Posted on 09/23/2009 6:19:16 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!
First, a 2001-vintage CZ527-M1 "American", in .223. It already has genuine CZ rings, and I picked up a upper-grade NIB Nikon scope during their 100-off sale. Mainly needs a tune-up, and some more mags. Shown here with my nearly-identical CZ527 "micro carbine".
The wood is CZ's run-of-the-mill base-level Turkish walnut, compared to the you-got-lucky-this-time walnut on the micro. I brought them both back to my LGS to show the difference between my nanolube-treated micro, and the yet-untouched new guy. With the muzzle pointed at the ceiling, the bolt on the micro will slide all the way back under its own weight when unlocked, while the M1 tries, but is really asking for a bit of a hand. Just shows the difference between a nice CZ bolt action, and another nice CZ bolt action that I also busted my ass on. :)
My other "rescue" are two of my own handguns, in padded cases, that were on the floor when 1/4 inch of melt water seeped into that part of the basement. Everything else was above the "flood plain". The vinyl-coated cases kept the liquid water out, but the foam absorbed some of the water, and then coated everything inside with condensation, like a fogged-up windshield does.
Easy enough to wipe off the water, and let the equipment air-dry overnight before checking again tomorrow. But all the thoroughly-soggy paper stuff is currently sandwiched between layers of paper towel on a marble table top, while big, heavy books, with full ammo cans holding them down are providing more pressure. Wrinkles are the biggest threat.
Not the end of the world, but it looks like I now have to get around to the storage changes I had been postponing for several years. I'm taking this seriesly, now. St Barbara does not need to use a 2x4 on me.
That’s a great old Colt bullseye revolver WinMag. Nice catch of Rampant Colt variety. A set of target grips, Herret’s spring to mind. and the revolver bullseye matches will have a new competitor. K-22s and Officer’s Match. Doesn’t get any better in wheel gun .22 imho. Kudos my friend. ps those 0fficer’s Match would certainly give the current SW 617s a run for their money.
Whoa, that was a close call. Suggest flood proofing the good stuff move to the top of the ‘to do’ list.
I dodged a bullet similarly a few years ago, close call really makes you lift your eyes heavenward and say ‘Thank God’ it wasn’t worse. Our cat, which was sleeping in the basement on the washer, was not a happy camper. 24 hours later and the help of rented submersible pump and we were good to go.
The CZ rifle - again, nice snag. Your home for orphaned weaponry seems to have picked up another couple of strays.
My 1952-vintage Colt Officer's Elite .22 was an economy version of the Masterpiece, which wasn't selling even in those far-off years because it was so costly. So they put the little "service grips" on a big, heavy target gun to keep prices down.
Nothing wrong with the concept, except, in my acquiring weapons that were factory-new internally, they all had some amount of external cosmetic wear I couldn't explain. But I had a virtually new collector's item, with just enough wear that I could shoot it without feeling I was destroying collector value (and at far lower than genuine pristine collector prices).
My 1957 Colt Python was another "mystery Colt", unused (as even stiff) internally, about 5% wear on the bluing (somebody must have liked carrying it around in a holster, but never shooting it), with about 10% wear on the full-size target grips.
Since I treated the Python to a gorgeous set of Hogue exotic hardwood grips, I had the originals sitting in a drawer until inspiration hit me yesterday. I took off the heavily-worn "service grips" from the Colt Elite, and put on the moderately-worn target grips from the Python. These were the same type of grips used on the target .22 in the late 1940s, and would have made a nice factory upgrade if bought back in 1952.
And to my amazement, the moderate wear on both bluing and walnut made it look like they had been together for sixty-some years.
Now, the Elite looks and handles the way the gnomes of Hartford had intended, before the beancounters interfered with their masterpieces so long ago. It looks and handles like a fine old target revolver now should.
It's a 2007 Dan Wesson Classic Commander bobtail. Built like a custom platinum Rolex for a chicom billionaire, it was like finding a late-model BMW performance car in the back of a Hyundai used car lot.
I stopped shooting before I went through half a box, because I wanted to preserve enough of the black to show that those are real bullet holes, and not me just using scissors.
I already gave it a nanolube treatment, but as I expected, it didn't need it. Without spring pressure, the parts just move under their own weight if you turn something around. It's like running on air bearings, like air hockey.
