As you well should show it off, Tennessee. Magnificent GP. Who did your compact grip inserts-that's some nicely figured wood there.Originally Posted by Tennessee Jed
Best, Jon
As you well should show it off, Tennessee. Magnificent GP. Who did your compact grip inserts-that's some nicely figured wood there.
Best, Jon
Thank you Jon. I love those inserts. They are Texas mesquite, which I thought was pretty cool.
A retired gentleman in Pennsylvania made these for me. He has a running post on another forum detailing what he currently has available, and I guess it's probably not appropriate to identify that forum here. His email address is belvedere1967@ymail.com. He has also made stocks for me out of Brazilian zebrawood for a flat-top Blackhawk, and mesquite stocks for a 1911. He is a good man who does good work for a great price.
Ordinary guy
PM sent.
Best, Jon
I'm liking this MC more and more.
As noted in my previous update, there was polishing residue in many places on the outside, and a (new) slight grittiness to the trigger press when it came back from Ruger. I did a detail strip to solvent-clean everything. Found several deposits of what appeared to be red garnet polishing/grinding compound in various places around the insides. I deburred rough edges and knocked down assorted nastiness throughout. Kept all the springs original. For a piece of hardware that is still within the parameters of original design intent, the result is quite pleasing.
I also swapped out the grip to a Hogue NFG rubber unit, with a couple minor adjustments, and that's working well.
The rear sight pin started to walk out, so I have Loctited it. If that isn't enough, there are several more advanced strategies to try.
The front sight has bugged me, which brings me back to this thread. Original equipment is this Novak fiber-optic. Unlike most FO sights, which are cut more or less square, the ends on this element are rounded buttons or “lenses.” The light intensity is not consistent, with areas that are brighter and darker distributed unevenly around the thin edges of the button. It doesn’t seem to be precisely dimensioned like a machined or otherwise tooled part, which is almost to be expected given the installation method for the FO element described on the Novak web site. That process is inherently uncontrolled and I believe can be expected to deliver random results. Frankly, the sample photographed by Novak for the first link in this paragraph looks worse than mine.
This is mine:
The button was approximately tangent with the post on the left side, but protruded outside the post on the right and top edges of the front sight. This meant the center of the FO button was not aligned with the center of the post, creating a conflict that slowed acquisition of a sight picture. It also broke up the post’s square shape, leaving only the upper corners as black, and two of the three edges had lumps in them, rather than being crisp, straight lines. Further, the light intensity of the FO element even in shaded daylight overpowered the adjacent dark edges, making it difficult to focus on them closely. Overall, I felt like I was struggling to hold this revolver with the precision I'm used to.
I looked at the drop-in options from Novak and was thinking about trying either the brass bead or standard tritium dot. I don’t plan for this to ever be a nightstand/HD or CC gun. It will be for square range, maybe some IDPA and carrying in the woods. I was leaning toward the brass bead, as it can more readily be painted various colors and solvent-cleaned back to original, and should be immune to breakage. I haven’t shot with a brass or gold bead before, but it seems like a little brighter spot to help speed with initial sight picture, contrast against black targets and stand out in heavy shade/low sun conditions without overpowering the dark outline of the front post should be pretty effective. I like the traditional look on this revolver, too.
Then I had a brainstorm. The brass bead is $50 plus freight from Novak, and is currently backordered. Replacement FO elements are four for $5 with free shipping, so it's no issue to get back where I started if I want to. I cut off one of the buttons and pulled out the element, leaving a nice, round hole. I then took a chunk of scrap brass rod, made a pin that is a 0.001” interference fit right at the end, cold blued most of it so it blends visually, tapped it in with a small plastic mallet, and added some Loctite 290 to hold on the slip-fit portion. Probably spent the most time getting the swirl mark on the end just right, but it was worth it, because it’s flatter and looks nicer than the Novak part in the photo on their web site. A fun little mini-project in the shop, and my GP upgraded for $0 and no waiting.
As I was looking at everything much more closely, I also noticed there was a slight burr in the notch of the rear sight blade, which made the right vertical side curved and non-vertical. I stoned off the burr and touched it up with a cold blue pen, so the notch is now straight.
Haven’t been to the range yet, but I’m expecting good things.
.
-----------------------------------------
Not another dime.
Awesome job! I like it.
*RS Regulate Affiliate*
I had almost the exact same issues with the stock fiber optic. I also ran out of patience for Novak to get the brass bead front back in stock so I jumped on the tritium instead.I'm liking this MC more and more.
