Sig Sauer P6 Refinish Jobs

[jkraig]

I just spent a few hours this evening working on my P6. I media blasted the slide and polished it out. The pictures do not do it justice, but it will give you a good Idea. This is the 2nd P6 I have tinkered with. The last one I fully blasted the entire gun and left it with a Peen finish. My next one will be a fully polished version.

Before:

After #1 - Media Blasted then Highly Polished

These are the grips I want to put on it

Before:

After #1- Media Blasted Peen Finish

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[Grizzly_A]

That first picture sure looks familiar.....

Looks nice, two-tone has a nice look to it.

 

[jkraig]

That first picture sure looks familiar.....

Looks nice, two-tone has a nice look to it.

Yeah, I picked it up from Weebs today.

 

[Grizzly_A]

Is it going to be a show piece or a shootin piece?

I can vouch for the black version shootin'

 

[Weebs]

Wow jkriag that looks great! You didn't waste any time! you must have skipped work this afternoon good work.

 

[Miso Beno]

Wait, is this gun in the white or am I missing something?

Edit:

An old photo of my P6. (I parkerized the slide)

 

[rapter87772000]

those look awsome! nice job sir, have you considered doing other guns?

 

[cameronhu]

Pardon my ignorance, but what type of steel is the slide and frame? If they aren't stainless, does the loss of the bluing not make the gun more susceptible to rust? Or is this just a first step in a process?

They look beautiful, by the way.

 

[Miso Beno]

Pardon my ignorance, but what type of steel is the slide and frame? If they aren't stainless, does the loss of the bluing not make the gun more susceptible to rust? Or is this just a first step in a process?

They look beautiful, by the way.

The slide is a regular old steel slide and it will rust unless there is some form of coating on it like nickel or hard chrome.

 

[wayoutwest]

WOW, looks very nice, really like the 2 tone one....good job

 

[aquariumjunky]

That be sexy!

 

[jkraig]

Pardon my ignorance, but what type of steel is the slide and frame? If they aren't stainless, does the loss of the bluing not make the gun more susceptible to rust? Or is this just a first step in a process?

They look beautiful, by the way.

The frame is alloy, and the slide is steel. Both get a silicone treatment when complete. The 1st one was done over 6 months ago and has no signs of rust. If you threw it out on a Beach for a month or so, I am not sure what would happen.

 

[jkraig]

those look awsome! nice job sir, have you considered doing other guns?

I did a S&W 2-tone.

 

[coctailer]

I love the 2-tone one!!!

 

[parrotdog]

SIG anodizes the aluminum frame pistols for a reason. It protects them.

Removing the anodizing, as in this case, exposes the aluminum, and weakens the frame.

 

[jkraig]

SIG anodizes the aluminum frame pistols for a reason. It protects them.

Removing the anodizing, as in this case, exposes the aluminum, and weakens the frame.

I called SIG to see if you were correct and they told me:

1. The frame is not Aluminum, it is a "Special Alloy".
2. The finish is not applied for protection or corrosion prevention, but purely for "asthetics purposes".
3. Removing the original finish "Will not jeopardize the integrity of the structure".

 

[parrotdog]

Hardcoat anodizing is used by SIG on all of their alloy (of aluminum) frames. It forms an oxide that is bonded to the surface and the color, whether black or ..., actually fills the pores in the oxide layer. I understand that you can very carefully remove the color layer leaving the hard anodizing and if that is what you did, I stand corrected

If you removed the color and the anodizing, you are correct that the aluminum alloy underneath the anodizing isn't weakened at all; it just doesn't have the same properties with the anodizing on it, which makes it more susceptible to quicker wear.
The hardcoat anodize helps to enhance the frame, by giving it properties in areas of surface to surface contact which would wear quicker if they were left bare aluminum.

SIG customer service may have told you that removing the anodizing was not going to damage your pistol however in an article written by Bruce Gray, one of the most respected SIG armorers and available here: , he explains how to inspect a used SIG pistol watching carefully for the effects of wear on the frame. In that article, he states “Dull Silver – You’re screwed. Your anodizing has worn completely through in the areas you see dull anodizing. From here on your frame is unprotected and it’s time to buy a new gun. It may still shoot and function perfectly, but your frame rails will continue to wear at a much accelerated rate.”

I happen to have a SIG P229 that came from the factory with a clear anodized frame and I think the bead blast look is great.

 

[Grizzly_A]

The good news is that you can re-anodize the frame, you don't need to buy a new gun. You aren't going to gain back the worn areas except in micrometers, but it will toughen up the areas that the anodizing got worn off.

Building an AR15 lower from a block of Aluminum (or Al alloy) is similar. The final process is to hard anodize and dye/paint the lower. Or you can color anodize...

 

[SquatchWorks]

So I know we are talking about frames now, but why would you polish your slide down to bare steel, and not coat it? you should get it dipped, to protect it... what kind of silicone treatment did you use? is it a paint? or a lube?