This is a strange
 

I sold a near mint 42 Black widow a few days back. When I owned it, the grips fit perfectly. I packed the pistol in a holster and wrapped the holster in bubble wrap and packing paper and boxed it. When it arrived, the left grip had apparently somehow warped or something as the new owner stated the left grip was extremely loose. He showed me a picture of his inserting an entire spark plug gauge between the grip and the frame. I sent to him a replacement grip that fit perfectly. My thought is the box was exposed to some kind of refrigerant leak or such in the belly of the plane and damaged the grip. Any thoughts?

Mike

That's a new one. I can't imagine any normal travel conditions that would in any way warp bakelite.

I hate to be a negative guy, but could the new owner have needed an extra grip for a pistol of his that had a warped one?

Bakelite does not warp.

I agree with Doug, that's enough to be suspicious to me, you wrapped everything in bubble wrap, how could a grip warp??! :nono:

I bought two sets of VoPo Bakelite grips from CDS in Germany--one for my 9mm 1917/20 IDPA shooter, and one for G.T. and his drum-testing Luger. G.T.'s black grips were pristine. Mine were mottled dark brown, and the right one had seriously warped and twisted. I wouldn't have thought them capable of being deformed in this way, but this one was. I will not admit how, right now, but I got it to lie acceptably flat on the frame. Did they leave the factory that way, or suffer a mishap? If damaged since new, what could have caused it?

I could see cold causing it to be brittle - heat to warp it?

any chemicals would cause it to melt - if at all IMHO


AND, it would depend on the buyer on what I might think - years ago in the army, I 'heard' something and assumed the worst - once I found out who it was - I knew that I had been wrong in assuming...

Well, I must take up for my buyer. He is truly a gentleman. He is the CEO of a hospital and since my wife has recently developed a very rare medical condition, he has been most helpful. I doubt seriously he had any negative motives in mind. Besides he sending it back to me, so I will see it in hand.

Mike

Perhaps the left grip was a repro of non - standard plastic, and it just picked that time to warp or shrink!

Who knows, maybe you can tell when you get it in hand. Keep us posted!

Boiling water does not appreciably soften it. Left in long enough, though, I have my suspicions that it might break down--more of a disintegration than a softening. From Wikipedia: "Phenolic resin products may swell slightly under conditions of extreme humidity or perpetual dampness.[27]"

Mike, please let us know, at least for common knowledge.

I checked around for some background on grips and the potential for damage like this.

The grips were made from a "Z3" phenolic resin based Bakelite which was mixed with wood flour (cellulose) as a filler.

Type Z 3 compounds were materials based on phenolic resins that were heated to 170 degrees Centigrade and pressed under very high pressure in closed molds.

The resin is a fixed setting thermoplastic that should not re-melt after this treatment.

The early grips used on Krieghoff Lugers are noticeably smoother and finer grained than the Mauser grips. Krieghoff probably used a very fine wood flour. The Mauser grips a coarser one.

Sturgess notes: "Mauser pattern, (grips) often show considerable surface roughness or traces of delamination and often swelling on the inner face from movement and water absorption by the laminated paper filler through cracks and surface micro-
porosity."

The most likely cause of the deformation is moisture absorption.

If these flew in the belly of an airplane, and were exposed to surrounding air they were made very cold and dry quickly, then warmed up in what is potentially a moist enviornment. That could lead to uneven absorption of humidity and the warping.