Oh my God! This looked like a good idea, easy to attain. Wrong-o! That sleeve is made of some tough rubber! I found using a hair dryer before and especially DURING installation to be beneficial. But that is some tough sledding! Took me a while to do the first one and then I was able to do the 2nd a bit easier and quicker. My youngest grand dude generally wears one of my fingerless gloves to shoot my .38 so I know (without askin') that he'll appreciate the little extra padding and palm-swell. Maybe he'll ditch the glove! Next time he gets some time off from school he and his older brother will accompany me for a "P64 a-thon" and I'll give the older boy the option of if he wants the Handall on his P-64 or not. I'll also give him the "priviledge" of putting it on himself! But I'll help him ....
- Robert
"Giving Money and Power to Government is Like Giving Whiskey and Car Keys to Teenage Boys" - PJ O'Rourke
Curly1 wrote:It has been posted that putting in boiling water first will loosen it up also.
I thought about that, but like another poster mentioned in a similar post, possibly getting water into the gun didn't excite me.
So I took a hair dryer on 'HIGH' and lit that sucker up until it was uncomfortable to touch (the grip-sleeve) and then positioned it and started tugging it this way and that. That worked well and I used an awl as a sort of "shoe-horn" to force it down (careful not to scratch anything) and it went on with a LOT of tugging, heating and more tugging and heating. I'm gonna give #1 grand dude the option of if he wants one on his pistol. I bought him one, too, and he can shoot mine with and his without to compare. If he likes it, he's got better finger strength at 20 than I do so I'll let him fight it and I'll help him and give moral support!
- Robert
"Giving Money and Power to Government is Like Giving Whiskey and Car Keys to Teenage Boys" - PJ O'Rourke
The instructions that came with mine even said to boil it. Which I did, thoroughly dried it (after removed it from the water with kitchen tongs), and worked it on. 10 minutes later it was done. I really don't see what all the fuss has been about this method. As long as the surfaces are dried properly, rubber is non-porous and water resistant. All that is happening by boiling it is heating it evenly so that it will stretch a little more.
Cobalt-60 wrote:The instructions that came with mine even said to boil it. Which I did, thoroughly dried it (after removed it from the water with kitchen tongs), and worked it on. 10 minutes later it was done. I really don't see what all the fuss has been about this method. As long as the surfaces are dried properly, rubber is non-porous and water resistant. All that is happening by boiling it is heating it evenly so that it will stretch a little more.
I agree with your reasoning and technique. I just couldn't make myself boil the grip-sleeve when using a hair drier gives good heat but dry heat, which I felt better about. Plus, I didn't have to wait to dry it off and went to work immediately and could keep applying heat to the sleeve during the process which kept it warm during the entire process which I feel helped. I use one of those little travel hair driers which I could lay on the table and it didn't take up much room or get in the way. But it DOES get hot! I guess whatever works!!!
- Robert
"Giving Money and Power to Government is Like Giving Whiskey and Car Keys to Teenage Boys" - PJ O'Rourke
I have one of these on my Kel-Tec PF9 and what I did was use a film of hand soap and water on the inside of the sleeve. Once it was on, I left it to dry over night. Next day the grip didn't move and hasn't moved in over seven years.
Next time he gets some time off from school he and his older brother will accompany me for a "P64 a-thon" and I'll give the older boy the option of if he wants the Handall on his P-64 or not. I'll also give him the "priviledge" of putting it on himself! But I'll help him .... 
