Moved this from a soon-to-be-deleted thread and edited the text. I hope this is a more appropriate location:
I've just shop-stripped my R9S for the first time after 100 rds, and found the usual rubbing, minor galling, etc. discussed in other threads here. no surprise, no dismay. I did find some disagreeable sharp edges and flash that I carefully smoothed down with my diamond lapping tools. Just enough so running my finger around inside the slide didn't actually snag my skin anywhere. The areas around the field-stripping pin access holes were the worst, as they pierce a groove tangentially. I paid particular attention to removing flash around these holes. Another area was where the oiling hole enters the inside of the slide. There was quite a little upsetting and flash here. A tough area to get to, but was able to with a long narrow diamond riffler file. Made a spring compressor to hold the recoil assy together (replaces channel locks) so the assembled unit snicks right out - and back in place when cleaned. This eases reassembly quite a bit. Will post pics of this tool and make one for anyone who is interested. It's small enough to lose in your pocket but works like a charm. Polished up the spots recommended in other threads. gun went back together smoothly.
I cant imagine this "polishing" would void any warranty, especially if normal wear might conceivably produce a similar result.
Soapboxtalk on Anodizing: In the bike industry, which was pretty much the first to introduce anodizing to the general public, I learned that Anodizing is the most inexact of sciences, depending on too many variables in quality of substrate, etc. to be used for any other than cosmetic purposes. It was THE most discussed and problematic feature of any frame or component, bar none. It was and still cannot be relied upon as a bearing surface under any circumstances. That said, it is IMPOSSIBLE to anodize only part of a single piece of aluminum alloy. So the industry routinely just informs the sales people to alert their customers that it will rub off of wear points just like paint would. The sales people routinely "forget" to pass this on to buyers, and it has merely become accepted by experienced owners over the last 20 years. This "failure" has NO significant effect on the usability or longevity of the product, as it is not necessary for corrosion protection in all but the most extreme environments.
the anodizing has the opposite effect on our Pups. when disassembled. they show a somewhat shocking view of this 'failure'. But if one says to oneself "it's just really good paint" then the shock factor is reduced considerably. My guess is that on average, each cycle of the slide on the frame with each discharge is no more than 1/100000ths for the first 100 rounds, somewhat more so perhaps once the very hard anodizing has worn off - and before the alloy has work-hardened - and considerably less so once the two surfaces settle-in (beat each other to a stand). The exception would be if "flash" metal were left on the slide at a bearing surface arise (or edge) during machining. This manufacturing leftover, routinely removed at the "Burr Bench" in the factory would be a considerable variable as it is usually removed by hand. Flash would be accentuated by any coating process (like Diamondcoat) making it more like a cutting edge than ever. This may explain why some Pups wear so much more quickly than others, and you'd need a strong lens and many slides side by side to compare them indexably for this.
We all know the final assembly process at any for-profit (for-meeting-payroll) manufacturer is not the time for viewing slides side by side with an optical comparator. These observations occur when units are returned BECAUSE THEY FAILED. This "reverse engineering" is a much more efficient process for the factory (unless you're NASA) to discover design deficiencies with their products.
OK Again hope this is a more appropriate place for these observations, Gator. Thanks for the heads-up!
Brad
