[Topgun]

http://www.tech-line.com/hockit/hstd.JPG


Now that it's a one holer like it SHOULD be, I took my set of Herrett's grips outta storage and whittled and sanded em down to where they actually FIT my hand.

Then got some skateboard tape.

NOW.....all it needs is some DECALS!

Who has gun decals? Would shoot much better with decals.

:)

[BevrFevr]

vowel.

:D

-bevr

[DougCxx]

Cheapo custom plastic grips:
A while back I bought a S&W 647 and found the Hogue factory grips too small. I went looking and asking around for any way to make custom plastic target-countoured grips, when I realized that making wooden ones with just a Dremel tool would take far more patience than I had and I couldn't afford anyplace that would make custom wood grips for it. I couldn't find anyone who had ever done it. I found one place online that sold a grip kit of thermoplastic specifically sold for use on gun grips, and a few other companies that sold what were called "low temperature thermoplastics", mostly used for other purposes--medical braces and theatrical masks/props seem to be the big two. I ended up ordering a black 18 x 24 inch sheet, 1/8" thick, for about $65.
...You melt the stuff with a heat gun, I doubt a hair dryer would get hot enough. A couple places mentioned heating it with hot tap water, but I doubt that would work, unless your water heater thermostat is set to near-boiling. The gungrips page shows them wrapping a single layer around the grip, right over it, and squeezing. I didn't do that, I tried to make a fancy sculpted grip and it didn't work well because the flat sheets tend to creep back into their original flat shape while hot. I wrapped right over the original grips, but I used too much and tried to make a fancy shape, when I should have just gone once-around, like the gun grips page shows. Smoothed-down edges in particular will lift up. You heat it up until it's workable, and then you dip your hand in clean water, and sculpt it as you wish. If you heat it until it is shiny, it sticks to stuff while it's hot (especially your hand! OUCH!), but it solidifies and tends to break loose after it cools--so you need to go a complete turn all the way around a gun grip. Of the plastic I have, faces will stick if heated and touched but creep apart if heated again. Edges seem to stay stuck together much better.
---Halfway on (and off), it looked like a disaster. It looked like a big wad of black molten plastic, not good at all. When finished it felt perfect though, and was even textured--it had my finger and handprints in the plastic! Can't get better-customized than that, I say. I didn't like how it looked though and blocked the hammer, and so I melted/cut/pulled it all off again. Sorry no photos, I had some but erased them all accidentally. During removal, the Hogue grips curled up a bit from the heat, but flattened out again after they cooled off. Some bits stuck to it when the gun/grip was hot, but they could be easily peeled off after they had cooled and solidified. All of it came back off, and left the frame and original rubber grips totally unharmed. The stuff stays workable for a surprising time after the surface seems to have cooled, and it does harden completely--it doesn't stay rubbery at all.
???So what is this stuff??? As far as I can tell it is the same plastic that ordinary white milkjugs are made out of--the sheet I bought has the exact same stiffness and texture, and when I melted it and pulled it apart, the molten plastic pulls into little clear "strings", just like melted milkjug plastic does--I'd bet $100 that it is the same, or very nearly the same stuff. The gungrips page mentions "a novel application of a common material", and that they only have it available in "clear". I paid roughly $20/sq. ft for mine, the gungrips page would be $60/sq. ft, but if you don't care about the color you could melt down an empty milkjug or two for a lot less than that.
~~~
I haven't re-done mine yet, but will probably sooner or later, as it does help. I have only smaller-caliber guns, I guess on a larger caliber it might have some risk of breaking off, but the stuff is pretty tough when cooled. In fact I covered up the area behind the hammer, and couldn't do SA--only double-action, and couldn't really whittle away the hardened plastic with a Swiss Army knife at the range very well, either.
.......
If you do it right and can wrap it (semi-permanently) around the grip of the gun, it really is easy, and it does work instantly just like the video shows.
Linkage:
the demo video
http://www.personagrip.com/pages/GunGrips.html
Where I got mine:
http://www.wfr-aquaplast.com/pages/protosheets.html
~

[Topgun]

........... PHILISTINE !! ..................


;)

[Justin]

Adding stickers to an '87 Honda Civic with a wing on the back will give it about 5 extra horsepower per sticker.

Likewise, each sticker you put on a target gun from some hoity-toity custom gun outfitter will ad 2 extra points to each string.

;)

That's a very nice pistol there.

[Chipperman]

Now you need some contoured finger grooves made of carbon fiber. :neener:

[Bowlcut]

hehehe
needs more carbon fibre for sure :D

cool pistolas tho

[C.R.Sam]

Quick, cheap n easy to modify grips for a match gun...
Bondo.

Sam

[sm]

Nice Job, also a firm believer in skateboard tape. I wouldn't do a thing, but shoot it. Fit is so important. Form follows function.

Bondo, OMG I hadn't heard of that in years...been guilty tho'. :)

Decals, I used to shoot with some fellas in hot competition with shotguns, with painted stocks. I ( being the old fuddy duddy) did show up once with a decal on mine for the big monies, strickly for the psych factor...ever shot against a fella with a neon green stock on a Perazzi? Weird. $500 in the hat tho'...all I saw was birds...

[Topgun]

got more weight in decals than in gun. ALL over em.