Modifications will be minor, and mainly so I can brag that I did a couple of things myself on it. Titanium firing pin and hammer strut. An ultra-light short match trigger from my own parts stash. Maybe a tungsten recoil rod and end cap, if I modify it myself, since a lot of this stuff is terra incognita for a chopped bobtail.
The grips are some sort of wood, but I couldn't swear they're of terrestrial origin. The serial number is laser engraved on their inside surfaces, but I have no idea what that scribble means, so I took a picture to see if anybody has a SWAG about what it might mean:
The most visible change will be the grips, and it may take me a while to find the perfect ones to convert. "Bobtail" grips are few and far between, but this is a full-sized frame, so full-sized grips can be modified using just hand files in less than 30 minutes, checking for a perfect contour as I go.
I'll take it back to the store to let the guys try it out. Some of them had their eyes on it too, but their rules are they can't buy anything on display until after the store closes.
Oh, and this Dan Wesson is more accurate and easier to shoot for a .45ACP duffer like me than my beloved CZ97 BD from the Motherland. Of course, CZ owns Dan Wesson, so the word went out to DW to make whatever they wanted at whatever price they can get away with, as long as it was the best humanly possible. Perhaps that's why only "economy model" DWs sell for just under $2000, and people wait like vultures to pounce on $5000-$7000 competition models as soon as they come off the assembly table.
I'll just get quiet satisfaction from my plain-looking bobtail as soon as the hideous grips are gone, and something classy but more normal replaces them. :)
Nice pistol, group and grips. Got a sure fire winner there Win-mag. Don’t recall ever seeing one. DWs are a bit of rare breed in these parts.
The old Colt should put ‘em all in the 10X ring. They gave the K-22 Masterpiece some serious competition.
We aren't exactly overrun with them, either. Especially a "new used" one. And this was one of their economy models.
I also learned that plug-and-play pretty much ain't on a Dan Wesson. Even something as simple as a new mag release required hand fitting, and breaking-in, on my part. The original had the usual banged-up takedown screw for the button, and the new one had a slightly different button face that I'm starting to like a lot. So even the opening for the mag release button was tighter than standard commercial parts specs.
I was stuned that the new part was too fat, and asked myself, "self, whoever heard of a M1911 generic magazine release that needed hand-fitting?" Some parts are fit with almost invisible seams.
The Hogue micarta grips should have been a no-brainer, but Murphy's Law showed up, and turned them into a two-hour project. First, one of the thin grip bushings for the thin DW grips seized inside the rubber grips. When I unscrewed it, the bushing came out, jammed into the back of the grip. And me with no spare thin bushings.
The other three bushings were properly staked to the frame, and even the use of the proper esoteric bushing remover wouldn't remove them. So out came my broken-screw tools, which worked easily because I just wanted to remove a thin sliver of threaded steel, and not the main bearing bolts of an engine.
Being otherwise properly prepared, I took the special tap that's needed, and cleaned up the threads in the frame before screwing in new stainless steel standard-size bushing for what was now going to be standard-thickness grips. I even took the specialized bushing tool, and staked the new bushings in place, just like Browning intended.
However, I read the specs on the tap, and it appears Browning had a specialized non-standard tap made for that job. The only place in the US military this thread is used, and he couldn't just go to the tool bin and design around something that used a standard threaded part known all over the world? For a pair of grips?
Actually, I'd love more "simple" projects like this, just for the learning experience. The successful completion of a simple task that takes two hours, including analysis, and hunting down specialized tools most M1911 shooters (and most gunsmiths) don't even know about, brings some smug satisfaction after I think about all the nerd trivia I can lay on someone else. :)
I believe those grips are “spalted” maple friend..... Very nice shy of what appears to be some sand in the finish. Smooth grips are desirable for me...
Don’t witness when carried concealed aka shirt creep.
The wood is local to you.
Us old farts are sensitive to recoil and IMO smooth grips reduce felt recoil.
I like em and would like to suggest ya keep em for reasons stated above.
Whose signature is on the inside ? I can’t make it out.
Very very nice rig shy of what appears to be stippled while wet finish on those beautiful grips.
Thanks for the pictures....... Stay safe !
"Spalted maple", eh? I took a wild guess at some sort of maple, but the only kinds I'm remotely familiar with are birdseye and fiddleback.
It looks like the grips have a tactical half-stippling on them, but it's hard to tell under a gallon of clear plastic. But they are serialized to the gun, so I'll be keeping them, if not using them.
