# First handgun, what should I do.



## Brendangr3 (Jun 6, 2017)

So last year in September I sold my motorcycle, and he was short $200 so he threw in a Beretta px4 storm .40 with two clips, a case, and a bag. Had a buddy who owns 6 handguns look it over, said it's all good. Since then, I've put ~650 rounds through it, cleaning after every use. I love it, but there is one small issue that I don't know whether it can be fixed or not. 
The previous owner carved his full name on both sides of the slide (pretty deep if I might add) 
Is there anyway this can be removed, or am I gonna have to cough up the cash for a new one? If pictures are needed, I can add some once I'm home.


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## Danoobie (May 31, 2017)

Why don't you contact Beretta, see if they'll sell you a new slide?


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

Brendangr3 said:


> So last year in September I sold my motorcycle, and he was short $200 so he threw in a Beretta px4 storm .40 with two clips, a case, and a bag. Had a buddy who owns 6 handguns look it over, said it's all good. Since then, I've put ~650 rounds through it, cleaning after every use. I love it, but there is one small issue that I don't know whether it can be fixed or not.
> The previous owner carved his full name on both sides of the slide (pretty deep if I might add)
> Is there anyway this can be removed, or am I gonna have to cough up the cash for a new one? If pictures are needed, I can add some once I'm home.


Unless it was done with a hammer and chisel it can probably be fixed. I'm assuming it's on the "flats" of the slide?

More than likely you can take it out with some 220 wet or dry then 320 working your way down to 400. (1) Take the slide completely apart except for the sights unless they are in the way. (2) Place the wet or dry on a flat surface. (3) Place the flats or damaged area of the slide onto the wet or dry. (4) Move the slide back and forth on the wet or dry and sand/polish until all the damage is removed. (5) Thoroughly clean the slide when you're done. Depending on where the damage is you can also wrap the wet or dry around a flat 6 inch steel ruler and polish/sand the damage out that way. Of course you could always have the slide bead blasted.

If the slide is made of stainless steel you will not have to get it re-finished unless you want to. If not you can have it cerakoted, parkerized or some other suitable firearms finish. "Cerakoting" is not a do it yourself operation it will have to be done professionally. Neither is parkerization. You could also use Duracoat and do it yourself if you have compressed air and an air brush. Duracoat is not as durable as cerakote. But you can get a real nice finish just the same. I've used it on my CZ 40 P's aluminum frame and it looks great. Cold blue can also be used but doesn't last very long and will come out looking like shit!

If you do decide to have the slide cerakoted the slide will have to be bead blasted anyway and the damage may or may not come out. Depending on how deep the damage is they may charge you extra to get them out along with dis-assembling/re-assembling the slide. So whatever you can do yourself will save you money. The average cost of cerakoting a dis-assembled, undamaged slide is around $75.









The 40 P is the furthest right. "Click on the above and below" thumbnails. It had a deep scratch on the side of the frame, just above the rail in between the roll markings. There were also some deep scratches from the slide stop/takedown lever. I just did the flat on that one side of the frame, not the entire frame.


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

Danoobie said:


> Why don't you contact Beretta, see if they'll sell you a new slide?


A new slide could cost well over $300. It's probably gonna' be a lot cheaper to fix the old one. I don't know about Beretta? But some manufacturers will not sell new slides unless the firearm is returned to them.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Worst case, you could have the name erased by having a craftsman engrave a small design over it.
However, that'd probably cost as much as a new slide would.

Best bet? Follow *desertman*'s sand-it-out instructions.


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## Brendangr3 (Jun 6, 2017)

Thank you all for the quick replies! I'm gonna add a few pictures for yall. It is indeed on the flats of the slide. The only thing I can find on the slide is it has a "brunition" finish. Not sure if it's a common thing, but I have no idea what it is. There's a place in town that will do cerakote for 85 on a stripped slide.


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

Brendangr3 said:


> Thank you all for the quick replies! I'm gonna add a few pictures for yall. It is indeed on the flats of the slide. The only thing I can find on the slide is it has a "brunition" finish. Not sure if it's a common thing, but I have no idea what it is. There's a place in town that will do cerakote for 85 on a stripped slide.


From what I can tell, that should be an easy fix. I'd be willing to guess that the individual who does the cerakoting will be able to remove it when the slide is bead blasted. Why anyone would etch their name on that gun is beyond me? And crudely at that.


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## Brendangr3 (Jun 6, 2017)

Yeah I sent them an email, waiting to hear back. I'm hoping the bead blasting could take care of it. If not I'll follow the sanding advice above, and go from there! They have some pretty sweet looking pieces on their Facebook page! Check em out of you'd like, they're Midway Firearm Refinishing (MFR). I'll add some pictures of where I think I might go with it.


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

Might want to start with an oscillating sander first, then take " desertmans " advice.

It would only save a little hand power, they look kinda deep, hard to tell.


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

Brendangr3 said:


> Yeah I sent them an email, waiting to hear back. I'm hoping the bead blasting could take care of it. If not I'll follow the sanding advice above, and go from there! They have some pretty sweet looking pieces on their Facebook page! Check em out of you'd like, they're Midway Firearm Refinishing (MFR). I'll add some pictures of where I think I might go with it.


