Other than the shims, you get the same polishing by simply shooting the revolver. Every Ruger revolve I've ever owned smoothed out to perfection after a couple hundred rounds or even dry fires.
Without the least bit of incivility meant towards Tater by saying this, I really can't abide by this mentality proliferating the way it does. SO MANY PEOPLE make this statement, but it's wholly and decisively not true. I'm glad that guys are satisfied by their factory revolvers, but a "broken in" factory Ruger is NOT the same polish as a proper action job.
Is it "sufficient?" That depends upon the shooter's tastes (not "sufficient" for me). Is it "the same polish?" No way - handle a broken in revolver beside a properly polished and tuned one sometime and the difference will hit you in the face like a 12lb hammer.
Things do get smoother over time with normal use, but without question, it is not "getting the same polishing" as a custom action and trigger job. Burrs will round off over time, but they also will gouge microgrooves in their facing part. Sure, it'll feel smoother than it might have originally, but it's NOT the same feeling as a properly polished action by a competent revolver smith. Rubbing two pieces of sandpaper against eachother will get smoother over time as they destroy eachother, but it'll never give the same feeling as rubbing two mirrors together.
Seriously, Pine, how much time did you put into that work?
Denis
It depends on what you're wanting to do, there's a big difference in labor between a simple spring and shim job, a partial polish, or a full action job.
If you're looking at a full action job, plan on at least 3hrs to do it right. More if it's your first time - a lot more.
I've done Ruger, Smith, & Taurus full action jobs faster, but I've also spent a lot more than that also. I know that if I planned on an hour and a half or two hours, I'd be disappointed more often than not. Most specimen of these brands will have at least ONE misfitment inside that requires 20min or more of attention.
These brands will over-spring their products on purpose to make up for imperfect fitting of mass produced parts to ensure reliability - Ruger probably more guilty of it than the others. Sometimes, things line up anyway and reduced springs work fine. Most of the time, tolerances don't line up and need to be corrected to allow minimal springs to function properly. If you're not capable of QUICKLY troubleshooting and correcting those issues, then you'll spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. There are several little nuances of fitment that don't reveal themselves readily, whether it's fitting the trigger plunger (not the part you're probably thinking) and cylinder latch or dressing the gullet of the hammer foot to offer clearance for the tip of the trigger, or how to internally polish some of the spring/plunger-ways, those things can have a long learning curve for some new guys.
Consider how many threads you see on here where guys complain that Wolff springs didn't work in their revolver, while so many others have no problems. For the guys that had problems, their revolvers have some internal problem that needed the extra weight to function reliably.
Guys doing their 1st, or even 10th action job can spend a lot of extra time disassembling and reassembling their revolver (each time AND total number of times), going back and forth looking for the right tools to do the job, and trouble shooting different fitments. If a guy has developed his technique for doing the job such that he has all of the steps in mind and knows all of the tools to have on hand before he starts, he'll save a lot of time compared to a first timer.
Plan on 3hrs and you'll never be disappointed. Grab a Saturday afternoon, have the missus ready to bring lemonade and a sandwich, and enjoy the time getting intimate with your revolver...