I want a similar style of grips, but finding them in a thin wooden style is a bit tough right now. I may have to settle for a standard-width in a "tactical checkering" on more conventional hardwoods while I keep looking.
I'm staying away from the anodized aluminum grips in all those colors and bad-ass graphics on them. I'm not building a barbeque gun. However, if I could get Whyle E. Coyote grips, I might give it a second thought. :)
Wow! Nice find!
One of my carry pieces is a Kimber commander size bobtail. I have Crimson Trace grips on my though. They make several sets of bobtail laser grips both for curved bobs and the squared off 45 degree ones. Mine are the LG-906 with the straight cut and the black/grey wood finish.
http://www.crimsontrace.com/01-9500
I'll be hitting the highlights, in no particular order. I hope there's at least a nugget of interest in each one. First, say hello to Hans, named after Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), that suave but despicable bad guy from "Die Hard", who set a new high in low-lifes. At least he had impeccable tastes in personal weaponry, if not his line of work. :)
There are several interesting features about this H&K P7, but straight-out-of-the-box performance like this isn't one of them, it is to be expected. I have no idea what needs improving on this design, so I don't even try.
However, this hard-chrome model (fairly rare from early in production, along with the seldom-seen nickel-plated version), is from the first product iteration, where it was called the P7-PSP. There was considerable American interest, along with the insistence that the Euro-style magazine catch at the bottom of the grip had to go. That brought about the P7-M8, with a traditional release button, along with some phenomenally rare variations in calibers to entice American buyers.
This particular weapon was a direct-import from the factory to an individual in the USA, because there are no markings of an American importer on it, as the case would be for ordinary firearms. Also, except for slight cosmetic blemishes from handling, it is virtually unfired. Thankfully, minor cosmetic problems allow me to fire something without the guilty conscience I would have from shooting a pristine collectible.
Unfortunately, the previous owner wasn't so conscientious about preserving the packaging, with only the original cardboard box surviving (barely).
I wasn't deterred by the ratty box, figuring there must be empty boxes out there that would look better, and be more complete, than what came with it. There are, but even one as bad as this one had a $100 asking price, while the more durable hard plastic boxes from later production have prices of $150-$200. I decided the best course of action was to preserve what's left of the existing box, and invest in a $12 padded case for actual transport.
Finally, a quick look at final results of tuning the S&W M&P series, in this case the M&P .45. The $8 plastic recoil buffer can't be seen here, but these things seem to make a handgun more pleasant to shoot, which, in turn, relieves the shooter's hand of the sometimes-painful final "slap" that degrades accuracy (at least in my case).
That's the result of firing two ten-round magazines, because there are two fliers, the first round out of the mag, my "signature" vice. Other than that, decent performance from a rank amateur in the handgun marksmanship field. I wish my shooting talent could improve at the same rate my craftsmanship and analytic abilities do.
Also on all three of my S&W centerfire M&Ps, upgraded identically, I installed a new all-steel magazine release button to replace the merely plastic original part. It does nothing to improve accuracy, but works wonders in ergonomics.
First, it has a genuine grooved button face, so it can't be mistaken for another piece of texture that matches everything else on the frame. An inconvenience when shooting for fun, and a possible source of a fraction of a second of indecision in a serious situation. It also is available in factory-standard length, or extra length (1/16th inch, with the forward edge flaring outward) version. Both are vast improvements for $26, and I went with the extended edition on all three. It makes my non-standard mag-change procedure swifter and surer.
In future articles, we'll look in more detail at tweaks involving grip shape and size, recoil mitigation, and other ergonomic factors that I've stumbled upon over the last few months. YMMV, but I've found two or three of these of these items per type of handgun have yielded small but noticeable improvements in performance and comfort. And eliminated some subconscious concerns that have always been pestering me, even when it looked like I had everything nailed down properly.
Both revolvers are .22s, so I know recoil is not really a problem. They were chosen mainly to model the new grips. On the left is the new, and vey radical Ergo grip. It looks weird, and feels weird for about the first ten seconds. It provides a meaningful grip for all fingers, and aligns the grip with a natural line from your wrist down to the elbow, or so they claim.
