This practice has effectively eliminated fail to feed problems.
As for polishing the slide rails, I find it more fun to do it at the range with live ammo.
Good luck on yours.
lrb111 wrote:flintknapper wrote:I never take a "new" auto right out and shoot it. Seems like a waste of ammo to me.
At the very least...I disassemble the slide from the frame, remove the recoil spring, apply a small amount of jeweler's rouge and sit in front of the TV for an hour or so working the slide back and forth. Polish the feed ramp, clean her up and then go shoot.
If you have problems after that, then you can generally look to the magazine, or springs.
Of course, I know full well...most people can not wait to go shoot their new purchase, but don't be surprised if it doesn't "run" just perfect until its been shot some.
Source for jeweler's rouge:
http://www.hobbytool.com/index.asp?Page ... &ProdID=72
I do a similar buff on the magazines. I have several Chip McCormicks that had really rough edges from the metal being stamped out before bending to shape.
I used about a foot long strip of emory cloth an inch wide. Stuck a 3/8th wooden dowel in the top of the mag like a cartridge. The ran the cloth by the lips along the length of the dowel.
About 4 passes cleaned those ragged edges up pretty well.