Movement in wood grips

[majorsideburns]

I have a S&W 19 that one of the wood grip panels can move slightly back and forth when gripped. The stocks don't fit seamlessly together, there is a gap at the bottom in the front. I think one of the panels is warped. Is this a common issue with older stocks? Does anyone have any tips on how to solve this?

 

[ruger 22]

I do not know if it is old wood warping or maybe a previous owner enlarged a hole to make it fit a specific gun better. I have had this condition and I fill the hole with Elmer's glue and this fixes it. Elmer's glue is water soluble and easily removed. Do NOT use Gorilla or any other of the super glues!

 

[Vtgw938]

OP:
Sounds like you have two issues. First one is movement of the panel. This is usually the fault of an enlarged grip pin hole. You can temporarily fix it with a hot glue gun or epoxy or fix it permanently with wood glue and small pieces of wood. I have gotten to favor using multiple very small pieces of wood & glue and than putting a drill bit or nail the size of the grip pin in the hole to form the shape. If necessary you can also add small slivers of wood with glue to the top of the panel.if movement i there.

The second problem is harder to diagnose and fix. Even if warped your not going to bend it back so wood removal likely is required but only in the right places. It is easy to remove too much or in the wrong place.

 

[majorsideburns]

Thank you gents. I see now after playing around with it more the enlarged hole was the issue with the movement. Great tip with the wood glue, I just put a dab in the hole and will see how it snugs things up when it dries. But it does appear that there is a slight warp in the stock, when I lay it on a flat table I can see some light through the bottom. I suspect this happened over many years of being under extreme pressure from the previous owner who over tightened the grip screw to compensate for the wiggle play of the stock. I was looking at prices for replacement grips and didn't realize how expensive these wood target stocks are! The gap in the front of the grips is a little larger than 1/8" which is somewhat of an eyesore. Does anyone know of a gunsmith who can do these type of repairs? My local gunsmith is a great guy but I really don't think he does woodwork, he's more into fixing modern firearms.

 

[ggibson511960]

Rubber Cement

Years ago I had a 29-2 with wandering, wiggling, loose grips. A friend tipped me to using common office rubber cement. Worked like a charm, but the grips were pretty square and true to start with. Rubber cement is not permanent but it does prevent easy removal. Pushing off a grip with a partially removed grip panel screw works but is slow. Never pry with tools.

 

[BillBro]

Remove the grips and look for obvious shiny spots and scrape those with some sort of small scraper, just the shiny spots, nothing else. Dont use sandpaper use a small, precise scraper and reassemble and shoot, remove and look for shiny spots again. Repeat if necessary

 

[chief38]

I can't answer accurately without having either the revolver in my hands or excellent descriptive photo's to look at. Some possibilities are that the hole for the roll pin is either too large or out of round. That can be fixed. It could also be a poorly cut set of grips - but again, from here I can not tell.

Most of the time poorly fitting grips can be resolved if you understand the fit relationship and can do some minor woodworking. If it turns out that the hole for the roll pin is enlarged, you can glue and plug it and then re-drill a proper sized and properly located new hole.

Check to see if the grips are flat and meet properly on the seam. Sorry I can't be of any further assistance but obviously I am not able to on a computer without seeing and inspecting them.

 

[gwpercle]

I use epoxy -putty to fill in small gaps and stop the movement .
Epoxy-putty is easy to work with ... clean the wood so it sticks and grease the metal so it doesn't stick . knead a small amount , fill in the gap(s) , re-assemble and let harden .
I found a nice walnut brown colored epoxy meant for sealing a hole in a auto gas tank that was perfeck walnut filler ... but J-B Weld Epoxy Putty and those in he Plumbing department for sealing water leaks work fine but are a dark grey color . Brownells might sell something for wood in the walnut color ... check them out .
Loose grips are an easy fix ... be sure to use "release" om metal parts !
Gary