Franzites

[AjayTaylor]

I got a pair of Franzite grips for my Flatgate, mainly to keep from damaging my Black originals because I'm shooting it a lot. I have a pair of Black Eagle medallions, and a 1/2" Forstner bit, so I'm going to install them in the faux antlers. Has anyone else been screwy enough to do this, and if so, how did they turn out. I've been looking for a pair of original RUGER Stags forever, so this will be the poor man's version. I will have this gun forever, so I just wanted something a little different for my treasured Flatgate. Am I crazy, or will a fun little project make a decent pair of shooter grips. My Flatgate is my baby, so I just couldn't see putting them on without a little flair.

 

[rugerguy]

Hope the franzites you have are solid and not hollowed out, like the old ones used to be. Folks been putting medallions in grips for as long as they been making grips , used to be some of the makers would predrill holes for you on request. Go for it, and remember measure twice ,cut ONCE and neatness counts. 8) :roll: :wink:

 

[Ruger1441]

:? I think the grips would look better without the medallions, just my opinion

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Were I doing this, I'd use a drill press, make certain I had the grip panel clamped down solidly so it cannot "climb" the bit, and I'd feed the bit into the panel v-e-r-r-y-s-l-o-w-l-y in tiny increments.

And at that, I'd still have about a 90% chance of disaster.

Good luck. Let us know . . .

 

[GLASSMAN]

If you do it let's see some before and after pictures.
Whatever the outcome.
(We're a evil bunch)

 

[Nanchulla]

The grips have a dimple on the inside to give You a location that is centered, so apparently they make them thick enough to do it. My friend has a really accurate Hitachi Drill Press, and a slant jig for tilted surfaces and compound angles. I have a brand new 1/2" Forstner Bit. I may not do it. The pair that I bought are much lighter brown than most of them that I've seen.
I'm a finish carpenter, and we built some really fancy homes for about 20 years, and I was the door specialist. A lot of the hardware wad really custom, and there were no jigs, so I did all inlay work by hand. This project doesn't scare me, since a lot of the entry doors that I hung and I inlayed cost thousands of dollars. I still may not do it, and especially since the Blackbird Medallions are modern, and in no way would they look Vîntage.
It does look like there are a lot of the Franzites left even after all of these years. I'll see what they look like on the gun. I'd love to get a pair of the original Ruger Stags, and especially the rich, dark ones. It seems that they've been off of the market for a long time, and I don't blame collectors for grabbing them up..
If I do it, I will provide before and after shots, good or bad.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

The Franzites I have are the "hollow back" variety, and they were badly bowed from having been rubber-banded together for a looong time. I was able to g-r-a-d-u-a-l-l-y flatten them out over a couple weeks and they fit fine now . . . truly retro.

 

[Nanchulla]

Yeah, I'll see what I get when they get here. I wonder if soking them in nearly boiling water would help to fix warped Franzites. I have to put some new tuner buttons on my Dad's old Dobro, and You boil them, and when they're hot You stick 'em right on the pegs and they melt around the pegs.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

I considered the boiling water treatment, but decided not to take the chance.

Instead, I went the "reverse bend" approach. When the panels were placed back-to-back, they touched at the middle, where the screw holes are, and there was daylight between the ends above and below that point. So, I padded them and stuck them in my vise just tight enough to hold them in place, plus a tiny bit more. Every day i tightened the vise another little bit until the panels were making full back-to-back contact. When removed from the vice, they of course sprang apart a little, but not as bad as before.

So, I placed a very thin shim (business card stock) between them at their mid-point and clamped the upper and lower ends together. Every day I added a shim and re-clamped them. I kept this up until when unclamped they made full-length contact when placed back-to-back without any shims. I then re-clamped them with one additional shim and left them for a week. When finally unclamped, there was a tiny bit of daylight visible between them at mid-point when placed back-to-back.

I placed them on a gun and tightened the screw just enough to pull them down JUST FLUSH on the grip frame. So far. so good. These are on a rarely-fired older gun and look just fine, thanks. I'm happy.

