What are your favorite grips?

[moparclan]

Love the two tone Python grips. Truly one of a kind.
Cary Chapman had some awesome two tone examples on his site. I was foolish enough to take too long deciding on a purchase. Gone to someone else I am sometimes smart. Sometimes not.

The two tone were from Altamont, ordered the walnut and this was the result. The fit was perfect and I really like the two tone look. The old Lett micarta grips were also a good looking grip, much better that the plastic ones seen now days.

 

[caryc]

Nuthin' fancy for my Rugers, they are shooters.

View attachment 24006

That laminate that Ruger uses can look really pretty with a high gloss finish on it. Here are a couple sets of gunfighter style grips that I made.

 

[cpaspr]

I'd had a piece of birds-eye maple for about 40 years. Sometimes I'd forget where I put it, but it always turned back up. Found it again about six years ago, and decided to make replacement grips for my .45 Blackhawk Convertible. The problem was, I'd never done anything like this, and I thought it was only big enough for one attempt. So, first I did a proof of concept out of oak for my S&W Model 66. I think they came out pretty good for a first attempt.

 

[caryc]

FACTORY in almost all cases. Most aftermarket grips look like new but cheap wheels on a 17 year old SUV. If you're not from a southern border State, you may not understand.

I have aftermarket grips on my 1911 because I wanted something that looked like OEM GI checkered wood so not sure how to judge that one.

I had an S&W 4516 that came with a gawd-awful set of wrap-around Pacs or something. I found and bought an NOS set of S&W grips.

I "rebuilt" some standard issue Ruger walnut grips for my Blackhawk by stripping them (weren't a matched set), refinishing them, and swapping the eagles for Texas stars. But they're still the same shape.

Hogue over-molds are the ugliest thing you can do to a Blackhawk.

My 22/45RP has aftermarket spalted maple grips. Kind of a blued BBQ 22.

Wood "target" grips are hideous.

Yes, do what you want with your unit but don't expect all to think your three-eyed fat baby is cute.

The trouble with changing Ruger's eagle medallions for Texas Stars is that the stars are actually smaller than the Ruger eagles. The eagles are .5" in diameter and the stars are 31/64 (.484375). I had two different sized counterbores for drilling medallion holes. I didn't like the way the stars looked in the .5" holes. But of course being a grip maker, I had to be very picky. That's what my customers were paying me for.

 

[wproct]

I am a total grip freak and this thread is one of the best ever!!!

 

[41Dude]

I'd had a piece of birds-eye maple for about 40 years. Sometimes I'd forget where I put it, but it always turned back up. Found it again about six years ago, and decided to make replacement grips for my .45 Blackhawk Convertible. The problem was, I'd never done anything like this, and I thought it was only big enough for one attempt. So, first I did a proof of concept out of oak for my S&W Model 66. I think they came out pretty good for a first attempt.

Super nice attempt. Love the look of birds eye.

 

[caryc]

I'd had a piece of birds-eye maple for about 40 years. Sometimes I'd forget where I put it, but it always turned back up. Found it again about six years ago, and decided to make replacement grips for my .45 Blackhawk Convertible. The problem was, I'd never done anything like this, and I thought it was only big enough for one attempt. So, first I did a proof of concept out of oak for my S&W Model 66. I think they came out pretty good for a first attempt.

I know what you mean about trying to get the most out of a good looking piece of wood. That's where my band saw came in handy. In the pic below you can see how I could make an angled cut and wind up with two tapered pieces. Or I could use it for a piece of wood that was great on one face side but not so good on the back. I could take an angle cut like that to take as mush as I could off of the back and save the front with the good grain.

I used a 14" Rigid band saw but, I upgraded it a bit. It had quite a vibration in it right out of the box. What I did was to install bearing blade guides on it and a machined pulley on the motor. I also installed a linked drive belt on it. This got rid of all vibration in the saw. But, the biggest improvement was a "Wood Slicer" blade available at Highland Woodworking. The other pic shows how I could take a 4 X 4 piece of Myrtle and slice off a very thin piece off one side. The second piece I cut (the one one the left side) was .019" thick and did not vary from end to end.

 

[GasGuzzler]

My medallion bores are 0.497" on one side and 0.501" on the other. The Texas stars measure around 0.490". Makes them sit down in the hole and not protrude. Seems fine.

 

[jav]

My favorite is the older n frame target grips