Got some new shoes for my gp100

[MidRoad]

Well got a thought running through my head last night around 9 . Said to myself man them roper grips on the new gp100 1/2 lugs sure are nice. But can't get them anywhere as of yet . So I said screw it I'll make my own wood grips (kind of ...lol)

I had a set of wood grips from the fellow over in Thailand with the eBay store laying around. The grips we're ok,but couldn't use a speed loader,we're orange, and didn't fit me hand very well. They were pretty much straight with no Palm swell or tapers for the hand.

I removed a bunch of wood using my hogue no finger groove grip as I guide for Palm swell ,and tapers. I like the hogue they fit me very well ,but they are a little thin for me. So my plan was a similar contour just a little wider. I also like my Lett style grips,but they're just a little to fat the bottom,comfy but not juuuuuust right.

The grips came out decent ,not perfect but it's a hunting gun so they will do. Still need to finish them,not sure if I want to stain them or go with just a high gloss clear coat. What do you guys think? In normal light the updated ones appear a li more brown/tannthan orange that the pics show.


Not sure if the pics do them justice or show how much material was removed. But I did take alot out,also tapered the bottom rear of the grip with a small hump that really locks your hand in place.

 

[If1HitU]

Good job,i'd buy them.

 

[wilburmay]

Well done.
I like your results
Wilbur

 

[Damon555]

Great job! I subscribe to the "function above all else" mantra. They could be the nicest looking grips in the world but if there aren't functional then they aren't worth a hoot in my opinion....Kinda like the GP100 itself.....it might not be as refined as some of the other revolvers in its class but it will last several lifetimes and is as accurate as any of the others.

 

[farm23]

I envy your skills and like the results. Have you had a chance to shoot with them yet to see how they fit under recoil? I like the roper style grips and think they should work well on the new 1/2 lug GP`00.

 

[MidRoad]

Thanks! They were inleted and had some sort of shape already, just needed some fine tunning. Im a grease monkey not bwood guy,go slow with a Dremel and do increments of sand paper is all it takes. Ust got back from home depot with the poly. Hope to get out next weekend. Freezing rain and miserable here this weekend

Edit: got a coat of poly on. Looks a little more brown than the pic shows. So much better than the orange color they were originally. Poly is bringing out the grain too.

 

[Rodentman]

Very fine work!

 

[bannockburn]

Bones741

Looking good! The Poly really brings out the grain pattern very nicely. I love to repurpose things too if they don't quite fit or work just right for me.

 

[sabbfan]

Those look really nice, that’s an experiment that turned out very well!

 

[sean m]

Those are far nicer than the old rubber soles me next is wearing..

 

[MidRoad]

Thanks for the kind words guys. I got them all polyd up and should be dry when I get home. Will post some pics tonight after work. Will say niy terribly impressed with the spray on minwax oil based poly,if you look closely it almost looks like little bubbles. May do a light sanding and another coat if it starts to pull at the back of my mind.

Next piece of the puzzle is a reinforcement of some sort for the grip screw. There is no bushing in-between the halves,just two screw inserts.im afraid there will be too much pressure on it and may crack the grips under recoil Only issue is it's location . It goes through the grip right where the mainspring is,so when the hammer is pulled back there is VERY little clearance. I tried stacking a bunch of #3 lock washers (were narrower than the regular washers,but the spring just brushed it. So at work this morning I grabbed a roll pin and thinned it out with a drill and the bench grinder,and just have to cut it to length tonight. Hopefully it will do the trick

The method

The results


Before


After

 

[doubleh]

Looks good. A little tip about MinWax rattle can Polyurethane. Have what you are coating and the spray can nice and warm. Where it feels warm to your touch. Spray a light coat and let it flash off and then go over it again until it glosses over. Doing this I have no bubble trouble. Hey, I made a rhyme.

 

[MidRoad]

Looks good. A little tip about MinWax rattle can Polyurethane. Have what you are coating and the spray can nice and warm. Where it feels warm to your touch. Spray a light coat and let it flash off and then go over it again until it glosses over. Doing this I have no bubble trouble. Hey, I made a rhyme.

Thanks for the tip! They were about 65-70 degrees. It did it in the auxillary room upstairs to avoid fuming the house out. As hindsight I should have done it in the bathroom. Has an electric heater, a tub that's waiting to redone and a fan,could have cranked the heat right up. Hmmm maybe if I sand them a bit I'll use the bathroom for that coating.

 

[MidRoad]

Had a few hiccups tonight.

1 wrong size roll pin. Bringing the screw into work tomorrow to size it properly

2 the orange peel look of the poly was worse after it cured in different light. So I sanded it back down again and took doubleh's advice and got everything good an warm (80+) in the gun room. Gave it three coats tonight about 1-1.5 hours apart. Also realized I was going to light on my coats for this spray crap,so the last coat was VERY heavy and I'll leave the temp at 80 for the night . Snapped a pic ,hopefully they will look this good cured .Again pic still makes them look a little more orangy than they appear.

 

[MidRoad]

Well got my spacer made up at work this morning . Used a pachmyr spacer from my sp101 for length reference. It worked perfect in the gp100's grip width wise,just too fat to clear the main spring when cocking the hammer. Here's a few pics of it. The two washers are the #3 washers that were too wide to clear the main spring.

 

[MidRoad]

Well finish wasn't what I wanted,hit it with 2000 grit and took the gloss off trying to smooth it out,owell. I'll refinish them this summer with brush on poly in a new brand. Still better than how they came. Here's a before and after