Crosman 600 Grips Part 2 Final

Sidebar/Abstract: Anyone else notice (besides me) that I only seem to make asymmetrical grips? I was thinking about that the other day, and I think it's because I only shoot pistols offhand. With all those years shooting National Match courses, single-handed was the only way we were allowed to shoot. From a grip making standpoint, it's easier (in a way) to make asymmetrical grips. It's really difficult to cut 2 separate pieces of wood, inlet, then make each the same dimensionally on the exterior. Far easier to cut each piece slightly (or largely) different to account for the nuances of your shooting hand. The hard part when making asymmetrical grips is getting the halves to look like they belong together. This suddenly comes crashing down to aesthetics--something I mention often because it's important. And it's where I struggle whenever I make a grip or turn a piece of metal. We (I?) want our guns to look as good as they shoot. Well, I'm off topic and all over the place as usual. This stuff is all sort of interrelated anyway, right? OK, focus. My hand isn't symmetric, so why should me grip be? Anyway, that's what I was thinking about. Much of this thought stems from making that match grip a couple weeks ago. I spent some time looking at various orthopedic grips from companies like Nill-Griffe, Cesare Morini, and Rink. Pretty much what I learned was that their combined knowledge of the human hand is absolutely staggering.

Anyway, on with the show:

Sanded the formerly angular thumb rest into a continuous curve that terminates at the heel.

Re-profiled the top of the right grip to better match the left side.

The left side's top was pared down to almost no thickness--and no bulge--to clear my thumb. The right side needed to follow suite in order to match.

Left grip ready for finish sanding.

Took a while to remove all the sanding drum marks. I started with 100 grit garnet paper and worked my way up to 320. Did the same to the right side grip. Kept the grips flat on a piece of granite so as to not sand angles at the base.

Final fitting and ready for a finish. They're a bit longer at the top than the stock Crosman 600 grips. The threaded bushing and pin holes from Part 1 made for a no-wiggle fit.

Went with 3 coats of Minwax cherry followed by 3 coats of Minwax polyurathane. Synthetic steel-wooled between coats of poly. Essentially, I used the poly as a grain filler.

A couple (like three) coats of Minwax paste wax and I called it good. The right grip is pretty plane jane--just like the original.

A view from the rear shows how the curves match from left to right. This is what I was blabbering on about up in the first paragraph. I was having trouble bringing the grips together into a set. Each grip looked fine individually, they just didn't look like brothers. The key was reworking the swell at the heel on each side and playing with the curves a bit more. I tried to keep the thickness consistent from top to bottom on each side.



The guys at the hardware store said they never sell paste wax anymore. The old price on the can bears that out. It was about $3 less than current cost. I like the idea that I was using a finish my grandfather would be familiar with.

Excuse the barrel length. I had Ron Sauls at B&A cut down one of his extended gas tubes by about three and a half inches. I've not yet made a barrel to fit. I'm considering a few options to extend the muzzle.

Can't get the camera to convey all the curves.



The front of the left grip is concave then it blends into a convex curve near the midpoint.
These were supposed to be quick and easy. The big time hurdle was the thickness difference between the left and right sides. I started with a 1/2" board. The thumb rest easily adds 9/64" in thickness to the left side. If I make another set, I'll plane down the right grip by that amount and save a boatload of sanding time.

Crosman 600 Grips Part 1

Yep, typecast as a grip guy. I already see it coming. Look, it's like this, I bought another Crosman 600 and the right grip panel was badly cracked. I needed to come up with something. So, just a simple set of replacement grips this time. Pretty much a copy of the originals, but in wood. Oh, and just a bit more secure on the gun so they don't wiggle around--and it would also be nice if they look somewhat presentable. That's pretty much the only criteria.

Had a 1/2" thick cherry board. Just traced the old grips. Left some extra on the top.

Chopped them out with the scroll saw.

Sanded the top edge flat on both sides. The flat edge will be the reference point to fit the grips to the frame.

