EngineerEli Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 (edited) Hey, So I had bought a Stock III a few months ago, and recently was able to get my hands on a Stock II. I have since sold the stock III because I could only afford one gun at the moment. I am having some minor regrets though. If you look at the pictures I have posted, The checkering on the Stock III (and the old Stock II I had years ago) are really sharp and bite into your hands great. It was one of my favorite features of Tanfoglio guns. Well the checkering on my Stock II is REALLY SHALLOW It nearly feels like the checkering on a Tactical sport, that is often laughed about. I guess my question is this. Would it be worth going back to EAA and seeing if there is anything they could do about improving the checkering to what 99% of their other guns have? Or, would I be allowed to sharpen it myself, or have a local gunsmith do it, and still have the gun be production legal? Blued Stock III (sharp checkering) vs Chromed Stock II (shallow non-grippy checkering): Edited June 19, 2015 by EngineerEli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praetorian97 Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 (edited) Buy a 60 degree file and work on it. Here are some pics of WJM doing that. Blame him for the crappy pics. Edited June 19, 2015 by praetorian97 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Grip tape. Won't you be taking the chrome plating off if you file it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpipe95 Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 I am of the same opinion. I feel that the cast in checkering is laughable at best. But most people think it's great. I don't get it.... If my lim pro were blued, I would just have it checkered with proper files and then cold blue it. Unfortunately it's hard Chrome and there's not really a fix unless you want to re-chrom the whole frame. Good luck on your search. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praetorian97 Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 I guess my thought process about the gun is different. For me its a tool I'm going to shoot the crap out of and then buy another. I don't care about surface wear marks from a holster and what not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nealio Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Yeah I would just sharpen it up with a file Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 I guess my thought process about the gun is different. For me its a tool I'm going to shoot the crap out of and then buy another. I don't care about surface wear marks from a holster and what not. Do you treat your car differently than you treat your gun? Both are tools, both cost alot of money for what you get. Would you take a Makita grinder to the dealership label on the trunk deck because you didn't like it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aceinyerface Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Grip tape. Won't you be taking the chrome plating off if you file it? I have taken a file to my Stock 2 mag well and I believe it is stainless steel but have no other evidence. Looks like another fellow filed on his and didn't hit raw steel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bayougump Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 My new Stock II vs my old one is night and day. My new one the checkering sucks. I figured it was just me but its the most shallow of all the checkering of any tanfos I own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EngineerEli Posted June 19, 2015 Author Share Posted June 19, 2015 That's the thing it seems like when this more recent batch of Stock II's were being manufactured the checkering machine was either out of adjustment, or the tool was just warn way too far down and no one noticed, or did anything about it. That is why I am considering 'dealing' with EAA. I'm almost positive the frames are steel that is chromed. Both materials are about the same color so you may not notice when breaking an edge or something. The sharp mag wells are a common thing to deal with. I've just never heard, till now, about the shallow checkering. The reality is if you keep the gun dry and with a little oil on it. It really shouldn't rust. Its high quality steel. If I do sharpen the checkering, I may just mask off the area and hit it with a tiny bit of matte silver rustolium spray paint or something just to protect the base metal... Only problem with this is the triangle file I got with my needle file kit seems a bit crappy. I would think I will now have to invest on a quality triangle file intended for checkering... Anyone by chance know the lines per inch, or maybe lines per centimeter on these tanfo's if I were to get a multi row file? All said and done though is there any concern doing this would effect the production legality for USPSA? And yes, If I get a nice car with an ugly dealership emblem, I would certainly take it off. I would use the proper tools for the job though, a plastic scraper designed for the job, and it would look perfect after I finished the job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praetorian97 Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 I bought this bad boy to shoot the crap out of it. You can tell Im not too worried about the finish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nealio Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Did you dip the end of that in a spaghetti squash ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praetorian97 Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Spaghetti Squash Suppressor. Its the latest thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EngineerEli Posted June 19, 2015 Author Share Posted June 19, 2015 Ahh, you got one of those new slick orange dual tone holsters. Yea tanfo's always chop up kydex holsters until they're broken in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7sst Posted June 19, 2015 Share Posted June 19, 2015 Please let us know how the conversation with EAA goes... Last week one of their technical experts filled me in on how the Stock II has a very light and finely tuned target trigger right out of the box and a few other hilarious statements. I laughed out loud and they hung up on me. The checkering is hit or miss. I have two recent Stock