Can't leave well enough alone....

jdub · July 22, 2012, 11:23:26 PM

I'm finding that as I get older I am less and less inclined to settle for "good enough". Because of this I often end up "tweaking" things, including airguns, and more often than not the results are okay. There are those failures though

Case in point: A couple of weeks ago I ordered a set of Sportsman grips for my 2300S from RB Grips. They came and they looked fantastic but they were too thick for my hands so I sold them and ordered a set of Target grips--again from RB--because they're thinner. These arrived last week and again they look great! But...

A bit of explanation. I'm 6'5" and normal build for this height. Everything but my hands that is. For some weird genetic reason I have very large palms but short fingers. My 5'2" wife has palms about 2/3's the size of mine but her fingers are as long or longer (in the case of thumbs). This has caused issues. Playing high school basketball I could easily dunk two-handed but could not palm a ball for the life of me (much to my coach's frustration). It also means that I have a hard time finding comfortable grips on both firearms and airguns.

So the Target grips didn't fit quite right. They have a pretty good swell at the base that was uncomfortable on the side of my wide hand and the thumb-shelf was a bit high and too narrow. They were also still a bit thick for my short fingers. Now before you start thinking anything bad about RB let me mention that these same grips fit my 5'8" nephew and 5'10" son perfectly. Just not me so here we go:

Before shot. Beautiful grips. Notice the thickness of the thumb-shelf and how far up the swell reaches from the base of the grips:

It's hard to want to rip up nice grips but you have to just dive in:

Several hours later:

Less swell

Thinner profile on the right side:

Lowered and deeper shelf on the left:

A quick coat of walnut oil. I'll shoot with them this way for a while and do a bit more sanding before I put a permanent finish on:

And while I'm messing around with perfectly fine airguns...

I have this older Sheridan HB20. About 50% of the paint had worn off the brass barrel and tube. Instead of leaving well enough alone I decided to strip the rest off thinking I'd polish the brass. Bad idea.

At this point I'd spent 4 or 5 hours removing paint and polishing. Two thing became obvious 1) I didn't want to have spend another 4 or 5 hours with a buffing wheel to remove the few paint remnants *and* bring the thing to a high polish, and 2) I decided a blingy brass gun is not something I want. (no offense to you brass lovers--just not for me).

Another problem with this gun is the plastic grips. Ugh. And the fore-stock looks like badly stained pine and is devoid of style. At some point I will make some nice grips for this thing but not anytime soon. So for now I went the Truck Bed Liner route. And the resulting gun looks worse than ever

So yesterday I stripped it down once again and went to work on the barrel:

I'll let the paint cure a few days before reassembly. For now I'll leave the grips black but the next step will be some nice grips from walnut or mahogany--whatever I find in the garage. I'm hoping this one turns out okay.

chongman · July 22, 2012, 11:35:46 PM

Fantastic work man, especially the grip shaping.

sandpiper · July 23, 2012, 01:40:04 AM

Very nice

Crosshairs · July 23, 2012, 01:51:04 AM

Good job on the grips they came out nice.

Mike

RC1947 · July 23, 2012, 01:55:05 AM

Sometimes we have to do what we have to do. And, you didn't ruin anything. Looks nice. RC

arkmaker † · July 23, 2012, 02:18:34 AM

I fully understand the hand size deal. You would have loved the pair of grips I ordered from Josh Austin. I waited forever to get them and when I did, they were just to thin!! Really nice, but uncomfortable for my hand. I have a set od RB's sportsman and they are about right. Just a tad to thick, but livable. I may attempt what you did.

Oh, and dunking basketballs? I couldn't dunk a ball even if I had a ladder

1377x · July 23, 2012, 04:58:10 AM

gotta start somewhere!
keep on it!

Noah · July 23, 2012, 05:01:09 AM

I aspire to your greatness - awesome work

jdub · July 23, 2012, 05:16:35 AM

Thanks for all the kind words, guys! The grips are actually pretty easy to modify. I've been working with wood my whole life (one of the pics shows the grips on the bed of my wood lathe) but I still feel bad tearing into a beautifully finished grip

Ralph does a great job of fitting the backs to the frame with no play so even though I know how to do it I'd still rather start with fitted grips--he's got it down to a science.

The HB20 has me a little more worried. It's from Sheridan's transitional period and showed lots of wear so it didn't have much value to a collector and would sell for less than a new one but I still kind of wish I would have left it alone. The black paint is certainly not an optimal finish and won't hold up well. Maybe at some point I'll try some Duracoat. I still plan on putting some nice grips on it.

Arkmaker, don't feel bad. At my age they won't even let me use ladders

jdub · July 24, 2012, 03:43:11 AM

Back together. It's no beauty queen but I think it looks better than the mess I had with the brass showing.

tungam · July 24, 2012, 03:58:54 AM

I have ordered grip from RB and everything was fantastic. That being said I dont think I will order the target or sportsman grips anymore. I think I will see if ralph can make me some simple thin grips. I have founs that I like to shoot right and left handed sometimes and its very difficult to swith hands with the RB grips.

Out of all the woods I have had him use the Mahogany was the nicest. The walnut is prabably my second favorite.

jdub · July 24, 2012, 04:01:51 AM

Quote from: tungam on July 24, 2012, 03:58:54 AM
I have ordered grip from RB and everything was fantastic. That being said I dont think I will order the target or sportsman grips anymore. I think I will see if ralph can make me some simple thin grips. I have founs that I like to shoot right and left handed sometimes and its very difficult to swith hands with the RB grips.

Out of all the woods I have had him use the Mahogany was the nicest. The walnut is prabably my second favorite.

That's a good plan. I really like the fitting he does on the 13xx/22xx grips--they don't move at all once they're on the gun--but like you I prefer a slightly different style. Maybe I'll see what he would charge to cut the outline and fit the backs. Then I could shape them myself.

I have a nice chunk of mahogany in the garage I might use for grips for the HB20. I agree that is really nice wood.

plasticclassic · July 24, 2012, 07:03:33 PM

Anyone ever think of asking Ralph to sell you one of the right side flat grips, and one of the left side flat grips? Those would be some thin grips.

1377x · July 24, 2012, 11:12:00 PM

good thinking!
i want some ambi-grips myself
while i shoot left hand others i know shoot right
i want everyone im shooting with to be able to shoot comfortably

bradpsu · July 26, 2012, 09:58:25 PM

I too ordered the Sportsman grips for my 2240....in a walnut satin finish. I'm 6'6" and have a large hand and thought the target style would be a little thin for my hand. I think I was correct because when I received the sportsman grips they fit my hand perfectly. I love them. Sorry you are having difficulty with yours jdub....the work you have done on them looks very impressive though.

Brad