Should I sand these things down, or...

[Borderland]

It’s kinda the color of wet dreams. When it comes to bespoke stocks. You can mess it up in your dream’s when you buy them. Kinda like an inexperienced teenager. I’m talking stocks on da revolver here.

Maybe I should rephrase that.

[jtcarm]

This is what has worked pretty well for me, it was first impressed upon me when shooting the 4" Smith 29 with Keith loads in my tender youth, and has held up fairly well over time with the 44s and 357s. Trying to match the edge of the wood to the edge of the metal both in height and angle so theres no change to enhance the recoil effect. It also makes them feel rather nice for the most part. Several people have commented that the ones on my 29 were the most comfortable Smith grips they had ever felt. I was basically copying a nice set on a 1950s N frame gun as to outline and shape, so not my brilliant idea, just copying something i liked. You can try working them down and see how it goes, perhaps the pics can give you some ideas.

You may find that the narrowness of the grips you have at the top may never feel good under recoil even when the squared edges are removed, but you wont know til you try. Thats one main reason Ive used the factory grips for my Smiths, all the aftermarket grips seem much narrower and feel like they magnify the recoil feeling at the hump at the top of the grip frame. Ive also just shot scads of rounds in the K-22, so its probably some bias in that sense as well.

Attachment 105267

Attachment 105268

Attachment 105266

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Poor wood-to-metal fit plus too thin at the top, which pretty much applies to all stocks these days.

Those grips look really rough with the squared edges. Sanding them down flush to the metal and putting a radius on the edges will mitigate, if not eliminate the bite.

IMO, this started when speed loaders became prevalent. Stocks started getting thinner on the cylinder side for SL clearance. Add to that the decline of hand-fitting, and stocks started biting.

This is why all of my K-frame round-butt revolvers wear these Uncle Mikes grips. I can shoot magnums till my heart’s content. They’re discontinued, but available on EBay. They were designed by Craig Spegel and are very ergonomic l.



“Toughening up” doesn’t do much good. I have a permanent callous built on the web of my hand, right at the base of the thumb. One cylinder-full of .357s with the wrong grips will rip it right off.

As Malamute said, a set of factory football-targets (or earlier targets) work very well, but aren’t practical for concealment. Plus they’re too big for fast DA work with my stubby fingers. For their intended purpose, target shooting, they’re near perfect, IMO.

[jtcarm]

Sand, sand, away!

I did trash a cheaper pair of grips from being too aggressive with a file, so I'd recommend going slowly.

That’s why I keep that drawer-full of reject grips I posted yesterday.

I never know when I might want to experiment.

[jtcarm]

Once upon a time, I had David Clements built me a five-shot Ruger Bisley in 45 Colt.

After the first range trip, I immediately knocked ANY edge off of the grips to create a seamless transition from wood to metal.

https://www.brownells.com/tools-clea...ools/scrapers/


Okie John

That looks like it’s designed for inletting more than external shaping.

A plain card scraper or one with a convex edge may work better:

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop...t?item=05K2031

[Evil_Ed]

Just send them back.

I couldn't shoot with grips like that. Total abomination. I wouldn't have a problem with taking some wood off of those because I have the tools to do that, but why should one have to?

It's too bad that Ahrens went out of business. They knew how to make grips. Apparently Altimont doesn't. These are on my model 19. Shoots like a wet dream.



Should have purchased a set for my SB but I thought they were here to stay. What a great company that no longer exists.

I'd send them back and most likely remove Altamont from my approved vendor list.

I actually contacted Altamont about this when I first got it to the range, I asked them if they did any shaping or anything...their response was "no, it fit on the gun as it shipped but if you're not happy with it, you can send them back - we'll do a refund, no problem." (or words to that effect - they weren't snippy or giving attitude about it - it was more "that sucks! we're sorry, we can refund if you wish" in tone)

Right now I'm kind of looking at them in the frame of "The grips are %90 finished and it's up to the user to do the end finishing to fit their firearm"...if you look at them as "kit grips", I guess, they make a lot more sense. Expensive grips to be sure, but also pretty...

[okie john]

That looks like it’s designed for inletting more than external shaping.

A plain card scraper or one with a convex edge may work better:

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop...t?item=05K2031

I think you're right.


Okie John

[Evil_Ed]

The left side could probably stand a little more shaping, but not too horrible for a first blush. The left side also needs to be cleaned up a bit more; I didn't get to all of the scratches with 400-600-2000 like I did the back edge and right side...

[onehalfmvsquared]

you did a better job than I did!

[Evil_Ed]

Oh, believe me - if you saw it in person, you'd be wondering why an ecliptic decided to set Youtube to a "Tokyo At Night" playlist before picking up some sandpaper.

[Lex Luthier]

The left side could probably stand a little more shaping, but not too horrible for a first blush. The left side also needs to be cleaned up a bit more; I didn't get to all of the scratches with 400-600-2000 like I did the back edge and right side...

That should feel much better now!

Pro tip; make a couple of small (say 1/2” x 1 1/2”) hardwood blocks you can use to double stick your paper on for the edges. You can do two sides of each block and then a second block for the finest grit. The beauty of these is that if one is too wide, you can narrow them easily for a particular task or area.
Working along with the grain, these sandpaper files will keep you from rounding corners and edges. On wood like that, I’d use 220 or 240 for final shaping, 280 next, then 320 to start removing scratches. Then 400 to 600 for scratch removal and polishing. 800 is optional but I wouldn’t go beyond that if you’re putting a finish on them.