Negatives to polishing feed ramp?New range report added 2/19

I grew up in the 70's with the idea (popular at the time I guess) that a polished feed ramp on a center fire pistol was a happy feed ramp. Most folks I knew back then would automatically take 1500 grit paper and carefully polish the ramp on their new guns, giving them a mirror finish the factory couldn't afford to give them at a common price point. We didn't have as many semi-autos back then to choose from it seems, but there were the usual 1911's, HiPowers, .22's, Walthers, etc etc. Any self respecting kitchen table gun butcher feared not the results of polishing that critical little bit of steel that oh so carefully guided a cartridge into the Happy Hole. It HAD to increase reliability, right? And over time the jacketed rounds we shot would polish the ramp anyway (we figured) so may as well speed the process up! Right??
Every new gun I've examined in say the last 25 years has a few machining marks on the ramp from the milling process that is needed to give the ramp the curvature necessary to feed the cartridge into the chamber. Now I'm NOT a gun smith, nor do I even play one on TV. But I am a Journeyman Toolmaker with lots of experience in metal forming and crafting metal to work well in parts interplay.
Provided that : 1) The contour of the ramp is not changed and 2) That the angle of the ramp is not altered and 3) That the hardness of the ramp is not changed, is there any down side to a polished feed ramp I am missing?
I suppose that a rough textured ramp could in theory offer some resistance to feeding and thus help capture the cartridge as it exited the magazine, allowing it to more accurately pop up into the breech face behind the extractor. But am it so?
I always wondered about this. Don

Don't fix it if'n it ain't broke. :wink: In 60+ years of shooting hundreds of different magazine/belt fed firearms, from old and new.22rifles to BAR & M-60, and handguns from .22 to 1911, and I've never had an occasion where the feed ramp was a problem. I've never polished any of them.

On my SR40C, it was necessary to polish the feed ramp just so that ammo would feed reliably. I see no harm in doing so.

GunnyGene said:

Don't fix it if'n it ain't broke. :wink: In 60+ years of shooting hundreds of different magazine/belt fed firearms, from old and new.22rifles to BAR & M-60, and handguns from .22 to 1911, and I've never had an occasion where the feed ramp was a problem. I've never polished any of them.

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+1 to this. I like to polish them up with FMJ's. :wink:

I polished the feed ramp on my 40c. I see no downside to it at all. It provided a noticeable smoothing out while the slide was in operation. Having said that, do I think it's necessary to take it to a mirror finish? No I don't. A quick pass and smoothing I think is the best approach. Take off any roughness (if any) then stop and call it a day.

Tallbald, if you want to do it, do it... can't see where it will hurt... heck if you mess it up I think I have a spare P95 barrel or two around here....

I'm a very cautious toolmaker because I learned early-on that metal removal tools were common, but puting-on tools are few and far between. The beautiful P95 I discussed here several weeks back has a small nick in the ramp. I think it is from that factory, as my son-in-law -to-be was careful with it and didn't use, say, steel cased ammo. Nor did he do any modifications.
Tomorrow my now lightly Breakfree CLP lubed P95 goes to the range for round two of "let's try this new to me gun". Some may remember the issues I had with trying it first time out dry (failures to go into battery, fails to pick up from the mag, fails to eject). Some net searching has turned up others who have had issues trying their P95 dry too. perhaps it's because the design uses no metal rail inserts in the frame--dunno-I'm not a gun designer.
I'm gonna do as we did back in the day, and hand polish the nicked ramp with a series of carborundum paper, 1000-1500-2000 and water. I always use a hardwood dowel smaller than the diameter radius of the ramp. I want that nick out. I'll finish with Mother's Mag Polish. No rounding or changing contours. I'll follow up here after tomorrow. I appreciate all the insightful answers. I want 150 rounds fired without a hitch before I will carry my P95 to protect my wife and me. Don

Polishing necessary? Possibly not, at least there are some that don't need it but that hasn't stopped me using a GASP! Dremel with a 1/2" felt wheel coated with Flitz to make 'em shine. I've yet to harm a barrel, have improved a ton this way. Felt and Flitz ain't gonna remove much metal, basically just gives it a mirror like sheen. Also in lieu of Breakfree you might try a bit of white lithium grease on the rails, its lots slicker than CLP.

Over the years I have bought quite a number of used semi auto handguns that had feeding problems. I think that was the reason that the gun was sold.

