Not too long ago I purchased from the Classified subforum what was described as an Old Model Super Blackhawk steel gripframe. It arrived promptly, and was/is a beautiful item, deep SBH bluing and no wear at all. Really nice one, I was pleased.
When I attempted to swap it onto one of my OM Blackhawks, I ran into a problem. The angle between the portion of the grip frame that bolts to the vertical rear portion of the gun's frame and the portion that bolts to the bottom of the gun's frame does not match the angle between those surfaces on the gun's frame. In other words, if I screw the upper rear portion down firmly onto the mating surface of the gun on either side of the hammer, there's no way I can tighten up the screws and pull the bottom portion of the grip frame including the trigger guard up into solid contact with the mating surface of the gun. Simply will not do. Same happens if I first secure the bottom portion of the grip frame, I then cannot pull the upper rear portion of the grip frame onto its mating surface on the gun. Doesn't matter how I try to start the attachment procedure; it just cannot be done. Tried it on a different Blackhawk with the same results.
I realize that the angle between those two surfaces is not an exact ninety degrees. Ruger designed the original Single-Six gun frame and the matching grip frame that became the XR3 and XR3RED grip frames way back at the beginning. Drawings of the original frame in one of Dougan's books show the included angle between the rear vertical surface of the gun's frame and the adjacent bottom surface to be eight degrees less than ninety degrees, or eighty-two degrees. As close as I can measure, the corresponding angle on the grip frame I have is closer to an actual ninety degrees, and this is what the attempts to secure the grip frame onto a gun would seem to confirm.
I'm stumped. I have another similar OMSBH grip frame that is not quite as nice as the one in question, and it is now bolted onto the gun with no problem. I'd like to use the nicer one, but there's just no way It's gonna fit. What have I fallen into here?
When I attempted to swap it onto one of my OM Blackhawks, I ran into a problem. The angle between the portion of the grip frame that bolts to the vertical rear portion of the gun's frame and the portion that bolts to the bottom of the gun's frame does not match the angle between those surfaces on the gun's frame. In other words, if I screw the upper rear portion down firmly onto the mating surface of the gun on either side of the hammer, there's no way I can tighten up the screws and pull the bottom portion of the grip frame including the trigger guard up into solid contact with the mating surface of the gun. Simply will not do. Same happens if I first secure the bottom portion of the grip frame, I then cannot pull the upper rear portion of the grip frame onto its mating surface on the gun. Doesn't matter how I try to start the attachment procedure; it just cannot be done. Tried it on a different Blackhawk with the same results.
I realize that the angle between those two surfaces is not an exact ninety degrees. Ruger designed the original Single-Six gun frame and the matching grip frame that became the XR3 and XR3RED grip frames way back at the beginning. Drawings of the original frame in one of Dougan's books show the included angle between the rear vertical surface of the gun's frame and the adjacent bottom surface to be eight degrees less than ninety degrees, or eighty-two degrees. As close as I can measure, the corresponding angle on the grip frame I have is closer to an actual ninety degrees, and this is what the attempts to secure the grip frame onto a gun would seem to confirm.
I'm stumped. I have another similar OMSBH grip frame that is not quite as nice as the one in question, and it is now bolted onto the gun with no problem. I'd like to use the nicer one, but there's just no way It's gonna fit. What have I fallen into here?