Newbie questions - please help
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- shooter.177
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 11:43 pm
Newbie questions - please help
Hi,
This is my first post here,
I am a target shooter from India.
Now I have a score of 350 to 360 /400 with an unmodified Biakal 46m.
I started 6 months ago and few seniors said , my score is good enough to move forward and buy a precharged pistol.
I have few questions in mind.
I am far below the potential of this pistol, but how much would be a realistic achivable score with Baikal 46M. I have not undergone any proper training till now, but i shot 2 competetions and scored 343 and 358 out of 400.
Also If I shoot with Biakal for long time will there be any problem when I move to a precharged pistol which is light in weight.
Also how difficult it would be to add 20 more points to my score. Because I reached till here ( 90% ) fairly easy and progress slowed down. Is this same for all shooters.
This is my first post here,
I am a target shooter from India.
Now I have a score of 350 to 360 /400 with an unmodified Biakal 46m.
I started 6 months ago and few seniors said , my score is good enough to move forward and buy a precharged pistol.
I have few questions in mind.
I am far below the potential of this pistol, but how much would be a realistic achivable score with Baikal 46M. I have not undergone any proper training till now, but i shot 2 competetions and scored 343 and 358 out of 400.
Also If I shoot with Biakal for long time will there be any problem when I move to a precharged pistol which is light in weight.
Also how difficult it would be to add 20 more points to my score. Because I reached till here ( 90% ) fairly easy and progress slowed down. Is this same for all shooters.
This is what you can do with IZH 46M. I scored 576 with this thing at local USAS PTO in Michigan.
To make the similar performance you need the right knowledge, patience, determination, mentoring and custom grip for IZH 46M.
"Also how difficult it would be to add 20 more points to my score"
Do not expect that top of the line PCP Air pistol will bring you desired 20 points up to your existed performance. The right way to do so, is to get assistance from knowledgeable source: (Olympic pistol consultant, coach or mentor). From my experience it takes from 2,5 to 3 month to make this progress possible for healthy, motivated and mature individual at age from 20-62.
Best wishes.
Russ
Troy, MI
To make the similar performance you need the right knowledge, patience, determination, mentoring and custom grip for IZH 46M.
"Also how difficult it would be to add 20 more points to my score"
Do not expect that top of the line PCP Air pistol will bring you desired 20 points up to your existed performance. The right way to do so, is to get assistance from knowledgeable source: (Olympic pistol consultant, coach or mentor). From my experience it takes from 2,5 to 3 month to make this progress possible for healthy, motivated and mature individual at age from 20-62.
Best wishes.
Russ
Troy, MI
- Attachments
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- I scored 576 with this thing at local USAS PTO in Michigan.
- Ruslan Dyatlov AP Targets izh.jpg (26.5 KiB) Viewed 7541 times
As Russ points out, increasing your score depends on quality training. If you can find a good coach and put in the time training then you can put the extra points on. I won't guess at time because everyone is different.
And whilst a pcp won't buy you points it makes it easier, and enables you to train more and easier.
Rob.
And whilst a pcp won't buy you points it makes it easier, and enables you to train more and easier.
Rob.
I changed long time ago from Izzy to Steyr, when after a year or so on i'm scoring from 360 to 378. The day before selling izzy i scored as training 569 and 568.
Bad news: Steyr doesn't automatically improve my score, at least by an year i was more or less on the same level, scoring up and down.
Training the same way as i did with Izzy make the difference also with the new pistol. It's me, not the pistol.
Bad news: Steyr doesn't automatically improve my score, at least by an year i was more or less on the same level, scoring up and down.
Training the same way as i did with Izzy make the difference also with the new pistol. It's me, not the pistol.
- RandomShotz
- Posts: 553
- Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 5:24 pm
- Location: Lexington, KY
Same boat
I'm pretty much in the same boat as you shooter.177. I was shooting a borrowed Izzy in the spring. Once I decided I liked this sport I went looking to buy my own air gun. Ended up with a Pardini K10 for a couple of reasons. Biggest is that I was always afraid of fatigue with Izzy, not so much with the pumping, but with trying to maintain the grip through all 60 pumps. I also shoot a Pardini in our American style of indoor bullseye competition and figured similar grip and angle would be an asset.
I don't think my 10 shot groups are any tighter with the 4 times more expensive Pardini. But, I never shot the Baikal for 60 shots under time constraints.
