Changing the look with grips

[philmo11]

Thread is intended for everyone to share before and after pictures of grip changes. I always find it hard to find a gun that looks like mine with the grips I'm interested in, so the thread is to help folks visualize grip changes. Lord knows I've spent plenty of money on grips just to get them and not like the look.

I've got quite a few I've done and plenty more on the way. I'll kick the thread off with a set of my favorites.

Factory Before pic. Hard chrome Metro Arms American Classic II. I have 4 of these in various chamberings.


After pic. Mammoth grips ($40)


After the grip screw change

 

[philmo11]

Here is a set of Adams & Adams designed pewter "Remember 9-11" grips ($60) on a stainless Springfield Loaded.

Before pic


After pic

 

[philmo11]

Here's a stainless Springfield Garrison with a set of Adams & Adams pewter skull grips ($55). Tip, if you go pewter, get a set of grip screws with the little rubber washer. Pewter is soft, you don't want to over tighten, the rubber washer keeps them from loosening up and rattling.

The factory Before pic


These are the after pics. I didn't have one of the gun by itself so it's pictured with one of my Loadeds.



Note, I tried the "Remember 9-11" grips on the Garrison and it was too busy for that gun in my opinion. Looked out of place.

 

[philmo11]

Here is a Kimber Stainless II with VZ Fallout grips ($70) (these are super aggressive grips out of the box).

Factory before pic


The After pic


Now, I did a lot more to this gun than just the grips (which had some pretty sharp edges out of the box). I took a die grinder and smoothed those sharp corners out. Sanded the matte finish off the slide flats and replaced the mainspring housing with one that had an integrated magwell ($50).

 

[philmo11]

Here is a stainless Colt Competition 70 Series with a cheap set of Cool Hand G10 grips. $23

Here is the factory Before pic


Here is the After pic. Note I did swap the plastic mainspring housing out for a stainless one with integrated magwell. ($79) also new set of grip screws ($13) and a Wilson Combat competition trigger ($30)

Note this gun will probably be getting new grips in a few days. Don't know if the magwell will stay on it. Depends on the grips I choose.

 

[Papa J]

Here is a stainless Colt Competition 70 Series with a cheap set of Cool Hand G10 grips. $23

Here is the factory Before pic
View attachment 28078

Here is the After pic. Note I did swap the plastic mainspring housing out for a stainless one with integrated magwell. ($79) also new set of grip screws ($13) and a Wilson Combat competition trigger ($30)
View attachment 28077
Note this gun will probably be getting new grips in a few days. Don't know if the magwell will stay on it. Depends on the grips I choose.

Personally I never liked those blue grips. The pistol looks much better now. The mag well was a great addition.

 

[Papa J]

Here's a stainless Springfield Garrison with a set of Adams & Adams pewter skull grips ($55). Tip, if you go pewter, get a set of grip screws with the little rubber washer. Pewter is soft, you don't want to over tighten, the rubber washer keeps them from loosening up and rattling.

The factory Before pic
View attachment 28073

These are the after pics. I didn't have one of the gun by itself so it's pictured with one of my Loadeds.
View attachment 28072

View attachment 28071
Note, I tried the "Remember 9-11" grips on the Garrison and it was too busy for that gun in my opinion. Looked out of place.

Very cool grips. They do nice work. I never thought I'd doing custom grips, but now I might!

 

[philmo11]

Here is another set that came on today. Unfortunately, I had to order new grip screws because the head on the factory screws was too big and I accidentally ordered 1911 screws when I ordered them the first time.

Note that the backstrap on the magwell is not the same between the two guns even though they are the exact same model. One is skeletonized under the grip. There is a sliver where the curve is on the back of the grip that you can see in the magwell on one of these. It's very small but it's there.

X-treme grips on EAA Tanfoglio Witness Elite Limited.

Factory Before pic


After


Disappointing because I had to order these grips from France (US is sold out everywhere) and it's taken a while to get them here. I guess a few more days won't kill me.

 

[philmo11]

Personally I never liked those blue grips. The pistol looks much better now. The mag well was a great addition.

The factory grips are a bit on the fugly side but for their intended purpose, those factory grip are second to none in grip texture. Like Velcro to anything they touch . I'm not a competition shooter so I went for purdy.

Those cheap Cool Hands grips are not bad for under $25. The G10 grip texture is spot on and comfortable. They are a tad bit slimmer than the factory grips.

I ordered some Guuun Grips brand too and I did not like them at all in person.

 

[philmo11]

Very cool grips. They do nice work. I never thought I'd doing custom grips, but now I might!

I did have to take a small jewelers file and make an adjustment where the mag release relief is on the right side. Wouldn't quite clear the mag release cap when the mag release was pressed. It was a small adjustment but had to be done on all 4 sets I put on my Springfields.

 

[HooDoo Man]

Nice, I like the flag & cross. A lot.

 

[philmo11]

I don't know how I feel about these grips. The Mayan grips came in and they were awful. Looked like someone tied them to the bumper and road hauled them.

I spent a considerable amount of time on them refinishing them. The picture doesn't really do justice for how bad they are.

Here is a comparison between the original and the satin finish I settled on in the end.


But I didn't go straight to satin. I sanded them down then put a high polish on the surface, but in the end, I didn't care for it. Too gaudy.


I also tried them on the Colt Competition but there was something about that combo that turned me off to it. My son thinks it's the serrations. I think it could be that, could also be the matte finished controls vs the Garrison's polished controls or a combination of both. Either way, I didn't like it. I decided to go with the stainless Garrison.

After that I took my bench grinder and scotch brite pads and buffed or down to a satin. Here is the final before and after…

Factory Before pic


Here is the finished After pic.

 

[philmo11]

Here is an honorable mention just for the sake of showing them. These are the DuraGrips slotted grips. Two things that turned me off to these. Both have to do with the milling. They first left the sharp edges around where they were milled out. It's pretty uncomfortable around the fingertips. I used a die grinder and beveled the edges so they were comfortable to hold. Second issue is the flats in the bottom of the milling. Badly show the tooling and no way to smooth it out, at least I haven't figured it out.


Pictures of the flats


Should also note that they are abs plastic, not G10 material.

 

[philmo11]

I ordered some Jax aluminum blackener so I could try my hand at patina finish on aluminum to help replicate the pewter patina on my other grips.

 

[philmo11]

Dan Wesson Pointman Seven with Southern Trapper's "Battle Axe" alligator leather grips ($149)and polished magwell added ($79).

The Before pic


After pic


Also Colt Competition Series 70 with Sid Bell "Eagle" grips (65 off eBay).

Before


After pic

 

[philmo11]

Springfield Garrison with the cross engraved aluminum grips ($102).

Before


After

 

[philmo11]

Here is a comparison of before blackening the engraving and after. Using those cross grips as a constant for the comparison. I was going for a patina. That proved to be challenging with the fine engraving.

Before


After

 

[CECannonJr]

Nice collection. Some of the grips are interesting. I really liked the Cross and the skull.

 

[Mike A1]

Bought it in 90. It's was a NIB 79 1911 Series 70 MKIV. Now with Harrison long trigger, Colt Checkered Flat MSH, 1911 Wide spur hammer.
The grips are Cherokee hills Desert Iron wood, I don't have the STD walnut checkered Colt shoes, I gave them away.

Never did like the A1 features.

 

[frankiestoys]

I have quite a collection of extra grips and often swap them out to change the look of my 1911's

Here's a few examples