Grips from another gun

[Humbo]

Hello folks.
I just bought a set of rosewood grips for my M97 on ebay. How much fitting is usually needed, and is there a chance they might fit without any additional fitting? I don't have any experience with this kind of woodwork, especially with that kind of tolerances.
Thanks.

[Ken ONeill]

Might fit, but probably won't be precise, like the factory fitting.
On the other hand, the likeliehood of grips fitting from one 83 to another is terrible, as there have been at least three different grip configurations, not readily visible to the eye, but significant, nonetheless.
I don't believe that the 97's have seen that many variations, but the grips are still hand fitted, and swapping may be a crap shoot.

[Humbo]

We'll see when they get here. I got them pretty cheap, so even if I have to put some work in to make them fit, it'll be worth it. Which tools do you figure I'll need?

[Bearbait in NM]

I have fit a few of my own grips on my 83.  The toughest part to deal with likley may be the grip frame boss/locator hole.  That is the large diameter pin in the bottom of the grip frame that sets the location of the panels.  You can easily drift this out, and new ones can be purchased from FA.

As this pin is gonna set the primary location, when the new grip arrive, I would suggest (if the do not majically fit) is try drifting out this pin.  You can then lightly screw the grips together and slide the pair of grips around to see how things fit at the top and along the frame.  You might find that if the boss pin hole in the grips is slightly altered/moved, things line up well.  If a mod to the boss pin hole is needed, my suggestion would be to alter the hole on both grip panels. 

You can use glassbed (Brownells Accraglass) to fix these holes.  The trick is that in order to keep the screw holes lined up, you need to work with the grips attached loosly.  You also need to be careful and use release agent on the boss pin so as to not epoxy it to the grips.  My suggestion (if you do alter the holes in the panels)  would be to use a two step process where the first time you only use a small amount of epoxy in the grip panel holes on the first pass.  Just enough in the bottom to set the pin locations on both panels, without the possibility of epoxying the grips to the frame. Keeping in mind that you have to screw both grips on to keep the grip screww allignment.  After the expoxy has set, you can pull the grips off, and you should have the start of two new locator holes on each grip.  You can then pull them off, and finsih the holes with the grips off the gun.   I would then use your boss pin (or a spare from FA) to finish each hole.  Use lots of release agent on the pin, and when you are done, you will have two perfectly relocated boss pin holes in each grip, that should have retained the grip screw location (true).  And of course when doing all of this , make sure you do not bind your hammer spring.

Craig

[Humbo]

Craig,
thank you for a fine tutorial, it's probably just what I need. Will keep you guys posted as soon as the new grips are received and tested.

[Bearbait in NM]

If you are lucky, things will fit reasonably well from the start.  The scenario that will give you headaches is if when fitting one side into the boss pin, the grips are a no go at the top. You can try and lay the grip onto the boss pin and eyeball the top to see where it might need to be taken down, but this will be a pain.  If you drift out the pin from the frame, then you can slide the grips around easily to check fit at the top, then while holding them into position, flip the gun over, shine a light through the boss pin hole and you can see if the hole need "tweaking".  You really want to avoid trying to take material off the top until you understand the overall fit.  If you bugger the angle up top (it is not 90 degrees) you will get into trouble quick.

And, you will want to avoid hammering  the boss pin out if you can avoid it.  depending on how tight he fit is, you can slightly peen the head, then it would need to be dressed down to fit the grips again.  If you have a big enough press/vise, that would be the preferred method of drifting it out.  The pin is splined, and it does not take much in and out to make it fit loose.  Hence my previous note about picking up a spare from FA's.

And in general, you will need sandpaper to remove excess grip material ( I know duh).  When I fiddled with my first set of rosewood from FA, I used 50 through about 600, then switched to the various grits of steeel wool, and finished with a buffing wheel.  Not hard to get a mirror finish on any sanding.  Make sure if you do any heavy sanding, wear a mask, and do it outside.  That rosewood dust is seriously bad news on the ol' nostrils and lungs.


I have actually been having fun making grips for my FA.  My latest is a really neat piece of bastogne walnut that when I picked it up, I got enough to do a set for a Bearcat and a nice damascus blade that my wife bought me.  It makes for a cool set, 83, Bearcat and knife all in matching wood.
Heck I was just happy to get those rubber grips off my FA in the first place.

Craig