Only 120 grit, but it's enough. The top flat edge goes against the grip frame and buts against the gas/valve tube. Marked the holes with a transfer punch and drilled through for the grip screws. Pics??? Uhhhh, dog ate them?

Inletting is minimal. After getting the mounting bolt holes drilled, there's a small pin at the bottom rear of the grip. Pressing the grip against the frame will indent the wood at the location to drill. Drilled the grip with a bit the size of the pin--1/8" I believe. The pivoting safety lever on the left side was easy enough. Eyeballed and pencil marked the limits of travel.

Then, a sharp router bit, and I was done with the safety lever notch in under 2 minutes. I took some wood out from a couple other spots at casting marks just to ensure the grip sits flush. Pressing the wood against the grip frame left imprints to use as guides.

The next hurdle was the lack of threads in the frame for the grip bolts. On the plastic factory grips, the right bolt goes through the entire frame and threads into a nut in the left grip. Crosman used a #6-32 bolt and it never comes close to touching the sides of the hole in the frame. It's a sloppy fit at best and contributes substantially to the play in the grips. It was a feature I didn't want to copy. I thought about just tapping the frame and threading bolts directly in. Not a bad idea at all, but I decided to try a threaded bushing first.

Chucked a piece of scrap drill rod into the lathe and faced both ends.

Center drilled then through drilled with a #36 drill bit.

Tapped the bushing #6-32 then turned it down to fit the hole in the grip frame. I tapered one end slightly so it was a snug press fit. I had to drill and tap first before turning the OD down, otherwise the thin tube would have collapsed when tapped.

Cut it to length and pressed it in. The grip screws can now thread into a zero play bushing. If I ever need to reinstall factory grips, the bushing can be either pressed out or two #6-32 bolts can be used instead of the bolt/nut arrangement.

Counterbored both grips for the #6-32 bolt heads.

And bolted on for the first test fit.

There's some nice grips in there somewhere.

Got my #2 pencil ready. Just marked the edges where the wood overhangs the frame.

Then sand that off...

This was faster to sand the bottom edges.

As well as removing copious amounts of wood from the sides.

Right-side test fit. The scribble marks are areas to be thinned. I made the right side first--no real reason. The right side just had less happening so it was easier.

The original left grip on a Crosman 600 has a pronounced thumb rest that I really want to duplicate.

A lot of wood has to be removed up top to create that thumb rest.



Taking over half the grip thickness off areas on the left panel.

Slowly getting there. The ridge for the thumb rest is at the full 1/2" thickness.

Forming up the rest using a small drum.

Still playing with the lines. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't--like here. Too angular on the edge of the thumb rest. All the other lines are curves, so the sharp transition line doesn't work aesthetically. I'll either put a more gradual transition into it or just make it into a continuous curve starting at the heel.
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Sanded so much off, I lost the counterbore. Drilled another.

Test fit. Still getting there. Grip feels too chunky in the hand. Lines are still not quite right.

The 600 grip frame is thick. The grips will need to be much thinner for comfort. Here's a great view of the thumb rest. Way too sharp of a transition. Still need to do a lot of sanding.

More to come.

Tweaking the IZH513M Rear Sight, Part 2

On I go...

You can see there's a bit of a deformity in the elevation bracket, as well as ample play.

It wiggles side to side with a huge gap.

This shows how the left side is not parallel to the right. I tweaked it by bending it gently.

The pivot holes have a nasty burr...that got filed off.

I made some thin delrin washers to try and eliminate any play.

Drilling...

Parting off each washer...

The washers in place.

Then I found that I needed another washer between the knurled head of the but and the outside of the bracket.

In place. This thickness was hard to get right, as the screw has to securely lock the sight to the dovetail and allow the elevation bracket to move.

Just right, the spring can push the sight up but there's a small amount of drag.

Reassembled, you can see there's a lot less twist. And I'll probably end up putting a scope on it after all of that!