As noted in my previous update, there was polishing residue in many places on the outside, and a (new) slight grittiness to the trigger press when it came back from Ruger. I did a detail strip to solvent-clean everything. Found several deposits of what appeared to be red garnet polishing/grinding compound in various places around the insides. I deburred rough edges and knocked down assorted nastiness throughout. Kept all the springs original. For a piece of hardware that is still within the parameters of original design intent, the result is quite pleasing.
I also swapped out the grip to a Hogue NFG rubber unit, with a couple minor adjustments, and that's working well.
The rear sight pin started to walk out, so I have Loctited it. If that isn't enough, there are several more advanced strategies to try.
The front sight has bugged me, which brings me back to this thread. Original equipment is this Novak fiber-optic. Unlike most FO sights, which are cut more or less square, the ends on this element are rounded buttons or “lenses.” The light intensity is not consistent, with areas that are brighter and darker distributed unevenly around the thin edges of the button. It doesn’t seem to be precisely dimensioned like a machined or otherwise tooled part, which is almost to be expected given the installation method for the FO element described on the Novak web site. That process is inherently uncontrolled and I believe can be expected to deliver random results. Frankly, the sample photographed by Novak for the first link in this paragraph looks worse than mine.
This is mine:
The button was approximately tangent with the post on the left side, but protruded outside the post on the right and top edges of the front sight. This meant the center of the FO button was not aligned with the center of the post, creating a conflict that slowed acquisition of a sight picture. It also broke up the post’s square shape, leaving only the upper corners as black, and two of the three edges had lumps in them, rather than being crisp, straight lines. Further, the light intensity of the FO element even in shaded daylight overpowered the adjacent dark edges, making it difficult to focus on them closely. Overall, I felt like I was struggling to hold this revolver with the precision I'm used to.
I looked at the drop-in options from Novak and was thinking about trying either the brass bead or standard tritium dot. I don’t plan for this to ever be a nightstand/HD or CC gun. It will be for square range, maybe some IDPA and carrying in the woods. I was leaning toward the brass bead, as it can more readily be painted various colors and solvent-cleaned back to original, and should be immune to breakage. I haven’t shot with a brass or gold bead before, but it seems like a little brighter spot to help speed with initial sight picture, contrast against black targets and stand out in heavy shade/low sun conditions without overpowering the dark outline of the front post should be pretty effective. I like the traditional look on this revolver, too.
Then I had a brainstorm. The brass bead is $50 plus freight from Novak, and is currently backordered. Replacement FO elements are four for $5 with free shipping, so it's no issue to get back where I started if I want to. I cut off one of the buttons and pulled out the element, leaving a nice, round hole. I then took a chunk of scrap brass rod, made a pin that is a 0.001” interference fit right at the end, cold blued most of it so it blends visually, tapped it in with a small plastic mallet, and added some Loctite 290 to hold on the slip-fit portion. Probably spent the most time getting the swirl mark on the end just right, but it was worth it, because it’s flatter and looks nicer than the Novak part in the photo on their web site. A fun little mini-project in the shop, and my GP upgraded for $0 and no waiting.
As I was looking at everything much more closely, I also noticed there was a slight burr in the notch of the rear sight blade, which made the right vertical side curved and non-vertical. I stoned off the burr and touched it up with a cold blue pen, so the notch is now straight.
Haven’t been to the range yet, but I’m expecting good things.
I considered doing something like what you did with the brass rod but didn't have the tools or confidence to pull it off. The tritium front surpassed my expectations so I have no regrets. As a bonus, it proved to me that tritium on just the front sight is viable for me -- I had some doubts.
Still, the sight picture with that bead looks excellent. Nicely done.
That is REALLY slick. I love it.
Ordinary guy
That looks great! You must have used a lathe to make it? Hand tools would have been rough.
When I shot IDPA I had (I think it was SGW?) make one of their gold bead front sights but instead of having a head on the bead, just leave it shaft diameter. Similar results to yours and they were great, put them on a 617 for practice and my 3" M66 for matches.
Adam
Due to work on the house, there has been a lot of stuff stacked in front of the safe for many weeks. Getting "pretty much" back to normal now, and took the GP-MC out for some dry fire tonight. Had forgotten how slick the trigger is. Like greased seal snot, still with the original spring. Looking forward to getting to the range again.
.
-----------------------------------------
Not another dime.
Missed the original post on the brass insert. Wow. I have the same issue with my new .44spl GP. If you ever go into the "brass insert business" mark me down for one!!
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