Best of luck,
Jab
I don't think my 10 shot groups are any tighter with the 4 times more expensive Pardini. But, I never shot the Baikal for 60 shots under time constraints.
Best of luck,
Jab
- shooter.177
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 11:43 pm
- RandomShotz
- Posts: 553
- Joined: Sat Dec 04, 2010 5:24 pm
- Location: Lexington, KY
Don't sweat the weight. If you get a lighter gun, you will adjust quickly and be able to shoot a little longer without getting fatigued.
Weight distribution is more complicated. Some people say the Izzy (the Baikal IZH 46M is known as "Izzy" to its friends) is muzzle heavy; others like that sort of thing because they think muzzle light guns wobble more. But again, don't sweat it. The Izzy will take you well along until you have a better idea of what you want in your next gun.
I use an exercise I got from someone on this forum. Get a couple of 3 lb. dumbells and hold them straight out about where you would hold a gun. Using two helps you keep your balance. Move them around in horizontal and vertical figure 8's for a few reps and you will build up more stamina and control over time.
Roger
Weight distribution is more complicated. Some people say the Izzy (the Baikal IZH 46M is known as "Izzy" to its friends) is muzzle heavy; others like that sort of thing because they think muzzle light guns wobble more. But again, don't sweat it. The Izzy will take you well along until you have a better idea of what you want in your next gun.
I use an exercise I got from someone on this forum. Get a couple of 3 lb. dumbells and hold them straight out about where you would hold a gun. Using two helps you keep your balance. Move them around in horizontal and vertical figure 8's for a few reps and you will build up more stamina and control over time.
Roger
Our journey usually goes like this.
Bought IZH 47 because people all over the internet say it is excellent. Shot it for awhile. Had some success, started to learn the intricacies of shooting, but never "tame" this beast. Able to shoot consistent good scores, but never consistent great scores. So "bite the bullet" and buys the high end Steyr/ Morini.
Once we bought the beauty, the beast is usually put on the back storage. We play with the beauty. Learned more intricacies of shooting. Able to achieve excellent scores with it. Beauty is the apple of our eyes and hearts.
Once we consider ourselves good shooter, we usually have the diversion of "what about that old IZH47 beast?" If I can't shoot that old beast as well as my Steyr beauty, I am no good shooter as Russ on this forum have pointed out time after time. I got to tame the beast to call myself a shooter.
So started to tame the IZH 47 beast. Broke it down, rebuilt all seals, relube it to high standard. Reset trigger to that of Steyr. Rebuilt that busty grip into the svelt Morini grip. Key to shooting IZH 47 is that grip. If you can make it to suit you well, the beasty potential will come out. The Beast will come out. Once you tame this beast, there is pride in you as a true shooter. Now this IZH 47 is a beloved beautiful beast, deserving the seat right next to the Steyr beauty.
So my advice? You can go through the journey like everyone here. Or cut to the chase, learn good shooting basics and reshape the grip, reshape the grip to bring out the beauty out of this shooting beast.
But human being human, our wandering eyes and heads will always be looking at that next passer-by beauty.
Bought IZH 47 because people all over the internet say it is excellent. Shot it for awhile. Had some success, started to learn the intricacies of shooting, but never "tame" this beast. Able to shoot consistent good scores, but never consistent great scores. So "bite the bullet" and buys the high end Steyr/ Morini.
Once we bought the beauty, the beast is usually put on the back storage. We play with the beauty. Learned more intricacies of shooting. Able to achieve excellent scores with it. Beauty is the apple of our eyes and hearts.
Once we consider ourselves good shooter, we usually have the diversion of "what about that old IZH47 beast?" If I can't shoot that old beast as well as my Steyr beauty, I am no good shooter as Russ on this forum have pointed out time after time. I got to tame the beast to call myself a shooter.
So started to tame the IZH 47 beast. Broke it down, rebuilt all seals, relube it to high standard. Reset trigger to that of Steyr. Rebuilt that busty grip into the svelt Morini grip. Key to shooting IZH 47 is that grip. If you can make it to suit you well, the beasty potential will come out. The Beast will come out. Once you tame this beast, there is pride in you as a true shooter. Now this IZH 47 is a beloved beautiful beast, deserving the seat right next to the Steyr beauty.
So my advice? You can go through the journey like everyone here. Or cut to the chase, learn good shooting basics and reshape the grip, reshape the grip to bring out the beauty out of this shooting beast.
But human being human, our wandering eyes and heads will always be looking at that next passer-by beauty.
