Anyone ever sandblast a stainless Freak back?

[Brokeass_baller]

I'm just curious how it may have turned out. Does it end up looking like an Automag body? Or is it a little bit brighter?

[DocsMachine]

I've never seen it done, but it's an interesting idea now that you mention it.

The trick will be the coarseness of the media. The coarser and rougher the sand, the coarser and rougher the finish you get. Also, how close you get. Holding the gun back and keeping it waving and moving will give you a more uniform finish. Up close and going slow will give it a more spotty finish.

A fine glass bead should give you a fairly smooth, matte finish. Probably a little smoother than an Automag, generally.

I'd mask the breech threads beforehand, and make sure all the threads are cleaned out well afterward. And take pics.

Doc.

[Cunha]

It’s stainless. Mag bodies are stainless. If you can match the texture it will look similar. If you bring it to a finisher the kind who has lots of media and experience they could match it. If you bring it to a random guy with a blast cabinet they will blast it with whatever is loaded up and give it back to you.

[Grendel]

While they are both stainless it does not mean they are both the same alloy of stainless. Stainless is just a traditional way of referring to a wide selection of steel alloys with relatively good corrosion resistance. The luster of stainless directly relates to the Chromium and Nickel content and ratios. There are some "Stainless" steels that are not very lustrous where others are very lustrous. I expect the stainless steel used in AGD bodies has a relatively low chromium and/or nickel content. Given that my Mini-Mag body is mildly magnetic it is a Ferritic or Martensitic stainless and give I know they weld fairly well that rules out Martensitic. Ferritic has a fair amount of Chromium (16-20%) but no Nickel. I wish I had a SS Freak back to test so not sure what grade of stainless steel it is then even if it is the same grade of stainless there are multiple types. While I expect you could carefully get them close by sand blasting no way of knowing how close without having an idea of their actual grade/type of stainless.

[Brokeass_baller]

Correct. I work in a factory and we have a few different grades of stainless for different purposes. I'm no expert, but you can definitely tell a difference between high chromium and something milder like 304, just by look.

With this back, I DON'T want it to look Automag-ish. It's an Angel Freak back, which already aren't real common so I don't want to screw it up. And to make matters worse, it has a real dark finish, like it got hot somehow. I'm hoping sandblasting might mellow out the darkness of the color. I guess if worse came to worst, I could just hydro dip or Cerakote it some decent color.