TargetTalk

In response to pistol champ:

"Close" is a 4-hour round trip on congested I-75, which I gladly endured to buy the pistol, but don't think I will do otherwise. There is not actually a "Pardini" store; you can order guns through the website and handle the FFL transfer with your local gun store or visit Shooting Sports in Tampa, which handles their local sales. The staff is great and all are Pardini shooters.

I tend to agree with the comment that the groove for scope ring feet is too narrow (or maybe not deep enough considering the cross section of Weaver or picatinny rails); any rate, it is evident that rings are not getting sufficient purchase on the pistol frame.

I like the suggestion of sharpening & scoring the scope ring feet, but am concerned that such a modification might mar the finish. I think a rounded saw tooth pattern would grip very well. Perhaps the simplest solution is for Pardini to supply three rings with the 32 ACP conversion kit. Dipnet

Dipnet,
Sorry, close is relative I live 1000 miles away so a 4 hour drive to me is close. I was not referring to Shooting Sports as "Pardini" Shooting Sports is just a gun shop that the Pardini guys hang out and have some guns for display. They have a nice shop with all the parts and inventory as well as a repair area to work on guns in the Tampa area. This is why you need to make an appointment as this place is not generally opened to the public.

Larry's Guns has a scope mount for the Pardini SP pistols that works quite well. You Have to drill 1 hole in in the top of the gun but I sent the top end off to Larry's to have it done and it came back very quickly. Very solid mount, and you can use ANY weaver rings then. No move, no shake. You could also look into BMI mounts.

I have had the same problem when shooting the 32acp on the SP frame. The first thing that I tried was to mount a Aimpoint H-1. It required milling the bottom of the base down so the points of the base would fit into the grooves. This worked well for about three matches and a few practice sessions. Then one of the points sheared off during a match. The aluminum in the Aimpoint base appeared to be very hard. Then I took a set of Low Weigand Magnum rings that I had for 1" scope and filed down the bottoms of those to fit the grooves in the frame. They have been going strong so far no slipping. The aluminum in the Weigand rings filed easily and is apparently fairly soft. The softer aluminum may be why these rings have held on better we will see as time goes on.

Pistol Champ,
I'm a service brat (an older one) that grew up out west and remember the relative differences between close and far.

I was interested to hear there was a Pardini shop. When I wanted to buy the pistol in late April after the Dixie Match, I tried contacting Pardini and got no response (perhaps they were out of town?). I Googled their address: 7811 N Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33614; the address for Shooting Sports. I called their number and asked if they sold Pardini pistols and they asked which one I wanted. They had what wanted, so, I thought I was doing business with a gun shop that acted as the retail store for Pardini.

It's not like I've been snookered, but I feel semi-snookered. I never had a reason to look up Pardini under another addresses, but using Bing, I found this one: Pardini, LLC, 8602 Temple Terrace Hwy, Tampa, FL 33637, which is a storage facility (no businesses as far as I can tell via satellite images). I guess I need to ask Emil where their store is. Dipnet

You would be amazed what is in that storage facility.

Reply to ghillieman:

I spoke to Alex Chichkov at Pardini USA about the problem and he is sending a third ring to install on the front end of scope and recommends making sure the edges of the ring feet are sharp.

There is a rail for scopes with picatinny base available from Pardini; see:http://www.pardini.it/weapon/sp_usa.asp

This may be what you saw on Doug Koenig's SP. It is fairly robust. Dipnet

Never held one of these guns, don't own one, maybe will some day. So

many of us here in the States use red dot sights on our Bullseye pistols.