Next to it is the new Hogue "bantam" grip for the J-frame. It's designed to provide a decent grip except for your pinkie, which is usually forgotten on all these compact grips. It's better than the original "Magna" grips (second from right), which were touted as an improvement over the original absolute-minimum grips, which extended only as far as the checkered area, and were intended more to protect the internal mechanism, with less thought towards the shooter's hand. Finally, an Ahrend's hardwood concealment grip, designed to function much like the Hogue "bantam".
For realistic worst-case testing, one of the salesmen at the LGS borrowed one of their scandium 11 ounce J-frames in .357Magnum (yes, they DO exist), and put on the Ergo grip. Common knowledge, validated by painful personal experience, admits the recoil is brutal (and a big deterrent to practice with the weapon, and gain added confidence).
With the Ergo grips, the recoil was still heavy (muzzle rise about 45 degrees, even for big guys), but not as brutal, because the final "slap" at the end of the recoil movement, didn't happen.
The Ergo grip does not fit on the S&W BG38, which is a quasi-J-frame, but shot about as well as my Model 60, but weighed six ounces less, which settled it for me. Accuracy, and shooting comfort, were roughly equal, so I retested the pair, the Ergo on the M60, and the new Hogue grips made specifically for the BG38, on the other. What used to be approximately equal results now produced these new results:
I instantly decided that an extra six ounces of weight was a small price to pay for more comfort and control (recoil still heavy, but manageable for even 50 rounds of practice), and far better accuracy. It was a no-brainer for me, but YMMV.
Another no-brainer for shooting comfort hit me recently, but I've gotten so used to the idea, I keep forgetting to mention it. First, consider a pair of shooting gloves. I use Surefire leather/nomex pilot's gloves, and they're worth every cent. Also, due to my carpal tunnel in my right hand, a couple of inexpensive terry tennis wristbands keeps my carpal tunnel syndrome from flaring up, especially with heavy recoil.
Interesting. Very odd grip.
Hmm. On a hammerless like that, what if the thumb is let to run up the backstrap? The weakside thumb could just set alongside? Might control some of that recoil. Or break a thumb.
My opinion is the best thing you can do for a snub nose is add Crimson Trace Laser Grips to it. They will do more for your marksmanship than any other grip that I know of.
Also in the accuracy department, some results with tinkering with a handgun that is already considered one of the elites in the world of high-end M1911 clone. First, my first shots with the Dan Wesson Classic Commander. For me, this is stuning accuracy for the first rounds out of the barrel.
I made a few changes just to satisfy my personal preferences. New rosewood thin grips, new magazine release, and a plastic recoil buffer on the recoil spring. Changes that might improve accuracy included a new match-grade trigger with custom fitting via Nano-lube, and titanium firing pin, hammer strut, and hammer spring end cap, just to cut back on moving mass, and satisfy myself that I crossed every "I" and dotted every "T". These are my latest results:
Still a Ferrari F40 being driven by an amateur, but squeezing out a bit more of the enormous performance that still hasn't been tapped. But it works wonders for confidence and self-esteem. :)
I also picked up some more information (valid perhaps for me, only) on balance and handling for M1911-type handguns.
1. An all-steel frame, weighing six ounces more than aluminum, results in a M1911 that feels lighter, and balances better than one with an aluminum frame. The extra weight moves the balance point further to the rear, putting the balance point more over the trigger finger rather than ahead of it, and also shortening the moment arm, resulting in less torque during recoil.
2. The one-inch shorter "commander" length provides even more of advantage #1, regardless of frame material. Even with six ounces of extra weight, the all-steel Commander feels lighter, and maneuvers with less effort, than the lighter aluminum model. It's weight "well-spent". Save a fraction of an ounce in moving mass with titanium internal parts. It may not be much help, but it won't hurt, and helps keep your OCD "happy" if you're afflicted with that.
In my case, I suspect some of those "trivial" tweaks added up to enough change to tame some of my tendency to throw out a lot of fliers from a handgun that is far more accurate than my modest skills can utilize fully. Not bad for something I pounced on for the simple fact that it was also a hell of a financial bargain.
My comments apply to snubnoses only because I don’t know any of them that allow you to quickly get a solid grip on them. The little finger always seems to be grabbing air.
Yep, I’ll second that. I like the long version of the J-Frame grips, the boot grip leaves me cold.
Afternoon Win-Mag : well done, great target and superb pistolsmithing. It’s built to YOUR specifications. What’s not to like.
I’ll be gettin’ an Ergo...
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