Too tight new revolver grips

P

pesta2

New member
I have a Berretta Marshall that the stocks we very damage when I got it. You can read here if you like:

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=238738

I tried to put on the new grips and had some problems. They were way too tight. I filed and filed areas to get them to fit and still had problems. So I screwed them on hoping to force them a bit and stretch the wood out. The two top screws on the grip frame went in ok. The bottom screw still did not screw in all the way. There is a little gap now. My girlfriend said not to let it bother me but it is one of the things that drive me insane. I even chipped the screw a little trying to get it in and that is with a set of gunsmith screwdriver set.. A little blue touch up and you never notice but it drives me insane.

Now my question is, isn’t there a product for final stock fitting that you put on the metal of the firearm and then put it in the stock or grips and it will show you where the high or tight points are? I was going to try to get some and then sand those areas or file those areas down. Does someone know a better way of doing it or have a link so I can see how to do it? Or can you use something common around the house to do this?

Thanks,
Steve
 
Prussian blue, inletting blue or Marken will work. Coat the gun and try to mount the grips. The high spots will make a mark on the wood. In a pinch, just a #2 pencil will work.
 
The official product is called inletting black, and a newer product is inletting gold (for darker wood). Brownells sells both. Unlike lipstick or Prussian Blue (which is used to filt metal by scraping), inletting black doesn't have any grease, lanolin, or other oil base in it, which would soak into the wood and may discolor it and would have to be removed before oil base finishes could be expected to dry on it.

http://www.brownells.com/aspx/NS/store/productdetail.aspx?p=7599&s=
 
got them

Well the new grips are on with a little help from my girlfriend and her red lipstick. I rubbed the lipstick on and then put the grips on, could see the high spot binding. So with filing and reinstalling over and over I got it. The wood and the back strip sticks out a little. I could not help that, I had to file the high spot on the bottom to even get the screw so the shape of the grips made them stick out a little. I guess they must hand fit the grips to each frame because my old grips and the handguns serial number on them in pencil and they fit wonderfully. I am thinking now of taking the old grips and striping them and refinishing them. Maybe go with a dark deep color, well that would be a fun project to work on all I got to figure out is how to remove the Beretta emblem to refinish them.
 
I don't know about Beretta, but in the old days Colt and S&W used to fit the grips before final finishing the frame, so they polished the grips and the frame down together, then took off the grips to blue the gun. Since you can't do that, another way is to use masking tape to cover the front and back straps, mating it right to the edge of the metal. Then you can file or sand the grips with less concern about marring the finish, since the masking tape gives you some leeway.

Jim
 
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