Plastic grip repairs

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Soybomb

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So I have this old EIG derringer
derringer.jpg

The grips were starting to rotate so I took them off (and wow was that a job, I don't know if they glued the screw into the plastic or what but I never thought it'd come off). Inside the grips there are something like 4-6 small raised pegs that serve to keep the panels in position and from rotating. They have mostly broken off or crumbled. I can still see where they would have been positioned however.

Whats my best way to fashion a repair here? This isn't a collectable high value gun, it just has sentimental value so I just want to keep it functional. Could I just rough them up and put some little JB weld dollops on those places? Maybe mix up some fiberglass resin and wad up little balls of fiberglass and let them dry there? A metal pin or something would be fantastic but I'm afraid of doing too much damage to the grips with it.
 
I've used Permatex Ultra-seal RTV to good effect on a problem like yours. It is thick and creamy and not jelly like many RTV's. Get the black and smear a very thin coating on the grip. It will stick pretty good when dry yet come off when you want some time later.
 
Interesting, it doesn't peel off the plastic too easy from torque?
 
I had a really shaky set of grips on a CZ52 that are now one with the frame via the Ultra-Seal. They are solid while shooting and I am unable to move them with max finger pressure.

It is good stuff. Give it a try!
 
You could try making some replacement pins out of brass and glue them in place. Another thought, if the frame is cut out under the grips, would be to put some release agent on the frame; then epoxy one grip in place at a time. Use just enough epoxy that it would set level with the frame to give you a shoulder when it hardens.
I've seen brass and aluminum replacement grips for the similar Hawes derringer on the net. I believe they were in the $40-$50 price range
Regards,
Greg
 
There are epoxies made for plastic. The stuff I have is the Ace Hardware brand in a pair of syringes - worked fine repairing some obsolete kitchen stove knobs I didn't want to pay $56 each to replace.
 
I 've reparied the same problem with epoxy. It was on a cheap single action revolver with the same little posts on the grips. In the case of the revolver there was a mainspring and strut between the panels. I removed it and coated the frame in release agent. I roughed up the back of the grip panels and one side at a time I taped the panel in place from the outside, turned it over and poured a little white tinted epoxy in the open frame while the pistol was on its side. The epoxy formed to the shape of the frame but only bonded to the grip panel. Cured in 20 minutes. Tapped it out and did the opposite side. Worked great. I only tinted the epoxy in case it oozed enough to be visible from the outside, which it did not. I used the cheap 5 minute clear epoxy as it flows easily and was plenty strong for this type of job.


When done I flat sanded the repairs to make them thin enough that they would not interfere with the mainspring.
 
I had a very same problem except that it was a .22 derringer. I picked an appropriate place and drilled right through the frame under the grips in a size needed for the smallest rollpin I could find in my shop.

Tapped in the rollpin then trimmed the ends on both sides of the frame to less than 1/8" protrusion. (short enough so as not to be able to go through either grip)

Then, with a piece of welding rod through the holes in the grips I squeezed both sides down onto the ends of the rollpin and with the resulting mark was able to make shallow blind holes in each grip. I prob'ly held my lighter under the ends of the rollpin for a little bit to make them hot enough to just start a melt inside the grips but I don't remember doing it)

Put the thing together with the original grip screw and those grips are still located firmly a little more than twenty years later.

Pretty much the same method used on Colt and (some) S&W revolvers.

Epoxys will make it tough to remove the grips if you ever need to change the mainspring on the old girl.
 
Thanks for all the advice, I'm leaning toward using some wax or vaseline on the frame as a release agent and a few small spots of jb weld.
 
JB Weld?

That stuff cures into a powdery psuedometallic mess, IMO, and doesn't weld a thing. It's got a place but it's not a good plastic bond or filler.

If I were going to use a glue type repair I'd use Brownell's Accraglass for this, or one of the epoxies mentioned by others above. This is a pretty minor repair thing.
 
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