I've added a weight to my K10 and reduced the weight of my 46m so that they are within 10 grams of eachother and have similar balance. The K10 was a bit too wobbly for my taste, though my forearm strength is just fine (I'm a woodworker by trade, spend a lot of time carving), so adding about 65 grams below the cylinder - a steel post threaded into the trigger guard with an aluminum weight at the end of it - helped make it more stable. The 46m has nice stability as stock, but as others have said it can be quite tiring to shoot 100+ shots in a session with this pistol at about 1,300 grams compared to a stock K10 at just under 1,000 grams. I shaved some steel off the main cylinder and removed some unnecessary parts, trimmed others, made a custom grip, and it now weighs about 1,050 grams with the weighted K10 coming to 1,060 now.
They're both very easy to manage for longer practice sessions, no real sense of tiring evident, and my scores with each are about the same. The lever action of the 46m makes no difference in my experience. It's just an extra step in loading but takes very little effort once you're used to it. The Pardini is nice, I like it very well, but it's not necessary to have such a finely made pistol when a 46m can be modified (with some skill and care) to provide a very similar experience. If a given shooter lacks the skills to perform such modifications, then it would seem obvious that buying a more expensive, more ready-to-compete pistol would be the next obvious step. Not a lot of sense in paying someone else to make the needed modifications when the same sort of money could pay for a better used pistol.
They're both very easy to manage for longer practice sessions, no real sense of tiring evident, and my scores with each are about the same. The lever action of the 46m makes no difference in my experience. It's just an extra step in loading but takes very little effort once you're used to it. The Pardini is nice, I like it very well, but it's not necessary to have such a finely made pistol when a 46m can be modified (with some skill and care) to provide a very similar experience. If a given shooter lacks the skills to perform such modifications, then it would seem obvious that buying a more expensive, more ready-to-compete pistol would be the next obvious step. Not a lot of sense in paying someone else to make the needed modifications when the same sort of money could pay for a better used pistol.
Could you show us how you got the 46M down to 1050 grams please? Maybe a couple of pics?Gerard wrote:I've added a weight to my K10 and reduced the weight of my 46m...
...I shaved some steel off the main cylinder and removed some unnecessary parts, trimmed others, made a custom grip, and it now weighs about 1,050 grams with the weighted K10 coming to 1,060 now.
Well I can try, but as it involved a lot of different operations spread over more than a year and as I wasn't thinking about documenting it, the only possibly useful picture is of the outcome. Here's a composite showing a stock 46m I found somewhere and mine for comparison:
I've tried to get the scale as close as possible to the same. Here's a list of changes as I recall them:
- Removed front clamp (aluminum with steel bolt) which holds barrel to cylinder - that's about 14 grams removed. The pistol became a bit 'livelier' with this change, and I've been back and forth a bit with restraining what seemed to be a slight barrel whip to where I now have about 1 gram of clear silicone sealant holding the barrel and cylinder together at the tip and it's not jumping at all.
- Cut a bit off the trigger guard and ground the new end round - probably about 2 or 3 grams there.
- Sawed off some of the lever (aluminum with steel bolt) end and replaced the big wooden bit with a smaller one... then eventually sawed off another bit and left off the wood as it's really unnecessary. Cocking the pistol is still very easy. Probably removed about 25 grams here total.
- More recently I ground off all the angular edges and further tapered the cocking lever (aluminum) until the amount of flex seemed still mechanically sound but significantly weaker/lighter. Didn't weight it before or after, but guessing another 10 grams here.
- Removed steel plate which allows for auto-raising the breech block - this function never worked consistently no matter how I adjusted the trigger, so I raise the block manually which is easy enough. Saved 7 grams.
- Sawed off the extended portion (steel) of the sprung breech block retainer which slides under the barrel to keep this retainer aligned, replaced functionality by silver-brazing a short section of a finishing nail to the inside of this steel part and milling out a matching groove in the aluminum block which retains the barrel. This keeps the sliding part pressed down against the pistol (not strictly necessary as it stays down when loaded, but I prefer it tidy). Saved 5 grams.
- Sawed the front sight block (steel) in half, leaving just enough to hold the sight plate solidly - about 10 grams removed here. Played around with a couple of things at that end of the barrel and I'm happier with the sight block a bit back and an aluminum spacer in front of it; about 2 grams added, so 8 grams removed net.
- Sawed off a portion under the cylinder base (aluminum) retaining pin which had no mechanical function, and further filed and polished this whole round section removing a fair bit of aluminum - saving about 10 grams.
- Most significantly, removed the cylinder (steel) from the aluminum block (punched out pin, unscrewed the long threaded section being careful to preserve the integrity of the rear seal which is somewhat fragile looking, then mounted this in my TAIG lathe on a wooden dowel and proceeded to strategically turn down the wall thicknesses in a couple of biased directions, offsetting it from centre. Since the upper portion of the cylinder is sort of the 'backbone' I left this almost at full thickness, just shaving a hair and polishing it. From the sides I removed more, tapering down to where the bottom cylinder wall is at about 60% of original thickness. I further tapered towards the tip using the general principle applying to any lever arm, that more strength is needed at the base, less towards the other end. Didn't think to record the original weight of the cylinder nor the finished weight, and I doubt I'll have reason to pull the cylinder again... so all I can do is guess from the other weights removed subtracted from the factory weight of 2.86 pounds, or 1,300 grams. As I never weighed mine precisely on purchasing it (have a triple-beam balance but it only goes to 610 grams, and my wife bought a nice kitchen scale well after I started modifications) I'll have to take several Baikal distributor's words for that weight.
- After getting the cylinder polished the two pivot pins which retain the cocking linkage were obviously too long. So I first filed flats into the cylinder walls for the clips, then turned new spring clip slots into one end of each at a snug length and cut off the excess. No more than a couple of grams lost here, more about keeping the front end tidy visually and preventing protruding pins/clips from snagging on things like clothing or my shooting bench mat.
Further complicating things, one of the first things I did was to start adding putty to the factory grip and carving that until getting a nice fit, then carving a new grip using a slightly lower density curly maple block leftover from a doublebass neck graft block. Hard to guess whether I saved any weight there as it's a very differently configured grip with a brass and stainless steel bolt mechanism inside for adjusting the cant angle of the grip. Also modified the grip tang (aluminum) for this change, incorporating a swivelling nut to allow for the angular adjustability.
So from the above figures it seems I probably removed about 80 grams before the cylinder reduction. So from reported factory weight of 1,300 down to 1,220 grams. Subtracting 1,050 grams from that 1,220 leaves 170 grams. And that seems unlikely. Seriously unlikely. I just didn't remove 170 grams from the cylinder. More likely, if I recall the mess of shavings and dust left all over the lathe, something closer to 50 or 60 grams. Maybe 70, maybe. So this seems to leave about 100 grams un-accounted for. I've probably left off a couple of other minor things changed but nothing significant. And I don't know the relationship between stock grip and bolts compared to my own grip...
All I can guess is that the 2.86 pounds so often quoted is not accurate, that they're over-stating the weight somewhere online and everyone else is copying the same mistaken figure. If not, then magic would seem to be involved, as the same kitchen scale which seems to prove very accurate when I test it against various objects weighed on my triple-beam balance is telling me that the Pardini's weight without my add-on 65 gram weight is within a couple of grams of the Pardini factory spec weight, closer than I'd expect considering it's wearing a modified Rink grip (changed the cant angle to a bit steeper, like the Baikal's, and of course did a bit of re-carving to make it fit me).
Does anyone here have a stock Baikal 46m and an accurate scale? If it turns out to be closer to 1,200 grams that'd explain a lot. Checking mine again, my scale is saying 1049.5 grams, 250 grams lighter than what gets reported as stock weight. I know mine felt far too front-heavy as stock, was making me tired during longer practice sessions that's why I started changing it. It certainly doesn't feel out of balance now, feels just right, and I wouldn't want it any lighter as the front sight stability is excellent.
Sorry for taking this thread a bit off-track. It just seemed somewhat relevant to speak of modifying the 46m, as many shooters are also comfortable doing a bit of such work on their pistols.
I've tried to get the scale as close as possible to the same. Here's a list of changes as I recall them:
- Removed front clamp (aluminum with steel bolt) which holds barrel to cylinder - that's about 14 grams removed. The pistol became a bit 'livelier' with this change, and I've been back and forth a bit with restraining what seemed to be a slight barrel whip to where I now have about 1 gram of clear silicone sealant holding the barrel and cylinder together at the tip and it's not jumping at all.
- Cut a bit off the trigger guard and ground the new end round - probably about 2 or 3 grams there.
- Sawed off some of the lever (aluminum with steel bolt) end and replaced the big wooden bit with a smaller one... then eventually sawed off another bit and left off the wood as it's really unnecessary. Cocking the pistol is still very easy. Probably removed about 25 grams here total.
