Polishing the bolt

[Woogiebear]

Hey, I recently purchased a CAI Polish underfolder and want to make some slight changes. One of the main things I want to get done is to polish the bolt/bolt carrier. Is there a quick and easy way to do this, or is it something you have to dedicate a lot of time for? Could I use a dremel or is a table mounted grider w/buffer wheel prefered? What type of paste (wax, grit, goo?) should I use. I am familier with the AK family and many other Russian firearms as far as field stripping and maintenance, but not so much when it comes to making something function smoother. Any help that ya'll can provide would be much appreciated.

[AK-J]

Polishing the bolt carrier won't make it function "smoother". The reason most folks do that is for aesthetic purposes.

[Schuetzenman]

Also it's just not right for a Polish AKM. Chinese guns had chromed bolt and bolt carriers, not just polished. IMO you polish off the finish you open it up to rust. My 2 cents is Don't Go There.

[Infidelski]

Yup, if its not chrome don't polish it unless you just have to do it because... if thats the case you'll have to remove the original finish completely and will need a bench top or pedestal buffer. Try not to buff out too much material or you could end up looking for a new bolt carrier. Honestly Woogiebear, if you've never buffed metal to a polish for either fit or finish then don't learn on your AKM.

[deth502]

if its the look you want, go for it. your not dragging it through the jungle, you should be maintaining it far more than necessary to keep it from rusting if you do routine maintenance to your firearms. its not going to help function (except for maybe when the part that cocks the hammer gets polished) but no matter what you do, i wouldn't polish the bolt. your not really going to see it, and you can cause dangerous head space conditions if you polish too much in the wrong spots.

as long as your careful around where the carrier rides on the rails, and the cams the bolt rides in (i wouldn't even touch them) i find it hard to believe that you could actually fuck up the carrier polishing it.

[Woogiebear]

Thanks for the feed back. I thought about it this weekend and decided to just leave the bolt/bolt carrier as is. No use ruining a good thing. I am not much concerned with how the gun looks, but am concerned more with it functioning. If buffing it to a shine doesn't overall improve performance and could possibly affect it negatively, then I am not going to worry about it. She looks just fine as is.