Anyone Know How To Stop IZH 46 Grip From Moving On Cocking?

[Scrench]

Every time I cock it the grip moves, but just tightening the grip screws doesn't stop it.

Thanks!

[Gwhite]

The grips on the IZH are fitted at the factory with little glued in wooden shims, and are marked with the serial number of the pistol they fit. It sounds like your shims shrank, fell out, or the grips got swapped with a different pistol.

Pop one side off, and see where the play is. If you want to use wood, veneer works OK for small adjustments. Shaved down popsicle sticks are good for larger gaps. Cardboard tends to compress & loosen up over time. Plastic shim stock also works well, but it is hard to glue in place securely.

[Scrench]

Also think I need to take my trigger apart because it feels slightly gritty on first stage take-up, sometimes has the grit feel then a little catch half-way through first stage, then goes on to stop at sear before second stage release. Take it apart or just readjust and lube? Anyone with diagrams?

[Rover]

All good advice. You might hone the trigger parts a little, too.

[Scrench]

That's what I need, a guide to disassemble the trigger to get at those parts.

[Gwhite]

I don't know of anyone who has documented a full trigger job on the IZH. It's usually pretty good from the factory. Taking it apart is easy. It's a pretty complex design, and getting all the springs & levers back in place right could be tricky.

If you do it, I'd make up some "dummy pins" to aid in assembly. These are slightly long & slightly undersized pins you can easily insert by hand to get everything lined up before you hammer in the final pins. For the small IZH pins, the cut off shank of a suitable sized drill bit will work nicely.

You may just have some dirt. I'd flush it with solvent, work the mechanism a few times, and then spray it with a light oil. You can get at most, if not all, of the high pressure surfaces through the holes in the sides, and you can apply a little grease to those. You can also inspect the surfaces to see if there is any obvious roughness that would require a full teardown to remove.

[Scrench]

Thanks Gwhite! And I agree, always try the simple stuff first.

[Scrench]

Success!

A little TLC was all it needed. I pulled most of the cotton off of some Q-Tips, wet the ends with Ballistol, and cleaned the sear, rocker arm and any part I could reach thru the side holes. They came out dark brown and filthy. Blew a little into the gun so it would get to the rocker arm pivot pin. Next, cleaned that off with a swab pad to soak it up, then applied tiny dabs of grease to the sear and both contact points on the rocker arm. Trigger is so good now I'm going to have to increase the weight because I can't feel the first stage stop. Smooth as butter, no grit.

I had to shim the grip right under the trigger guard, but each half of the grip had a different size gap. One side took a very thin piece of shim wood I had for shimming guitar necks, the other took a length of bone normally used for the nut on a guitar fretboard, plus more of the tiny wooden shim. I Jammed it in there as tight as I could, then trimmed it all even with the edge of the grip with an Exacto knife. Then I screwed all three screws down tight and viola', grip doesn't move any more.

Thanks for the help!

[Joe58]

I'm glad you described how you solved your grip issue. I was watching this thread to see.

I've a IZH-46M with Rink grips that want to move just ever so slightly during cocking. I don't think it is a problem or anything like that, but it's just kind of distracting. Now I know what I need to look for. I'm guessing it's the same type of deal. Just a little gap that needs shimming. Thanks!

[Scrench]

You're welcome Joe, and if I may humbly suggest to every IZH owner with a grip that moves, don't wait another minute, shim that puppy up right now!

There are two very good reasons why. When I took my grip off (just bought it used), there was chewed up wood that had obviously been ground off by the metal grip stud grinding against the wood. Over time, it will only get worse, and this will destroy your grip internally to where it is unusable. The second big reason is because when you squeeze your trigger, that slack, which is vertically in line with the barrel, may cause the action to move within the grip, however infinitesimally, but will throw your shot off. I can see a scenario where if one time you squeezed the trigger nice and smooth the action may not move because of it's own weight in the grip, but the next shot you jerk the trigger a little, enough to move the action in the grip, and whammo, shot goes awry. You might just call it a flyer, but I think the action could move in the grip without you even knowing it.

[wiljohn245]

was getting annoyed by this and nice to see a solution that works, tahnks!

[Scrench]

You're welcome.

Mine is still solid as a rock, and I can now feel the trigger cocking, as well as any trigger mistakes I make.