A Few Ergo/Aesthetic Adjstments For The Air Match 600

Well, the size medium grip on the Air Match 600 was pushing my size large hand upward into the sharp bottom edge of the trigger guard.  Every time I should've been concentrating on the sight picture, I was thinking about the pain in my finger.  So, I pulled the grips off to grind away the offending area of the frame then got a bit distracted with all the other little things. 
















As mentioned previously, the grips looked really dry...


 

And of course, the star washer in the palm shelf wasn't up to task and the shelf adjustment screw was starting to burrow into the wood.

Gently clamped the shelf into the milling vise and by using a drill bit that precisely fit the through hole, I centered the head with the x-y adjustments.

Without disturbing the set up, I changed the drill bit out with a 3/8" forstner.

Enlarged the counterbore diameter as well as deepened the hole just past the damage.

Faced off the end of a piece of 3/8" diameter tool steel in the Taig.

Spotted.

Through drilled with the same bit previously used to center up the shelf.

Cut a counterbore with a 1/4" drill bit modified to produce flat bottomed holes.

Measured the depth of the hole in the shelf then transferred that to the piece.

Also cleaned up the head of the M4 bolt to fit the new screw cup and test fit.

The grips had a few stray sanding marks from the factory.

Gave the wood a couple coats of Minwax Golden Oak.  Really just wanted something light to enhance the color.

Much nicer.

Finally, the sharp edge of the trigger guard.  I highlighted it with a silver Sharpie.

Taped the heck out of the gun to keep the grinding dust out.

Selected a small sanding drum and removed material until it looked about right.

Bitey edge begone!  All that other stuff just to get to this.

Really should install the grip and see if it fits my hand, but it somehow made more sense to finish wrapping the gun and repaint the exposed edge.

Not pretty, but it's covered--save for the newly beveled edge.

Sprayed with Rustoleum High Performance Enamel Flat Black.  Dries to the touch in 10 minutes or so.  I left it alone for about eleven hours then put it all back together.  Not shown:  Resprayed the barrel weights as there were several shades of black going on there.



















Here's the relieved edge after paint.  Blended perfectly.  The trick was to not get too much paint thickness.   Refinished grips now have a bit more color and sheen than previous.



















And a couple pics of the new screw cup for the palm shelf.


















Both the cup and the screw head were heat blued with a torch.

Weights.

The relief cut on the trigger guard turned out to be exactly right to fit my hand.  A small success!  No more pain when shooting.


More soon.