Overthinking 1911 grip panels

[gato naranja]

I am sitting here today with snow up to my butt and too much time, which led me to some drawers full of crap I was going to sort through last winter (and didn't). First off was the drawer of 1911 grips. I have a lot of 1911 grips. Wood grips, G10 grips, Micarta grips, more wood grips, even more wood grips, etc, etc. The only thing I don't have is rubber grips, because I gave those away a couple years ago.

I dropped a bit of coin on the current G10 grips, and about the only "benefit" of them I can now detect is that they have rubbed more bluing off the frame than the micarta grips did, which themselves rubbed away more finish than the wood grips... (which wore away nothing).

So here I am with a hell of a lot of checkered, double-diamond, regular thickness grip panels, basically all alike save for the material they are made of. And try as I might, I can't say any particular set made me shoot better or has been any functional improvement over another.

I have always had a problem ending up with too many holsters as I look for a holy grail, now I believe I have done the same with 1911 grip panels. Anyone else have a pile of "just had to get these" 1911 grip panels that ended up doing nothing better than the ones that came on the gun? I mean, aside from not desecrating the landscape aesthetically.*


*Like a bringback 1911 with old plexiglas grips having a picture of the owner's wife circa 1944/45. Great testament to true love, longing, etc, but kinda garish.

[ECVMatt]

To be honest, I only shoot my 1911s for fun. So, I tend to have grips that reflect the character of the gun. Most of mine are made from elk horn. I do have a set of cheesy fake bone ones. But they look cool and that is the gun I let my son shoot.

I do understand your quest for the perfect grip however. I just do it on different platforms.

[JAH 3rd]

Welcome to the box, drawer, or closet club full of gun stuff accumulated through the years/decades! No doubt you are in good company here. Grips, holsters, and various parts for a particular firearm have been added to my gun museum. Some of these parts bring back memories. Like my Bianchi "the Judge" holster and Safariland speedloaders for my duty revolver, a model 19 and later a model 66, both S&Ws. Parts can be a time capsule as to a particular era or thought process.....like looking at an old picture.

As far as the 1911 goes, a whole industry has grown up around tinkering with the platform with the next best thing. We've all seen the ads. We have loads of product choices, that pull at our heart. We try a few parts and some go to the box in the parts museum. With me, I tend to take a 1911 that works 100%, add parts, then wonder why it isn't 100% anymore. Now with a 1911, I pretty much buy the pistol with all the bells and whistles I would add to a base pistol.

[Elwin]

I’m looking for things other than just shooting performance, though I definitely have my preferences there too. I carry my 1911s, so my preference first and foremost is “not wood or another potentially fragile natural material,” because I don’t want to worry about the grips if I don’t have to. Wood grips also store moisture which can worsen rust problems for a gun carried against my body in an often humid environment (good ol’ Iowa corn sweat).

Simmonich Gunner grips are a bit too harsh for me without gloves, but I like a lot of traction so I basically want something just short of that. Fortunately I stumbled onto VCD grips through this place and those solved all of my problems immediately. Good texture I can soften with sandpaper where I need to, durable, affordable, don’t require O rings like G10 and micarta, look good on my more utilitarian guns, and I can add just the tiny amount of thumb scoop I need to reach a standard mag release reliably.

It depends on what you’re doing. For general range use, I’d agree that anything checkered is going to work for most people. For a carry gun, I could see myself going crazy chasing down the right thing just like with holsters. I just got lucky because I tried something people here recommended and it worked perfectly off the bat. If all I had was traditional wood grips, I’d be hunting for something else.

[theJanitor]

Sharply checkered wood grips provide the grip and feel that I want in my 1911. Plus they look better than anything else. Win-Win

[gato naranja]

To be honest, I only shoot my 1911s for fun. So, I tend to have grips that reflect the character of the gun. Most of mine are made from elk horn. I do have a set of cheesy fake bone ones. But they look cool and that is the gun I let my son shoot.

I do understand your quest for the perfect grip however. I just do it on different platforms.

My 1911s are just big range toys for my second childhood, though I do insist that they be at least reliable enough that I could use them socially in a pinch. I started out getting finer checkering and better wood. Then I thought I needed to get first micarta and then G10 because they would be moisture resistant and tougher, but I really don't get them wet anyway, and I wipe under them whether I need to or not. I don't know about "tougher," but they damn sure are more brittle. I still have an unused pair of Wood Caliber double diamond grips in "damn-near-white" American holly, and I am tempted to slap them on and say "This ends now."

Welcome to the box, drawer, or closet club full of gun stuff accumulated through the years/decades! No doubt you are in good company here. Grips, holsters, and various parts for a particular firearm have been added to my gun museum. Some of these parts bring back memories. Like my Bianchi "the Judge" holster and Safariland speedloaders for my duty revolver, a model 19 and later a model 66, both S&Ws. Parts can be a time capsule as to a particular era or thought process.....like looking at an old picture.

As far as the 1911 goes, a whole industry has grown up around tinkering with the platform with the next best thing. We've all seen the ads. We have loads of product choices, that pull at our heart. We try a few parts and some go to the box in the parts museum. With me, I tend to take a 1911 that works 100%, add parts, then wonder why it isn't 100% anymore. Now with a 1911, I pretty much buy the pistol with all the bells and whistles I would add to a base pistol.

I have watched too many fellow tinkering coots start putting high-end and/or boutique parts in their pistols and it was the same as anything else, be it guns, cars, etc-- other items then started failing or a new choke point was found. The kicker is watching a "bulletproof" cheap part cause a not-so-bulletproof expensive part fail (I watched a guy destroy a CZ75 with a custom slide stop that was truly bombproof... CZ slide stops are cheap, but he had to go big or go home).

[HCM]

I’m looking for things other than just shooting performance, though I definitely have my preferences there too. I carry my 1911s, so my preference first and foremost is “not wood or another potentially fragile natural material,” because I don’t want to worry about the grips if I don’t have to. Wood grips also store moisture which can worsen rust problems for a gun carried against my body in an often humid environment (good ol’ Iowa corn sweat).

Simmonich Gunner grips are a bit too harsh for me without gloves, but I like a lot of traction so I basically want something just short of that. Fortunately I stumbled onto VCD grips through this place and those solved all of my problems immediately. Good texture I can soften with sandpaper where I need to, durable, affordable, don’t require O rings like G10 and micarta, look good on my more utilitarian guns, and I can add just the tiny amount of thumb scoop I need to reach a standard mag release reliably.

It depends on what you’re doing. For general range use, I’d agree that anything checkered is going to work for most people. For a carry gun, I could see myself going crazy chasing down the right thing just like with holsters. I just got lucky because I tried something people here recommended and it worked perfectly off the bat. If all I had was traditional wood grips, I’d be hunting for something else.

The original Simmonich Gunner grips came with a bit of Emory cloth to slightly dull the texture if desired

IME the current VZ version is not as aggressive as the originals but YMMV.

[awmp]

I see 1911 grips like my wife looks at shoes. There is always a purpose and time for them but they always have to look good.

[Dog Face Gremlin]

Yup....holsters and grips....still have some WWII grips......tryin' to sell some of my stuff off.

[Robinson]

Yeah I have a whole box of various 1911 stocks/grips/panels.

I've never been big on the fancy stocks in exotic woods. My preference is for either full-checkered wood stocks or full-checkered rubber or plastic grip panels. I have VCD grips on some of my guns and they work really well.

G-10 grips work fine but add some weight over wood/rubber/plastic. Micarta grips by companies like Navidrex are an OG option that still work.