Sunday, May 21, 2017

Mrod Air CP1-M Grip Modifications -- Part 1

Started what I thought was going to be a fast project with my CP1-M pistol




















 Since it's been wearing a red dot of late, I removed the muzzle weight and front sight.  



















A piece of 12mm ID/16mm OD carbon fiber was cut to something like 7.5" long with a hacksaw.
























The tape is to protect the carbon from being scratched by the lathe jaws. 































Squared up the ends.



























Not shown, I turned an insert for the muzzle end of the shroud. 




























Epoxied into place then finished to the same diameter as the carbon tube.




 

















I'm not a huge fan of the stock grip.  It's finished well, and I actually like the raked angle for target shooting, but the odd flare at the base doesn't do anything for me.  And I mean that in both the functional and aesthetic sense. 























So, I sanded off the flare.






























Then started adding finger grooves.
























Used a paint stripper to remove the remnants of the factory finish and kept on shaping.
























Got a bit too aggressive (and inattentive) and sanded through at the web into the inletting.   After some choice cursing, I filled the hole with a mix of superglue and sawdust.   This is a pic of the repair.  I had a few ideas.  Maybe it'll look like a knot hole.  Maybe I'll spray the grips with truck bed liner.  Maybe I should stop butchering wood. 
























Still smarting from the mistake and looking for redemption, I cut a small piece of Brazilian rosewood.





 




















And glued it to the base of the grip.



























A few minutes of power, then hand sanding, brought it to here.



The repaired area is glass smooth.  




























Real woodworkers claim that when working with rosewood, you're either allergic to it, or you will be.  I've had reactions in the past--similar to poison ivy--that required a few rounds of steroids.  A dust mask and rubber gloves are never a bad idea.
























Burnished in a very thin coat of shellac, then applied several more coats over a few days.  Used a fine Scotchbrite pad to level the finish.









































The repair turned out...OK.  I don't feel redeemed, but the grip fits my hand far better than before.






























Thanks for checking in.  More soon.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting, Derrick. Great as always - keep 'em coming!

Anonymous said...

Nice work!!! Makes the pistol look a lot better!! Greets TheBas84

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the inspiration. I bought a couple of CP-2 guns from Mrodair. One is a .177 and the other is a .22. The cp-2 kit comes with an extra carbine barrel and stock. I'm planning to use the .22 as a carbine setup. The .177 was going to be a freehand target pistol. The problem was that the pistol grip on the CP-2 is horrible and useless. I didn't know that a pistol grip could be designed to be so uncomfortable.

After seeing your excellent transformation of the CP-1 grip I bought one on eBay. Before seeing your grip treatment I thought that the CP-1 looked silly. It never occurred to me that It might have been designed specifically to be customize to fit the shooter's hand. I'm now reformed in my thinking and will try to do what you have shown. Thank you again for the idea!

If you're interested you can check out what I'm doing to make the CP-2 come up to it's full potential as an entry level target pistol. Here's a link: https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=137566.0

George