Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Grip Stippling on the Diana Model 6M

I finally got around to making the grips on my Diana 6M a bit more comfortable. I had left them large so I could fit them to my hand but I never managed to get around to it until now.

I used a pencil to mark the grips where I felt material should be removed. I would fire a few shots and see how my hand was contacting the grips, the repeat the process.

Here was where there was an almost painful rubbing.

So I attacked them with a rasp, then a file and sandpaper.

Once roughly shaped, I remounted them on the pistol and shot a little more...

Getting to here with the left grip ok but the right needing a little more material removed.

Then I decided that Derrick can't have all the stippling fun so I attacked the grips with an awl.

It's insanely tedious.

At this point I wished I started by delineating the area to be stippled, so I did with a triangular file.

Getting there...

Pretty much done. Now often the stippled areas are left oil-less but I like how it looks and they are still pretty grippy.

It looks worse the closer you get...

Then the left grip...

After oiling I again decided that some delineation was warranted.

So I attacked it with a ball bur in the Foredom.

Oiled and rubbed with steel wool.

They don't look bad.

Remounted on the pistol...

It's far more comfortable to shoot now.

2 comments:

  1. Great looking grips. I couldn't imagine how difficult it is to hand make them. Any chance you still have the old grips I can use?

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  2. The old grips are charred and melted unfortunately. Beyond repair. I've seen grips for sale on the forums and on gunbroker and Auctionarms from time to time. I think some of the grips for the Diana 5 also fit.

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