Hey guys.
Little project for the day was taking the incredible slop out of my factory Garrison grip safety.
I saw Chuck Rogers take the play out of a Kimber GS in the Misc. Smiffin' thread by pressing pins into the web and machining them down. Amazing solution but I lack the tools to even dream about it.
The GS may get replaced down the road but I wanted to give shims a try to hold me over until then.
Had roughly .005" play which felt awful.
![Image]()
![Image]()
Ordered some .002" brass shim stock and some Loctite 430 metal adhesive from MMC. It's advertised with a peel resistance of 2lbs per inch so seemed a good candidate to hold my shims for the forseeable future. Also, I was thinking was that the adhesive will add .001" at least to the overall thickness.
I made a small template out of an index card and sliced the shims out with an X-Acto knife.
![Image]()
![Image]()
After some light sand paper to de-bur the edges as best I could manage, I degreased the safety and shims and applied the adhesive.
I halved a small dowel that matched the interior radius of the GS fairly well and clamped the contraption in a small wood working clamp. I let the adhesive cure for 24 hours.
![Image]()
Once the adhesive was cured, I cleaned up the edges and punched the holes for the thumb safety shaft.
![Image]()
Initial fitting was very, very tight and would not allow the grip safety to return to its resting position. The adhesive was slightly thicker than I had anticipated.
I used the same dowel and glued some 600 grit paper to the nose and started the process of slowly removing material from both shims until it was snug but operable with no stickiness.
![Image]()
![Image]()
Final result is pretty nice! Took almost all of the lateral play out of the GS and really changes the way the pistol feels. Much more solid and less like it was assembled on a Friday at a quarter to five.
I'm happy with it for the time being. It was much cheaper than a machined GS and was pretty fun to do.
Little project for the day was taking the incredible slop out of my factory Garrison grip safety.
I saw Chuck Rogers take the play out of a Kimber GS in the Misc. Smiffin' thread by pressing pins into the web and machining them down. Amazing solution but I lack the tools to even dream about it.
The GS may get replaced down the road but I wanted to give shims a try to hold me over until then.
Had roughly .005" play which felt awful.
Ordered some .002" brass shim stock and some Loctite 430 metal adhesive from MMC. It's advertised with a peel resistance of 2lbs per inch so seemed a good candidate to hold my shims for the forseeable future. Also, I was thinking was that the adhesive will add .001" at least to the overall thickness.
I made a small template out of an index card and sliced the shims out with an X-Acto knife.
After some light sand paper to de-bur the edges as best I could manage, I degreased the safety and shims and applied the adhesive.
I halved a small dowel that matched the interior radius of the GS fairly well and clamped the contraption in a small wood working clamp. I let the adhesive cure for 24 hours.
Once the adhesive was cured, I cleaned up the edges and punched the holes for the thumb safety shaft.
Initial fitting was very, very tight and would not allow the grip safety to return to its resting position. The adhesive was slightly thicker than I had anticipated.
I used the same dowel and glued some 600 grit paper to the nose and started the process of slowly removing material from both shims until it was snug but operable with no stickiness.
Final result is pretty nice! Took almost all of the lateral play out of the GS and really changes the way the pistol feels. Much more solid and less like it was assembled on a Friday at a quarter to five.
I'm happy with it for the time being. It was much cheaper than a machined GS and was pretty fun to do.