Polishing the feed ramp cured the problem in the majority of cases and for the ones that needed further work, polishing the breech face cured most of them.

If there is still a problem with feeding, it is likely the ammo or the magazine. Changing one or both usually fixes the issue. 8)

Thanks. I will again try both factory magazines tomorrow. Will post findings. Don

I've used a Dremel tool and Mothers or other polishing compound. The mirror finish helps to keep the build up of residue to a minimum, therefore better feeding. IMHO.

Follow-up to range trip with P95. After a light lube a few days ago with Breakfree CLP (what I had in the range bag) of slide rail cuts, trigger, hammer mechanism and ejector as I would do with any steel-on-steel gun, I proceeded to run 7-8 full magazines of randomly mixed 115,124 and 147 grain brass cased ammo through my new to me stainless P95 without a single hitch. Mixed ammo was FMJ and HP, of Winchester White Box, CCI Blazer Brass, Hydrashok, and even three rounds of some 1972(?) vintage 90 grain Super-Vel that was Daddy's duty ammo as a Deputy in Louisville,KY. . I let three friends I was with shoot the gun too, and asked my own son to try limp wristing it to try to induce a jam. Gun ran flawlessly. Double taps and triple taps went without a hitch. This gun just must not be run without a kiss of lube. Even old dogs like me learn something new each day if we are willing to listen.
Thanks for all the suggestions and insight folks. Thanks so much. I'll clean her and begin wearing her soon too. Don

Don, I've polished several of mine and enjoy doing it. I use the dreaded Dremal tool, Flitz polish and a soft felt pad. I am careful to introduce no heat and do no more than a mirror polish. I acquired a couple Springfield GI models some years ago and one of them had a rather rough feed ramp, no gouges, just heavier than normal tool marks. I was able to fix it with heavy polishing using jewelers rouge and time, eventually getting it smooth and bright. The gun fed flawlessly and looked as good as my Kimber. I suppose it is not necessary in most cases but see little harm that it could do given some common sense and patience.

welder said:

I suppose it is not necessary in most cases but see little harm that it could do given some common sense and patience.

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That is the catch...common sense and patience. I'll add skill level to that short list of requirements too. Most of us here may be capable because we are actively reading and researching such things. Unfortunately, some of the 100 million gun owners in the country think they are shade tree gunsmiths with little to no skills or knowledge. Lets just say I have seen some real handy work over the years working behind a gun counter. :lol:

No doubt, seen some folks that the old adage "tear up a steel ball with a rubber hammer" really comes into play.

Exactly.

Polishing, where essentially no metal is removed as opposed to reshaping or changing geometry. I have seen some table top smithing and some ruined guns myself, ironically more so on long guns as opposed to handguns. One perfectly functioning little Sears single shot .22 rifle comes to mind. It was improved to the point of failure. A good old Winchester single shot 410 is another.

There are ample resources on line and on forums such as this, where information and advice can be gained in order to do some minor work to fix, or maybe prevent a problem with certain guns. Unless I clearly understand the problem, as well as the fix, I leave it alone and call on a true smith or most recently just send it back to Ruger. :roll:

As Clint said, "a man's got to know his limitations".

Glad you got it running. Good Luck shooting it now.
From another Southern Kentucky Boy.

Thank you Sir.

Tallbald said:

Follow-up to range trip with P95. After a light lube a few days ago with Breakfree CLP (what I had in the range bag) of slide rail cuts, trigger, hammer mechanism and ejector as I would do with any steel-on-steel gun, I proceeded to run 7-8 full magazines of randomly mixed 115,124 and 147 grain brass cased ammo through my new to me stainless P95 without a single hitch. Mixed ammo was FMJ and HP, of Winchester White Box, CCI Blazer Brass, Hydrashok, and even three rounds of some 1972(?) vintage 90 grain Super-Vel that was Daddy's duty ammo as a Deputy in Louisville,KY. . I let three friends I was with shoot the gun too, and asked my own son to try limp wristing it to try to induce a jam. Gun ran flawlessly. Double taps and triple taps went without a hitch. This gun just must not be run without a kiss of lube. Even old dogs like me learn something new each day if we are willing to listen.
Thanks for all the suggestions and insight folks. Thanks so much. I'll clean her and begin wearing her soon too. Don

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There is the happy range report that I have been waiting for. Appears the gun is no worse the wear my friend! Great buy and happy shooting (and carrying!)