Cool looking guns! Look at the bright side, now you can have your gun looking like one of those. Or use your imagination. Kind of a blessing in disguise. Before you do anything have them look at it, you may not have to do anything.

After the slide is bead blasted the thickness of the cerakote finish alone will more than likely fill in any other imperfections or scratches. After the cerakote is applied you might have to remove the cerakote from the slide rails where they come into contact with the frame. As the slide may be tight fitting due to the thickness of the coating. You can follow the same method as I have described previously using wet or dry. The flat ruler works best. If you're not comfortable doing this yourself have them do it for you. It doesn't take long so I doubt they would charge you. More than likely they will mask those areas before applying the cerakote.


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## BigHead (Jul 5, 2015)

No, it cannot be removed, but it can be covered over, using Cera Kote, Dura Cote, or something like that. You would be best served by taking it to a gunsmith, and asking him to apply a coating, that covers the blemishes. 
My advice is, Don't Try This At Home, because once that stuff is on, it is probably on for good. It is very tough, and you will like the results, that you get from a gunsmith; since it makes the outside of the gun, rust proof.

PS: There are epoxy coatings too, they are Plain Jane looking, but effective in covering-up blemishes. And they rust proof the outside, like the other finishes.
PSS: I looked at your pics, and it looks like an engraving tool was used to etch the name in. It is not tooo... deep, and I am tempted to say that you might be able to fix it. But, I can't tell you how many times I have screwed things up, all the while being confident that, I can handle this.


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

pic said:


> Might want to start with an oscillating sander first, then take " desertmans " advice.
> 
> It would only save a little hand power, they look kinda deep, hard to tell.
> 
> View attachment 8169


I wouldn't advise using any type of power sander or a Dremel tool. The objective is to have a flat surface against a flat surface while sanding a flat surface. Sanding in one direction either front to back or vice versa. With a power tool you can end up removing too much material in one place or end up with an irregular sanding pattern. You can also damage the straight edges on the slide by inadvertently sanding into them.

Here are some examples that I've worked on:


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

BigHead said:


> No, it cannot be removed, but it can be covered over, using Cera Kote, Dura Cote, or something like that. You would be best served by taking it to a gunsmith, and asking him to apply a coating, that covers the blemishes.
> My advice is, Don't Try This At Home, because once that stuff is on, it is probably on for good. It is very tough, and you will like the results, that you get from a gunsmith; since it makes the outside of the gun, rust proof.
> 
> PS: There are epoxy coatings too, they are Plain Jane looking, but effective in covering-up blemishes. And they rust proof the outside, like the other finishes.
> PSS: I looked at your pics, and it looks like an engraving tool was used to etch the name in. It is not tooo... deep, and I am tempted to say that you might be able to fix it. *But, I can't tell you how many times I have screwed things up, all the while being confident that, I can handle this.*


That is thee number one reason not to use power tools.


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## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

Why would someone "etch" their name in a gun? Strange. I would have a professional service handle that one. They will probably bead-blast it first, then determine if an epoxy coating will cover what is left. I can't imagine it is too deep either, like said above. They might be able to surface grind a few thousands off of that flat portion of the slide, then epoxy coat it....I would not try that on your own though.


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

desertman said:


> I wouldn't advise using any type of power sander or a Dremel tool. The objective is to have a flat surface against a flat surface while sanding a flat surface. Sanding in one direction either front to back or vice versa. With a power tool you can end up removing too much material in one place or end up with an irregular sanding pattern. You can also damage the straight edges on the slide by inadvertently sanding into them.
> 
> Here are some examples that I've worked on:
> 
> ...


i wouldn't recommend any type of dremel either. I would of suggested a very fine sand paper. 
I guess it's safe to say , one's skill set should determine their fix. 
When these guns are manufactured, there's not much hand sanding going on. Deburring is sometimes, depending on the part , thrown in tumblers or done with sanders some mounted some by portable deburring tools.

its a px4, not a show piece


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

pic said:


> i wouldn't recommend any type of dremel either. I would of suggested a very fine sand paper.
> I guess it's safe to say , one's skill set should determine their fix.
> When these guns are manufactured, there's not much hand sanding going on. Deburring is sometimes, depending on the part , thrown in tumblers or done with sanders some mounted some by portable deburring tools.
> 
> its a px4, not a show piece


Yes it is safe to say that one's skills should determine whether they attempt to fix their own guns or not. Especially when it comes to mechanical issues. However what I've first described isn't exactly rocket science and is not that difficult for the average person to achieve. Not only that but they are cosmetic in nature and in no way render the gun inoperable.

Unfortunately if you use very fine sandpaper you'll be sanding for what seems like forever even with a power tool. It will clog up right away to the point of being useless. I don't know about you but those pictures that Brendangr3 provided turned an otherwise bland looking gun into some pretty cool looking pieces worthy of admiration. Some people really do not give a rat's ass what their guns look like. That's okay it's their property and they're free to do with it as they please. I'm not one of them. In addition to shooting and working on guns, I view them as mechanical works of art. I just can not leave most factory guns alone when it comes to aesthetics or function for that matter.

