Uberti 1873 SAA Grip Refinished

Before refinishing the grips

Uberti 1873 SAA with refinished grips.

One thing about the Uberti 1873 Millenium I just bought is that the finish on the grip was terrible. It looked like a cheap varnish dip job. It was rough, and it even had bubbles in the finish. The edges of the wood didn't quite match to the grip frame either, giving it kind of a sharp edge.

Fortunately that's easy to fix. I removed the grip frame and removed the wood from it. About twenty minutes with some paint stripper and most of the bad varnish was removed. (Be sure to wear gloves or you may end up removing some skin, too!)

After stripping the varnish, I gave it a good hand sanding with 320 grit sandpaper. I sanded the sharp edges a bit, while I was at it. Once it was nice and smooth I applied some Minwax brand wood stain. The color is called "Jacobean". I wiped it on and let it sit for a bit, then wiped it off. Not quite dark enough, so I gave it another coat and let it sit for about ten minutes. You want it to be a little bit darker when you are applying the stain, as it will lighten a bit as it ages. Wiping of the second coat, it looked a million times better than before. I wiped it down with a little Hoppe's to get it cleaned a bit, then oiled the wood heavily with gun oil. I wanted to let the wood soak up as much oil as it could.

After letting it sit for a while, I wiped it off and polished it with a paper towel, then reassembled the gun.

As I said, it looks and feels a million times better.......