I got these Altamont thumb-rest grips a year or so ago. Didn't really like the way they felt since the edges of both panels at the first finger groove had quite a hard edge on them. Not really a problem on the left side, but on the right it pressed against the bone of the finger enough that it was uncomfortable, felt weird and bulky, and made me very conscious of my grip pressure.

You'd think the last factor might be a GOOD thing, since being more aware of grip force would lead to more consistent grip and so better accuracy, but I didn't like the way it felt. I was avoiding shooting this gun as a result.

Since they are quite pretty, IMAO, I was reluctant to reshape them, but recently I was reading more about Ballistol, my favorite CLP product, and both the manufacturer and online users insist that the stuff makes a nice finish for wood, so I decided to fuck shit up and see how it came out.

Last night I attacked the right panel with the 1/2" rat-tail file for a few minutes, dressed up the surface with some medium and fine sandpaper and rubbed on a little Ballistol with a patch. Doesn't look perfect, but good enough for my standards and better than I expected. I should probably try a little more work with 320 and/or 400 grit paper, but I doubt I'll bother.

Sorry there's no "before" photo. The closeup shows the hard edge I didn't alter at the very top of the finger groove, although farther down it was probably more of a roughly 110° angle rather than the ~90° corner seen there.

A couple of minutes of dry-firing suggests that this little modification has addressed my complaints, so expect to see these in use at a range near you, if you are near the Issaquah Sportsmens range (or West Coast Armory if the weather is truly atrocious).

Ah, the rat tail file. As luck would have it, I did the exact same thing on my take-down recurve's grip. My thumb knuckle did not exactly slide in there sweet-like, so I filed it till it did. Now, the reason the finish area on your grip doesn't exactly match is you have take off the rest of the finish and do it with Ballistol. Do it with 0000 steel wool. You don't have to do both grips if you don't want to.

CDFingers

At a glance, I don't think I'd notice the discontinuity. Unless it proves irritating to my finger like this, it's good enough for me!

If I was going to be picky about anything, I'd replace the scraped-up screws, but that's another thing I'm willing to overlook. Maybe I'll duck into Sportsmans Warehouse tomorrow, since I'll be driving near one and it's worth seeing if they have a brick of CCI standard velocity .22LR available. If they have any cold-blue, I could try that on the screws and see if I could get them back in without repeating the damage. It would help if they also had some hollow-ground screwdrivers. I thought the box of gun crap I inherited from my dad would have one of his old S&W screwdrivers that came with his revolvers, but I can never find one.