So, I have this Kimber Stainless Covert, I tried to sell/trade it but never really got anywhere. I decided insted that I would fix what I thought was wrong with it. Namely the cheap, Krylon like finish called Kimcoat, it's as durable as cake frosting. In the process I decided to add a Wilson Combat round butt main spring and fix some defects Kimber decided to cover-up with said coating.
Seeing on how the gun was stainless I thought I would sand blast it, I bought a hand held blaster at Carquest ($50) and ordered some 80 grit blasting soda(25lbs for $18) on Ebay (it is not very aggressive) from Tacoma company in WA. Not really knowing what I was doing. The soda took off the coating but left it dark and not very durable. Lost I called the people in WA. They were great help, he explained how I had to blast it with glass abrasive to "fluff" the metal then "peen" it with glass beads to make it hard and put a shine on it. They sent me 100 grit glass abrasive and #9 glass beads, 5lbs of each for $20! I've got less than $100 in the finish.
In between the finish removal and the bead blasting I decided to install a WC round butt main spring housing replacing the plastic one, this required filing on the frame this was the hardest thing to do, up until this I figured I could send it to be NP3 coated, this is irreversible. I took my time and didn't use any power tools, it was easy and I love it, well worth the time and effort. Kimber had left a lot of rough spots, there was a scratch under the coating on the slide and all the safeties had casting lines on them, and a nasty spot were someone tried to drift the front sight. I sanded these imperfections with 400 grit paper and WD40.
Here are some before pics.
And some during pics
Slide repaired
Slide refinished on top Frame stripped w/ soda below
Frame and new MSH
With the old housing in
Finished
Frame striped w/ 80 grit soda
Frame after 100 grit abrasive blast
Fame after #9 bead blast DONE!
The finished product minus new sights I also blasted the grips and stained them black and installed a new trigger. I am very pleased with the results
Seeing on how the gun was stainless I thought I would sand blast it, I bought a hand held blaster at Carquest ($50) and ordered some 80 grit blasting soda(25lbs for $18) on Ebay (it is not very aggressive) from Tacoma company in WA. Not really knowing what I was doing. The soda took off the coating but left it dark and not very durable. Lost I called the people in WA. They were great help, he explained how I had to blast it with glass abrasive to "fluff" the metal then "peen" it with glass beads to make it hard and put a shine on it. They sent me 100 grit glass abrasive and #9 glass beads, 5lbs of each for $20! I've got less than $100 in the finish.
In between the finish removal and the bead blasting I decided to install a WC round butt main spring housing replacing the plastic one, this required filing on the frame this was the hardest thing to do, up until this I figured I could send it to be NP3 coated, this is irreversible. I took my time and didn't use any power tools, it was easy and I love it, well worth the time and effort. Kimber had left a lot of rough spots, there was a scratch under the coating on the slide and all the safeties had casting lines on them, and a nasty spot were someone tried to drift the front sight. I sanded these imperfections with 400 grit paper and WD40.
Here are some before pics.
And some during pics
With the old housing in
Finished
Frame striped w/ 80 grit soda
Frame after 100 grit abrasive blast
Fame after #9 bead blast DONE!
The finished product minus new sights I also blasted the grips and stained them black and installed a new trigger. I am very pleased with the results
Last edited: