"New" Flatgate finally made it home

[rugerguy]

no, that is not a 'spacer' but the molded material itself,,the opposite panel has been overtightened at one time and the "hardened rubber" itself crumbled, broke loose from around the hole and the escutcheon on the outside ,pushed ( pulled?) inward,, yes can easily be repaired with a bit if J_B weld set up around the hole area, very carefully, neatness counts..........
gotta remember those old grips are brittle ,due to them being "hardened" it is NOT soft rubber ,like the old gutta percha like material Colt and others used many years ago. On the Ruger auto 22 s of the beginning years they used a 'butaprene' rubber material, and were softer, and yes prone to shrinkage as well as warping....

 

[Star43]

Thanks Rugerguy , that makes good sense and good info. When I originally looked at the picture it almost looked like a small spacer protruding up from that one side.....I just bought 6 more of the nylon spacers this week and on.my way home I stopped by to see a client just this past Friday who has an auto body shop. While talking to him in his office I saw there was a picture of a Colt American auto pistol on his wall....and I said, Hey Oscar, you obviously have a nice grinder here, right ? He was getting ready to close but said, "of course I do".....I ran out to the car and brought the liitle Ace bag I still had in the car and he grinded them for me. I kept one as a sample to measure against. 3 came out pretty good. One or two maybe ground down too much but close. ..... I came home and put one of them in one of my Single Sizes, and it fit great !!!!

 

[rugerguy]

good idea and if you do grind them down a bit too much, if close enough ,just spread a little Loctite or some such gel on the end (flat), let it dry and this will built up and make the spacer longer, then check and refit to length, ,may have to do this a couple of times but it works and it ain't going nowhere...just make sure you do this and let it dry, harden,,,,DO NOT want to glue it all together for eternity !!! just hate to "waste" any thing you just got done buying and paying for........something about the" Mother of Invention"

 

[contender]

rugerguy has given you excellent info.

Those older hard rubber grips can easily be broken on the inside like the one in the picture above. Spacers are still required for those grip panels too.
Another tip on the grinding a spacer too short.
I keep shorter ones separate from the correct ones to be used when I need one even shorter. Example; Some of the Wrangler grips have more plastic material than the flat backed wood grips. They require a shorter spacer. More grinding after a careful measurement of all the parts.

 

[Star43]

Yes, he sure did.....On the other hand, how about if I use a small metal washer at the end of the spacer against the panel ? That will take up the small extra space ? I was thinking of doing that if the spacer was too short as I have washers ?

 

[contender]

Yes,, you can add a washer. I don't see any issue doing that.