Obviously there's not much hand sanding or finishing done on guns that come out of the factory. You'd have to pay a lot extra for that. All they care about is if the guns go "bang" when you pull the trigger.









Even an ugly Glock with a little bit of imagination can be made into a nice looking piece!


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

@des. You do very nice work with your guns. Wish I still had the ambition. :smt1099


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

pic said:


> @des. You do very nice work with your guns. Wish I still had the ambition. :smt1099


Thank You pic!

Mechanical objects have always been my thing ever since I was a kid. My father always used to say: "I've got two hands, there's no reason why I can't do it". A lot of that rubbed off on his snot nosed little bastard. Knowing how to do things yourself can save you a lot of time, money and aggravation. I'd encourage all to do so, or at least try. However one should know their limitations. If you don't know what you're doing or are intimidated by it, it's best leaving it to a professional. In addition to guns, I've also done a lot of automotive work and enjoy giving others tips from my own personal experiences. A lot of it is really not that hard and there is a wealth of information on the internet besides. Information that was not always available not too long ago.

It is also important to have the proper tool(s) for the job. What I've found is that in most cases the cost of the tool is cheaper than the cost of labor for any given task other than machine shop work. Even if you only use that particular tool once, you've still got the tool. It's never a good idea to improvise in that regard as you could end up doing more harm than good.


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

This will save you some elbow grease. Click pic


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## pic (Nov 14, 2009)

Doesn't polishing to metal create a rusting issue? Looks beautiful polished. I'm not sure about the rusting, except some of my older guns that have lost their bluing seem to rust much easier


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## desertman (Aug 29, 2013)

pic said:


> *Doesn't polishing to metal create a rusting issue?* Looks beautiful polished. I'm not sure about the rusting, except some of my older guns that have lost their bluing seem to rust much easier


Only on carbon steel. I made sure that all of the polished parts were stainless steel before I polished them out. The slide that you sent a picture of looks to be made of stainless steel. The flats look like they're brushed and not polished to a mirror finish. Which is okay, for some that is the look they wish to achieve. 220 or 320 wet or dry will give that affect. The advantage of polishing stainless to a mirror finish is that any scratches or holster wear can easily be polished out by just going over it with 1500 or 2000 wet or dry. On a brushed or bead blasted finish any scratches or holster wear will really stand out.

I'll usually start with 220 working my way to 2000 for a mirror like finish. After the 2000 gets a little dull, it acts as a polishing cloth giving it even more luster. You can also use a buffing wheel and compound. I have one but I prefer the different grades of wet or dry especially for small parts. If you're not careful the wheel can send them flying across the room. More often than not you'll have to make some type of device to hold them rather than in between your fingers. The wheel is better suited for large surface areas. Screws and pins can be mounted in a drill press, with the press turned on and holding a folded piece of wet or dry against them while they are spinning. You should wrap masking tape around the threads of screws to protect them while they are mounted in the chuck. Just hand tighten the chuck to hold them in place. You could probably use a hand drill for this too.

Some of the older guns that are made of carbon steel are also polished to a mirror like finish before the blueing process. (check out my Uberti's) Hot blueing is more like a rusting type of stain and is not a project for the do it yourselfer. Cold blueing is okay for touching up small areas but doesn't last very long. Blueing has almost become a thing of the past as there are now finishes that are far more durable. Aluminum framed guns are sometimes anodized and should not be polished out. If so they will eventually look like an old weathered aluminum screen door.

I've got a coupla' blued Uberti's that I will not carry or shoot. I've got plenty of others for that. They're just too damn nice and I want to keep them in pristine condition.


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## Danoobie (May 31, 2017)

Wouldn't hurt to at least contact the manufacturer. But if you get the refinisher to strip it first,
a good 'kote may be all it needs, after light sanding.


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## berettatoter (Sep 1, 2011)

desertman said:


> Only on carbon steel. I made sure that all of the polished parts were stainless steel before I polished them out. The slide that you sent a picture of looks to be made of stainless steel. The flats look like they're brushed and not polished to a mirror finish. Which is okay, for some that is the look they wish to achieve. 220 or 320 wet or dry will give that affect. The advantage of polishing stainless to a mirror finish is that any scratches or holster wear can easily be polished out by just going over it with 1500 or 2000 wet or dry. On a brushed or bead blasted finish any scratches or holster wear will really stand out.
> 
> I'll usually start with 220 working my way to 2000 for a mirror like finish. After the 2000 gets a little dull, it acts as a polishing cloth giving it even more luster. You can also use a buffing wheel and compound. I have one but I prefer the different grades of wet or dry especially for small parts. If you're not careful the wheel can send them flying across the room. More often than not you'll have to make some type of device to hold them rather than in between your fingers. The wheel is better suited for large surface areas. Screws and pins can be mounted in a drill press, with the press turned on and holding a folded piece of wet or dry against them while they are spinning. You should wrap masking tape around the threads of screws to protect them while they are mounted in the chuck. Just hand tighten the chuck to hold them in place. You could probably use a hand drill for this too.
> 
> ...


Oh, those are nice. Bird's Head grips?


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