II's within 10 numbers of each other, one that is aggressive and another that is just ok. Not that it's very realistic to find one (for a reasonable price), but you could try to buy another one and sell the old one if the new one has better checkering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnbu Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 I guess my thought process about the gun is different. For me its a tool I'm going to shoot the crap out of and then buy another. I don't care about surface wear marks from a holster and what not.Do you treat your car differently than you treat your gun? Both are tools, both cost alot of money for what you get. Would you take a Makita grinder to the dealership label on the trunk deck because you didn't like it? I took a heat gun and razor to all the stickers and emblems on a new 48,000 truck the day after it came home. I took a 12,000 rpm die grinder with carbide bits to areas of the piping from the turbo, changed the programming, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7sst Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 If you do choose to sharpen up the checkering it would still be production legal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praetorian97 Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 I guess my thought process about the gun is different. For me its a tool I'm going to shoot the crap out of and then buy another. I don't care about surface wear marks from a holster and what not.Do you treat your car differently than you treat your gun? Both are tools, both cost alot of money for what you get. Would you take a Makita grinder to the dealership label on the trunk deck because you didn't like it? Filing the checkering improves performance with the tool. The gun is a tool to slay cardboard and steel. Not to take the range and show your friends how pretty your Unicorn is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bayougump Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 (edited) I guess my thought process about the gun is different. For me its a tool I'm going to shoot the crap out of and then buy another. I don't care about surface wear marks from a holster and what not.Do you treat your car differently than you treat your gun? Both are tools, both cost alot of money for what you get. Would you take a Makita grinder to the dealership label on the trunk deck because you didn't like it?Filing the checkering improves performance with the tool. The gun is a tool to slay cardboard and steel. Not to take the range and show your friends how pretty your Unicorn is. I agree 100%. If your gun doesn't have dry fire wear on it or some dings from trying to draw fast as you can then your not training hard enough. Unless you bought one to resell or just wanted a $1500 dollar paperweight then use and abuse the hell out of it. I'm shooting my first Stock II until it literally dies then go to the backup and get another and rinse and repeat. Good thing is the hard chrome holds up very well.On topic, I would use a wire brush to clean out the build up of liquid grip on the checkering and I noticed that over time using it made the checkering better. Edited June 20, 2015 by bayougump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EngineerEli Posted June 20, 2015 Author Share Posted June 20, 2015 You're saying that cleaning the deposited liquid grip with a wire brush improved the checkering, or just brought it back to factory condition. I haven't even shot the gun in competition yet, checkering is clean and free of buildup it just sucks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
praetorian97 Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 I can see why people have dry fire guns. I plan on downgrading this to a DF gun in a few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 Not what I'm saying at all, Gentlemen. I'm saying you can use the gun without abusing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WJM Posted June 20, 2015 Share Posted June 20, 2015 60 degree file, and about 3 hours of work. My .40 stock 2 still has better checkering than my 9mm, but I didn't want to put in the extra time into my 9mm and for right now it's plenty. I wouldn't say "99%" of the Tanfoglios have aggressive texturing, in my experience it's right around half. But with the file from Brownells it fixed it no problem. I also use it to clean up my checkering before a match (I dry fire with it so much that it tears off my skin and it ends up making the texture useless unless I clean it) WJM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EngineerEli Posted June 22, 2015 Author Share Posted June 22, 2015 60 degree file, and about 3 hours of work. My .40 stock 2 still has better checkering than my 9mm, but I didn't want to put in the extra time into my 9mm and for right now it's plenty. I wouldn't say "99%" of the Tanfoglios have aggressive texturing, in my experience it's right around half. But with the file from Brownells it fixed it no problem. I also use it to clean up my checkering before a match (I dry fire with it so much that it tears off my skin and it ends up making the texture useless unless I clean it) WJM Mind posting a link to the exact file you used? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 22, 2015 Share Posted June 22, 2015 I've used this riffler from brownells for checkering/serration work, and it is a very good tool. Not sure if it is the one WJM is using or not. http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/stock-work-finishing/hand-checkering-tools/checkering-rifflers/no-131-checkering-riffler-prod6766.aspx If it is more than you want to spend try googling something like " riffler file smooth cut" , Amazon has some but am not sure about the quality. I'll say this, having nice files IMHO make what could be a chore into a pleasure. They cut better, cut straight, make a smoother finish, feel better in the hand which means one is less likely to make a mistake, etc. I have a tanfo limited elite and the checkering is pretty good. But, the dust cover has been cut back and profiled and I want to do a little smoothing under the trigger guard where it rubs against a knuckle and is annoying. After doing that it is going to APW for refinish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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