip and the pistol hit the concrete. It went down crown first. If you are looking at the business end of the barrel there are some scratches at 11 o'clock. Scratches do not extend to the recessed crown but concrete scratches non-the-less that are in the area of the point where the bull barrel begins to round over toward the recessed crown. I need some advice on how to clean up my mess. The scratches are not very deep but it hurts my feelings to leave it is. The pistol was and still is a tack driver.....any advise would be appreciated. Paul[smilie=b:

[Texas by God]

A sanding block wrapped in fine grit sandpaper worked flat in a figure 8 motion will clean it up. Put an oiled cleaning patch inside the barrel near the muzzle to trap dust. When it's polished out, cold blue it or if Stainless you're done. I have the best luck with cold blue by applying it then leave it for a day to rust. Then 0000 steel wool, rinse,repeat all week till you get the shade you want. Dropping a gun is always an OS moment.....

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[stubshaft]

If the scratches do not or have not distorted the bore I would not worry about it. That is the main reason why there is a recessed crown.

[EDG]

If this is a stainless pistol it would be easy to fix.

If you know a skilled gunsmith just strip the pistol down to the barrel and receiver.
Then the smith can chuck the gun in his lathe. With the lathe turning about 250 RPM use 320 grit wet or dry silicon carbide paper to polish the muzzle until you remove the scratches. If the polished finish is too coarse use a finer grit paper to match the finish of your gun. If it is too smooth use a coarser grit to match the finish. Use of a light oil can also change the reflectivity of your polishing operation.

[GregLaROCHE]

I agree take to a gunsmith and have him touch up the crown. It’s very important for accuracy. Sometimes this can be done with a tool that fits on the barrel. It saves time and expense. Not sure how it works for pistols, but it is done for rifles.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I agree with posts #4&5. Easy fix in a lathe.

[country gent]

It is easier in the lathe if the original polish marks are radial. in the muzzle and bevel wont be to bad. I would use a fine 6" file for the backer, unless there's some raised burrs then I would lightly use a clean fine file to remove the raised metal. Then the file and a strip of sandpaper ( grit depending on how deep and rough the scratches are), working down to match the finish both in polish and direction. A lot of the rugers heavy barrels had simple bevel around the muzzle, it this is damaged here clean up may need to be 360* to keep the bevel even all the way around.
While not necessary while your there a light polish on the crown with a brass ball and lapping compound wont hurt just in case.

[Oily]

1st don't get in a tizzy about it. We all do these fopaws. Second shape a wooden dowel to erase the fopaw and use valve grinding compound or the equivalent and slowly work the error out. Be it on the inside of the crown or the outside. Back to #1 don't force it. Take your time and enjoy your gunsmithing skills. If you go slow and take your time and polish the fopaw out you are a gunsmith in theory. Gunsmithing is a dying art because of the insurance costs because of the anti gun people. You can do this yourself if you have minimal skills and a lot of patience. It may take you several hrs to correct this problem but you can do this with patience and diligence to your method.














#1

[fast ronnie]

Brownells sells a couple of different types of bluing, and one or two of them are for fixing this kind of problem. The biggest part is not to panic and do something to make it worse. Being on the muzzle, itself, color match won't be as much a problem as if it were on a larger area. (like a two-tone Cadillac)
Sand the scratches out with fine wet or dry paper using your finger going in a circular motion. Don't rub side to side because it will stick out like a sore thumb. After getting it smoothed out, then use something like Oxbow or similar. The results will be nice if done right.

[Gtek]

Find two non marring dowels/PVC, etc. and secure to bench, strip weapon. Roll barrel back and forth 90 degrees to dowels with about 320 grit or as needed on end of other hand finger to polish out. Cold blue up and get on with life, you can't see it shooting! New car first ding, new gun ding, oh how I know that sick reoccurring feeling and even when we fix them somehow they are still there.

[buckwheatpaul]

Thanks guys for the suggestions.....should have mentioned that the pistol is stainless and I will give your suggestions a whirl......Paul