Page 3

With the frame out of the grip you can begin the actual overtravel screw installation. You can do this job with the mag catch and spring in place.

The screws are .192” in diameter on average - cut that figure in half and you get .096”. Add a little to that to get it away from the distinct edge on the inside of the grip between the “U” of the mag catch spring and you get .110”. You need to use the prick punch to make a small indention as in the large photo to the right to mark a center to drill. Center indention side to side as well as .110” down from the distinct edge. Barely mark the surface at first. Measure one more time to be sure, (kind of like woodworking, measure twice, cut once!) and then enlarge the indention with the prick punch just enough to make sure the bit won’t “walk” when you drill. If you have a center punch and want to enlarge the prick punch hole using it, do so. I have included a shot of the screw installed to help you reference.

The original instructions I found on the web called for a extended #21 drill bit. Those instructions have now been modified, but if you downloaded an older copy, be aware. In my Starrett guide, the correct drill size for a 10-24 screw is listed as a #26. A # 26 is .1470”, but a #21 is .1590” meaning you would have much less material for your screw to bite. Use the #26 to get as tight a fit as possible.

Put the grip in a vise, but remember, this is a plastic piece. Pad the grip (I used black felt strips) to avoid marring and use just enough vise pressure to make sure the grip won’t shift on you as you drill or tap. Put the sharp point of the extended bit in the indention you made and rest the shaft on the rear of the grip as shown. This gives you the perfect angle to drill. GO AT A SLOW RPM and be cafeful to not get carried away and mar the inside of the trigger guard when you come through the other side. Try hard not to wobble back and forth as you drill, as the more wobble as you drill and tap, the looser your screw will be. Once you break through the other side, stop, reverse the drill, and back out slowly and straight.

Even though you are only tapping plastic, a drop of light oil in the drilled hole before you start doesn’t hurt. Lock the extended 10-24 tap in the tap wrench, position it with the shaft laying centered across the rear of the empty grip like you did the drill bit. Turn the tap in slowly, using just enough forward pressure to make it bite the plastic and move inward. Tap in about 1/2 the length of the tap threads. As with the drilling, the threads will be cleanest and tightest if you are careful and keep wobble down to a minimun. Once you have tapped deep enough, reverse directions, turning the tap out. Use the same amount of light reverse pressure as the forward pressure you used going in. Clean up the new threads with a cotton swab so they are free of cut plastic and oil.

Test fit the set screw using the long hex wrench. Turn it in until about three complete threads come through the tapped hole on the triggerguard side. DO NOT LOCTITE YET, you need to polish the trigger drawbar before you adjust and Loctite the set screw. This completes the basic overtravel screw installation.

If you did mess up somewhere along the line, there is some comfort in the fact that the plastic grips for a P-11 are only about thirty dollars. That sounds like a lot, but when compared to a Browning High-Power or 1911 frame at a couple of hundred dollars it’s small potatoes.

End of the first half of these instructions, take five and go on to the next page.

GO ON TO THE NEXT PAGE >>