I cannot recommend anyone try this with their grip panels, but it worked for me. I'm no expert. YMMV. Close cover before striking. Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. Etc.

 

[Nanchulla]

I still haven't gotten mine. I sent the seller a personal check. She seems like a very sweet girl, but she waits like 20 days for a personl check to clear. i'm in no hurry. I hope that they aren't warped, but I always like a challenge. If they are warped, thank You for lending me Your method of reversal. I will definitely do it exactly as You did. Nothing like successful methodology. I think that thy will be a fun project whether I install the medallions or not. My friend with the drill press is working in Europe for six weeks, so that could make up my mind. I definitely will not chance it with my Dewalt cordless! I'm good with it, but even if thy're easily replaced. I will not destroy vintage items made for Ruger. Thank You for the great advice everybody.

 

[Ale-8(1)]

PLease note:

"I cannot recommend anyone try this with their grip panels, but it worked for me. I'm no expert. YMMV. Close cover before striking. Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. Etc."

In other words . . . if you break them, I don't know ya.

Good luck.

 

[Nanchulla]

PLease note:

"I cannot recommend anyone try this with their grip panels, but it worked for me. I'm no expert. YMMV. Close cover before striking. Objects in mirror are closer than they appear. Etc."

In other words . . . if you break them, I don't know ya.

Good luck.

Thanks for the WARNING. I only have $35 invested, so I'm not too worried, I asked her about the history of the grips, and she said that they bought them at a gunsmith's estate sale (RIP). It would be cool if they came in the original packaging. If they do, I may keep them for preservation purposes. Maybe someone would want them for a display of some kind.
As I said, most of them almost have black artificial bark coloring. These are light brown. There is a thread about a Great American Prop Guns, and on the cover it shows the black bark and the light brown bark like mine. Anyway, I should get them by this weekend. I'm kind of anxious to see a different look on the old Flatgate after 55 years of the old Ruger looking the same. It will be interesting anyway. I do love the old Black Hard Rubber grips.
Earlier this month, I thought that I was buying a mint pair of original black grips, but they turned out to be the modern copies. They were pretty nasty. The originals have the black chicken medallions perfectly centered qin a round border. The new ones had the new style medallions, and they were so off-center, part of the border was completely covered by the medallion, and the other side was 5/16ths + wide. I think that Ruger had the new ones made in Viet Nam. I bought a pair of fancy Fleur de Lis grips from Altamomt, and they are so perfectly made it's just mind blowing. Plus the checkering is a laser cut Diamond style that is just beautiful. I can't imagine Ruger even letting those black ones leave the factory, but apparently someone didn't notice the horrible medallion mounting. It makes me glad that all of my Rugers are at least 37 years old.

 

[Nanchulla]

I got my Franzites today. Luckily warpage is not an issue. Not sure if I'm going to inlay the medallions or not. I really like the way that they feel. I'm going to shoot with them, and if they shoot as great as they feel I probably won't take a chance of screwing them up. It's a little too cold to go shooting in the North East right now. If I needed some meat for the pot, I'd look for some rabbits, but nowadays it's easier to just go to the store.

I gave one of my kidneys to a good friend some 8 years back, and He keeps me stocked up with his Teriyaki Beef Jerky, so I do eat quite a bit of venison these days. That's about it for wild game for me anymore I used to live on Veison, Squirrel, and fish, but I had to quit huntin' about three back surgeries ago. I do a lot of fishin' in the Summer, though. Most of my shootin is at tin cans and paper.

These Franzites are very nice grips for $30. I don't think that they've ever been used, because there isn't a mark on them or any wear. Obviously they don't come close to resembling the real thing, but they feel really good. I think that I'll stow the real ones in a safe place and shoot my Flatgate with these for a while. Any tips on storing the original Black Rubbers so that they don't warp on me?

 

[Ale-8(1)]

I'd be tempted to spray 'em with Armour-All, wipe 'em off, loosely wrap 'em individually, and store 'em in the dark.

Once again, "I cannot recommend anyone try this . . . etc."