With that in mind, why don't the Pardini people simply drill and tap a few

#6-48 holes into the top of the pistol? Then supply a flat-bottomed,

Weaver-type base which could be bolted on, using blue Loc-tite on the

screw threads. With this arrangement, ANY Weaver-style ring set would

provide a solid set-up. Such a simple, yet strong and durable

design! I've never understood why Pardini choses to mill these thin, narrow

grooves on each side of the pistol for optical sight mounting. And to utilize

them, one must buy rings that are not exactly dimensionally correct for the

contour of the grooves. This makes it necessary to then machine or file

them by hand in the hope of getting a secure fit. For the asking price of

these guns, is it too much to ask that a pair of PROPERLY MADE rings be

included as a part of the package? Folks, if I was in charge at their factory,

things would be different!

mr alexander wrote:simply drill and tap a few

#6-48 holes into the top of the pistol? Then supply a flat-bottomed,

Weaver-type base which could be bolted on, using blue Loc-tite on the

screw threads.
Folks, if I was in charge at their factory,things would be different!

First you would have to re design the receiver.. The top is very, very thin. 6X48 would never hold in aluminum..To get benefit of every thread on the # 8 X 32 screw, the body actually extends thru the receiver top, and the bolt is clearanced to prevent contact.
The Pardini is really designed for the open sight international games.. Bullseye shooters benefit from the precision of these fine guns. Too solve the problem for the H-1 the mount in the photo is the way to go. This is mounted on the SP22 but will work on the 32 as well. This is an original prototype mount, and is approaching 5 years of trouble free service.


Jerry

Jerry Keefer,

Appreciate your reply to my dot sight proposal for the Pardini's. For those

of us who prefer UltraDots, do you have a mounting solution for them

similar to the one shown in your posting for the H-1 sight? If I do

get an SP one day, would prefer to not use rings that attach into those

cheesy grooves machined into the pistol. Thank you!

Jerry
How does your base attach to the frame?
Marty

The base bolts directly to the frame top strap with 4 ea. 8 X 32 Countersunk Torx Heads.
I have not installed an Ultra Dot since the Micro hit the scene. Although, I imagine something could be fabricated..The Ultra dot Micro may be a less expensive option. I know nothing about them.. Greg Derr has been installing a few..I can't imagine the Ultra dot micro having the same durability.. Remember the top strap of the Pardini is very thin. The micro is only 3.7 oz. so little stress is added by its weight. The top strap is so thin that I allow the attachment screws to extended thru the top strap approx. 1-1/2 to 2 threads to insure maximum grip for the threads/lock tite. The bolt top is clearanced to prevent contact. I doubt that many gunsmiths will be willing to attempt this on a costly Pardini, but it can be done, and this gun is going into it's 4th year of very heavy use without malfunction.. In fact I bought this gun from Don Nygord over 20 years ago, and shot it heavily. It has never malfunctioned and shoots red box into the .600/.700 area. The lady shooting this gun had an 881 last match.. Nice score..
I know the cost of the Micro is a draw back to many, and the cost of this type installation doesn't mitigate that either..The base is not hard to fabricate for a machinist, but may be somewhat tricky for a beginner.. The dimensions, clearances and angles must be exact.. The tube adapters are also fabricated and pressed on. The only gunsmiths I know doing anything similar are Fred Totts and David Sams.. I have done a large number of these on 1911s, Marvels, 41s , Hammerlis and several Pardinis . It is a fantastic set up, according to the users..I am not presently accepting work..
Goodluck
Jerrry

In response to a suggestion from Alex Chichkov, I removed the Pardini-supplied scope rings and examined the edges of the feet that grip the narrow groove on the frame—they were not sharp, not even close, and one corner of a ring foot was dented.

I carefully hand filed the feet (on both sides of each foot) to make them relatively sharp and reinstalled the scope rings on my Match Dot II. I moved the scope ring that had the dented foot to the rear and mounted the front scope ring as far back as it would fit (thinking that configuration might hold the scope more securely).

In a match yesterday, the scope rings held. They did not move 1mm. I read in one of the posts that the scope rings were made for Pardini by somebody else. Maybe the problem is quality control?

See the previous 2009 discussion on Target Talk, which shows the scope mount made by Larry’s Guns: http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php ... c&start=40
dipnet