- More recently I ground off all the angular edges and further tapered the cocking lever (aluminum) until the amount of flex seemed still mechanically sound but significantly weaker/lighter. Didn't weight it before or after, but guessing another 10 grams here.
- Removed steel plate which allows for auto-raising the breech block - this function never worked consistently no matter how I adjusted the trigger, so I raise the block manually which is easy enough. Saved 7 grams.
- Sawed off the extended portion (steel) of the sprung breech block retainer which slides under the barrel to keep this retainer aligned, replaced functionality by silver-brazing a short section of a finishing nail to the inside of this steel part and milling out a matching groove in the aluminum block which retains the barrel. This keeps the sliding part pressed down against the pistol (not strictly necessary as it stays down when loaded, but I prefer it tidy). Saved 5 grams.
- Sawed the front sight block (steel) in half, leaving just enough to hold the sight plate solidly - about 10 grams removed here. Played around with a couple of things at that end of the barrel and I'm happier with the sight block a bit back and an aluminum spacer in front of it; about 2 grams added, so 8 grams removed net.
- Sawed off a portion under the cylinder base (aluminum) retaining pin which had no mechanical function, and further filed and polished this whole round section removing a fair bit of aluminum - saving about 10 grams.
- Most significantly, removed the cylinder (steel) from the aluminum block (punched out pin, unscrewed the long threaded section being careful to preserve the integrity of the rear seal which is somewhat fragile looking, then mounted this in my TAIG lathe on a wooden dowel and proceeded to strategically turn down the wall thicknesses in a couple of biased directions, offsetting it from centre. Since the upper portion of the cylinder is sort of the 'backbone' I left this almost at full thickness, just shaving a hair and polishing it. From the sides I removed more, tapering down to where the bottom cylinder wall is at about 60% of original thickness. I further tapered towards the tip using the general principle applying to any lever arm, that more strength is needed at the base, less towards the other end. Didn't think to record the original weight of the cylinder nor the finished weight, and I doubt I'll have reason to pull the cylinder again... so all I can do is guess from the other weights removed subtracted from the factory weight of 2.86 pounds, or 1,300 grams. As I never weighed mine precisely on purchasing it (have a triple-beam balance but it only goes to 610 grams, and my wife bought a nice kitchen scale well after I started modifications) I'll have to take several Baikal distributor's words for that weight.
- After getting the cylinder polished the two pivot pins which retain the cocking linkage were obviously too long. So I first filed flats into the cylinder walls for the clips, then turned new spring clip slots into one end of each at a snug length and cut off the excess. No more than a couple of grams lost here, more about keeping the front end tidy visually and preventing protruding pins/clips from snagging on things like clothing or my shooting bench mat.
Further complicating things, one of the first things I did was to start adding putty to the factory grip and carving that until getting a nice fit, then carving a new grip using a slightly lower density curly maple block leftover from a doublebass neck graft block. Hard to guess whether I saved any weight there as it's a very differently configured grip with a brass and stainless steel bolt mechanism inside for adjusting the cant angle of the grip. Also modified the grip tang (aluminum) for this change, incorporating a swivelling nut to allow for the angular adjustability.
So from the above figures it seems I probably removed about 80 grams before the cylinder reduction. So from reported factory weight of 1,300 down to 1,220 grams. Subtracting 1,050 grams from that 1,220 leaves 170 grams. And that seems unlikely. Seriously unlikely. I just didn't remove 170 grams from the cylinder. More likely, if I recall the mess of shavings and dust left all over the lathe, something closer to 50 or 60 grams. Maybe 70, maybe. So this seems to leave about 100 grams un-accounted for. I've probably left off a couple of other minor things changed but nothing significant. And I don't know the relationship between stock grip and bolts compared to my own grip...
All I can guess is that the 2.86 pounds so often quoted is not accurate, that they're over-stating the weight somewhere online and everyone else is copying the same mistaken figure. If not, then magic would seem to be involved, as the same kitchen scale which seems to prove very accurate when I test it against various objects weighed on my triple-beam balance is telling me that the Pardini's weight without my add-on 65 gram weight is within a couple of grams of the Pardini factory spec weight, closer than I'd expect considering it's wearing a modified Rink grip (changed the cant angle to a bit steeper, like the Baikal's, and of course did a bit of re-carving to make it fit me).
