Maintaining PPK/S stainless finish

Flitz is a polish, ideally used on chrome which is pretty hard. If you are gentle with it - soft cloth and gentle rub it should not be harmful to the finish of your Ruger.

I have not studied the S&W Walther's very closely, but my memory is that the markings on the slide are etched (laser?) not roll stamped like the Interarms version. If that is the case I would be very careful using Flitz on the marked areas. It may remove the darkness and if applied too vigorously could really compromise the look of the markings.

Years ago I learned the hard way that the acid etched markings on the old blued Walther slides are very shallow and fragile. You can just about remove them with a hard glance!

So unless your gun is pig filthy I would avoid flitz on the Walther, and stick with conventional solvents. If cleaned regularly there is no reason your Walther should ever get THAT dirty.!!

Thanks guys. That really helps. Stainless (or silver) guns are sort of new to me. Years ago I had a stainless Smith 4506 and 686 but I never had to deal with any finish issues. I would also agree that in normal carry and use situations stainless guns won't stain, but I have seen more than my share of used stainless guns with obvious stains, but from unknown sources. This Ruger had a number of stains on it and an overall dingey appearance that was due to more than grit and dirt. I tried the usual sovents first but they only came off with Flitz. But, as has been recommended, I will keep the Flitz off of the Walther. The finish of the Walther is more "delicate" (for lack of a better word) that the finish of the Ruger, which is built like a tank (which is why I like P Series Rugers).

One other product that I just thought of that may be of use is the Cape Cod Metal Polishing Cloth. It is 100% non-abrasive and works by chemical action only. I recommend it to my customers for cleaning a product where there is brass and acrylic right next to each other so that it won't scratch the acrylic but will clean the brass. As I think about it that may be the solution for guns with lightly etched proof marks. It is available in most good hardware stores, or http://www.capecodpolish.ca/cfyfm.ihtml

BTW, their recommendation for caring for stainless is as follows:

If you see stains or discoloration on stainless steel don't be surprised. All it promised was to stain less and not rust. It does not promise non-staining steel. It does stain, no matter what you do.

I have found the best way to keep stainless steel clean is with a white nylon scrub sponge and a little ammonia solution. This should keep stainless steel looking as good as new. If it becomes dull or stained rub in one direction with a Cape Cod? Metal Polishing Cloth and wipe dry to a finished shine.

Today at lunch I went up the hardware store to get a Cape Cod cloth as I couldn't find mine. They didn't have any of the Cape Code but said they had carried it in the past but they had found a better product. So, I bought some. Nevr-Dull. It comes in a can and all you do is pull off a piece of the wadding. It is completely non-abrasive and works by chemical action only. I had cleaned my Ruger P94 yesterday so I was without a gun to try it on. For the sake of this thread I stopped on my way home and acquired a stainless Ruger P89, one even dirtier with more staining than the P94. Oh what a sacrifice

I cleaned the gun up and then got to work with the Nevr-Dull. By the time that I was done the gun looked brand new. I then went back to the Flitzed P94 and the amount that came clean on the Nevr-Dull wad was incredible. It looked like the gun hadn't been cleaned. There were two slight stains between the slide serations and one on the extractor that the Flitz had reduced but hadn't completely handled that are now gone. I can't say how the Cape Cod cloth would have done, but Nevr-Dull has made both guns look brand new. I won't hesitate to try it on my stainless Interarms PPK/S, of course trying it first on an inconspicuous area.

One warning, if your gun has any kind of clear coat avoid Nevr-Dull.

A generous can of Nevr-Dull (tightly packed soaked cotton wadding), enough to last one heck of a long time, ran $6.