Skateboard Tape

First topic message reminder :

Good morning everybody:

Like everybody else, I am getting older.  Hopefully I am getting wiser as I age.  

Last year or so, my scores have been in a slow decline, and I also suspect that my hand is decreasing in size as well.  

Was consistently shooting close to master scores but they have deteriorated to a low expert, even struggling to retain expert scores.    Plus, the heal shoe was digging into my hand so I was steadily removing material until they became comfortable.  

Got a new pair of grips for my Pardini from Jon Eulette (thank you Jon!) that are a little bit smaller than my old grips, although Jon advertised them as size large, which is the same size as my old grips, but they are smaller.  What interested me was that the new grips did not have a heal plate. The new grips felt better but there was no improvement in my scores. For what it is worth, I had to move the trigger about 3/8th of a inch forward to get a correct trigger purchase.  Figured I was gripping the pistol tighter, but my wobble was getting worse.

Experimented with "Stickum" spray and saw a improvement in scores but did not like the glue-like material on my hands which migrated to the carrying handle of my box, target pins, etc.  

Yesterday, I got some Skateboard Tape, the kind with the sand embedded in the surface and applied a number of small strips to my grips.   Found that I could get a secure grip with a reasonable amount of pressure.  Discovered that my wobble had decreased significantly.  

Shot a 568 out of 600 yesterday!

Putting this up there so maybe others can benefit. 


Regards, 
George

CrankyThunder wrote:Most radical thread drift I ever saw

Yeah I was tempted to chime in on the sight problem but etiquette got the best of me.

Sorry, I read the sight posts and didn't notice this was the skateboard tape post.  Me bad.

I've got a couple things I like to do to my grips for better retention while I'm shooting. For plastic grips like Precision Pistol Grips does, I like to stipple those with a soldering iron. I heard about this trick years ago when a buddy stippled his Glock for action shooting, and figured I'd give it a try. Another thing that helps my sweaty hands is dissolving some powdered rosin in alcohol and painting it over the grips. I'll post some pictures of my grips if I remember later.

Both have been extremely helpful for keeping my grip in the same spot during rapid fire.

I have a old DCM Colt 1911 when they were being sold for $5 back in the 1960's. I have a Marvel conversion on the frame and have been tempted to stipple the front on the smooth grip area but afraid I might ruin the historical value it might have so I'm leaving it alone for now.

VZ Grips makes a nice set for the 1911. Decent price, and saving the backing sheets, one could use them as a template for homemade versions. 3M makes a good grip tape. 2" wide...I buy it by the foot at my local Ace Hardware store.

I put a Volquartsen laminated grip on my SW22. It's beautiful but feels like a bar of wet soap when my hand starts to sweat. I bought a sheet of granulate material from Talon grips and cut some pieces to fit the Volquartsen grip. Much, much better now and doesn't look too bad either.