Does anyone here have a stock Baikal 46m and an accurate scale? If it turns out to be closer to 1,200 grams that'd explain a lot. Checking mine again, my scale is saying 1049.5 grams, 250 grams lighter than what gets reported as stock weight. I know mine felt far too front-heavy as stock, was making me tired during longer practice sessions that's why I started changing it. It certainly doesn't feel out of balance now, feels just right, and I wouldn't want it any lighter as the front sight stability is excellent.
Sorry for taking this thread a bit off-track. It just seemed somewhat relevant to speak of modifying the 46m, as many shooters are also comfortable doing a bit of such work on their pistols.
- deadeyedick
- Posts: 1198
- Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 5:55 pm
- Location: Australia
I got a brand new, unmodified 46M. The weight is 1.165 grams out of the box. (3 different, very accurate scales gave the same result). I've read about two other owners getting the same result whitin 10grams.Gerard wrote:
Does anyone here have a stock Baikal 46m and an accurate scale? If it turns out to be closer to 1,200 grams that'd explain a lot.
The weight, (1.300 Kg, 2.86lbs) is discribed as a MAX weight and not the actuall weight. Look at their website or in the "manual" that comes with a new gun... I dont think it´s a good way to describe weight but that´s how they do it.
Nice work BTW!!
Well there, that explains the weight. Seems likely that I only scrubbed about 30 or 40 grams off the cylinder. If it weren't for the other variables, the grip unknown change especially, then a 35 gram reduction would make it exactly 1050 grams. But the grip couldn't weigh exactly what the stock one did, so it's probably off a little one way or the other. In any case, the weight off the cylinder isn't the majority savings, and as it's obviously the most challenging modification (along with re-grooving the linkage pins, that was tricky to get just right) folks could do the remainder of the mods without huge risks and still come out about 55 grams lighter. More if you shave a bunch of excess wood out of the palm shelf and other grip areas which aren't used.
I saw a photo in these forums once where someone had milled slots into the cylinder walls to reduce weight, but can't seem to find that picture or discussion any more. The guy who had that work done by a machinist friend was also talking about making a titanium tube to replace the cylinder... which struck most as being a little excessive in terms of upgrading a 46m.
I saw a photo in these forums once where someone had milled slots into the cylinder walls to reduce weight, but can't seem to find that picture or discussion any more. The guy who had that work done by a machinist friend was also talking about making a titanium tube to replace the cylinder... which struck most as being a little excessive in terms of upgrading a 46m.
- shooter.177
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2012 11:43 pm
Thats nice pictures, thanks for showing.
I really want to modify the grip, but i am poor in doing such job, also searching ways to do stippling. I would like to see some pictures of modifed grips, Please share if you have some. Does sand paper only will do the job or need chisle.? Also is there any simple way to do stippling.
rgds,
I really want to modify the grip, but i am poor in doing such job, also searching ways to do stippling. I would like to see some pictures of modifed grips, Please share if you have some. Does sand paper only will do the job or need chisle.? Also is there any simple way to do stippling.
rgds,
I've no idea how Rink stipples grips, but I'd like to know. For my Baikal's grip I've just stabbed it a whole lot of times with a small ice pick-like took, a shoemaker's awl I think it is. A very finely tapering point coming from a round wooden handle. A few thousand stabs,with the odd dab of CA adhesive soaked in here and there when my stabbing patterns got too crumbly. Cyanacrylate, usually called 'crazy glue' (that's a brand name, I actually used Hot Stuff which I have on hand for repairs to old oily ebony parts of instruments and bows which have cracked and chipped) soaks into the wood and plasticizes it to some extent, toughening it enough so that the little ridges stay more or less sharp. But a more precise, consistent way of stippling like on the Rink would be nice.
And no, sandpaper won't do it. Perhaps a swirling pattern with 40 grit might help a bit, but it might just mess up your grip. If you want to customize the way your grip fits there's really not a lot of choice available; the shooter is really the best person to do the fitting, provided you study various online resources which help avoid the pitfalls and point you in the right directions. A quick look at Google shows there are many, many guides to various types of pistol grip fitting, mostly available as PDFs you can download for study.
And no, sandpaper won't do it. Perhaps a swirling pattern with 40 grit might help a bit, but it might just mess up your grip. If you want to customize the way your grip fits there's really not a lot of choice available; the shooter is really the best person to do the fitting, provided you study various online resources which help avoid the pitfalls and point you in the right directions. A quick look at Google shows there are many, many guides to various types of pistol grip fitting, mostly available as PDFs you can download for study.