Polishing: How, Why, Where and With What?

There's been a lot of talk about polishing this and that to remove grit from the trigger, to reduce loading failures with the feed ramp, etc.



Being a total newbie, my first thought is, can I do this safely myself, and if so, with what tools, and what precautions should I take to make sure I don't destroy my new "toy".



Having not even fired my new M&P9 yet, I have cycled the slide a bunch to play with the trigger and have field stripped the slide, gude rod, and barrel to see if I could manage to do it without too much trouble. Gotta admit, I was a bit scared when the trigger wouldn't engage after reassembly ... they don't tell you that you've gotta put a mag back in to get the sear deactivation lever back up! LOL!



Anyway, after my second field strip, I noticed some areas where the black finish had rubbed off, particularly on the tops of the slide guides. I believe I also saw some of this rubbing on the underside of the slide along the center, but I'll have to restrip to verify.



My questions are:



What tool should I use to polish, or can/should this be accomplished by hand?



Does it make practical sense to polish every place there appears to be a friction point that has worn the black coating off, i.e. the tops of the slide rails, the middle section of the underside of the slide, the areas where the slide stops engage?



I recally a thread where Dan showed images of two places to polish to improve the trigger (the $0.25 trigger job) one being that little silver button (sorry, I don't know what it's called and exactly what it's doing) and the other place I couldn't quite make out, but I believe it was part of the trigger assembly, perhaps that pushed the little silver button in. At any rate, must the button be removed to be polished, or can it be polished in place in the slide?



Do we have to worry about polish debris getting into the works or nooks and crannies? How does one polish safely?



Is the feed ramp part of the barrel (that cylidrical part of the block leading to the barrel)?



I want my M&P to be the best it can be without having to send it away, and without my having to do anything a complete novice shouldn't even attempt.



To that end, I'm willing to polish, but I want to make sure that I don't make things worse in the process. I'd rather leave the REAL gunsmithing to the pros like Dan and David.



So could folks in the know (Dan, David?) please chime in on what to and what not to do, and how best to do it?



Some pictures would be nice too!



Thanks so much for all your assistance thus far ... oh, and before I forget, should I just use the CLP I bought, or should I put an additional drop of oil or dap of grease in the recommended places in the S&W manual? Recommended lubrication products?



Best Regards,



Cet.