TargetTalk

Now that I have my "new" TOZ, and I'm starting to mark the grips for carving, I have a question. The grips have enough wood, and are drilled, for a left hand grip that completely encloses the thumb. I don't really see the need for this, it would be a lot easier to carve the grips with a shelf, and I don't think any of the aftermarket grips are made this way. Am I missing something? Is there a good reason to enclose the thumb?

Quite a few don't have that tunnel thing, including mine. Morini grips don't. I just did an image search on Google and found several examples. In addition, your thumb won't be touching the top of that thing unless you choose to raise the thumb a bit. I can imagine people choosing that for a reference point or to provide a counterforce of some sort, but I doubt many do.

The closed thumb hole is a "classic" russian target grip design.
It helps a little in cold weather or wind. Although the rest of the fingers are still exposed to the elements.

Hope this helps

All good advice, thanks.

If you imagine the top of the left half of the grip if only supported by the web of the grip wouldn't be particularly strong - you're looking at a massive bit of timber being held on through the web of your hand by way of a couple of mms of timber.

The big hoop over the top has two functions:

a) Looks badass
b) Holds the top of the grip on

Where did you get the toz from? Does it have the spare parts and box with it?i saw one @busgun shop but no details included in the ad. Thank you

glr1 wrote:Where did you get the toz from? Does it have the spare parts and box with it?i saw one @busgun shop but no details included in the ad. Thank you

I saw them listed at Bud's and at Cheaper than Dirt. Some web searching revealed that a LOT of people were complaining about the customer service from those two retailers, so I decided to see if my local FFL could order one. Cheaper's web site said they got theirs from Century Imports, so I passed that info on to my FFL, and that's where he got it. It came in the case, with all the tools and spare parts. An "Excellent" one cost me $585 out the door, including local tax.

I started carving the grip today, using rasps, chisels, mallet, and a bandsaw. There's about twice as much wood as grip there. I'm reminded of the joke with the punchline, "..there must be a pony in there somewhere!"

Can you please provide an inventory, or a picture of all the parts that came with it? Out of interest more than anything else.

Four front and three rear sight blades of different widths, firing pin, two firing pin springs, a sear spring, and another leaf spring I haven't yet identified.

I thought I'd post a photo of my work in progress. I've been working slowly with Microplanes and raps and a by of judicious band sawing. I've made more than a few mistakes, but I've learned a lot, too. If I can find anther uncarved grip, I'm going to see if I can't do a better fit.