Altamont Ruger Grips

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Yoter

Bearcat
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Ordered a set of the Santos Rosewood Altamont Super Blackhawk grips. They looked nice, but fit was terrible. The top of one grip panel was too short. I could wiggle the grip back and forth after it was attached. The grips were slightly smaller than the grip frame leaving proud metal exposed. I tried the grips on another grip frame with the same results.

I returned the grips for a refund and was required to pay return postage for a poor quality product. Altamont insisted they cannot reimburse me for the postage. I don't feel I should have to pay out of pocket costs for a defective product.

I have noticed lately that grips made by Altamont for the Ruger brand seem to have similar poor quality undersized fit on Ruger single action grip frames.

It is unfortunate since Altamont used to be my go to company for reasonably priced aftermarket grips.
 
"Is it poor QC by Altamont or is Ruger getting sloppy with their frame finishing?"

A few years ago,, I was discussing the grip frame & grip fitment with a senior Ruger executive.

Apparently,, when Lett stopped making grips for Ruger,, and a few other companies were tasked with the work, they were supplied with grip frame measurements,, and began producing thousands of them, trying to keep up with the demands. Unfortunately, the measurements they received were not up to the totally correct dimensions needed,, and/or were "modified" a bit to fit whatever frames the grip makers had to use as a comparison. The grip makers had gotten a few grip frames to use as "patterns" and set their machines to those specs.

It's not Ruger's fault,, but a small series of breakdowns in the proper dimension issues by the grip makers.

Then, due to the necessary demands,, and the fact that many of the grips actually do fit SOME of the frames very well, and then are a "close enough" fit for others,, they get accepted & used. Thrown in the fact that a lot of Ruger employees are "parts assemblers" and are NOT gun people or gunsmith types,, they just worry about production, and ship guns with grips that they deem "Good enough."

Aftermarket makers, trying to capture a niche market, buy a gun, or a grip frame, and build off of what they have.

Due to many minor dimension variances,, custom grip makers that do the best work, want the grip frame, so they can fit the grips they make to that actual grip frame.

Just ask caryc or Zane of lscg.
 
Altamont has been a go to for reasonable priced grips for a couple of hand guns and I have been pleased. Recently I bought a pair of Altamont's G-10 material, for a Heritage birdshead available only through Heritage not on the Altamont web site. The fit was nothing less than horrible, way too big everywhere around the grip frame and bad fit at the 90* top on one side. Oversized I can work with and a couple of hours of hand fitting later I was pleased. Not at all how I wanted to spend my time. The review I wrote on the Heritage web site was never posted for viewing. Just another data point.

Non Ruger Content Photo
HRR Birdshead copy.jpeg
 
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The defective grip panels I purchased had two panels with slightly different dimensions. The right panel was a good fit at the top and was slightly taller than the left. I have even seen variation in different sets of Altamont grip panels of the same make and model.

When I can find Lett grip panels at a reasonable price, they have excellent fit and finish.
 
Altamonts are cheap because they use laminate or Corian. I have Altamont Corian "bonded Ivory" on one of my Vaqueros and they aren't a perfect fit , but I just live with it.

The "good enough " Ruger fit exists on all my Single Actions. My flat top and .357 Vaquero have Altamont "Gun Fighter" panels and the fit is far from perfect, you can see grip frame at the back of the panels but honestly, for $30 I'm not worried about it. These are usin' guns

The Hogue wood grips i put on my
.45 Bisley aren't perfect, Hogue instructs you to fit them but I'm not risking munging the grips up over a little wood overhanging the frame. I might break the sharp edge and that's it.
 
I bought some Altamont grips on GunBroker for my Wrangler and was not impressed by them in he least. A nice person sent me a set of factory Single Six grips and they were far nicer than the Altamonts. The Altamonts were pretty but they were too thin.
 
Yaworski said:
I bought some Altamont grips on GunBroker for my Wrangler and was not impressed by them in he least. A nice person sent me a set of factory Single Six grips and they were far nicer than the Altamonts. The Altamonts were pretty but they were too thin.
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Premium gun grips are THE way to go for the Wrangler. They fit all of my Wrangler grip frames absolutely perfectly, and feel much better than any other aftermarket grips that I've tried...They also fit pretty darn well on my aluminum grip framed Single Sixes when I tried them out.

https://premiumgungrips.com/
 
I bought a set of Altamont Grips for my GP-100. They were great. This was back in early 2015. Has everyone here purchased their grips from Altamont since then?
 

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I have used Badger grips and they are a good fit. But I think they are out of business- used ones or NOS show up on EBay from time to time. They are stabilized laminate and if they are off a bit they can be sanded down and then just polish the wood with a buffing wheel.

I just purchased 3 blank sets from Chig’s. I need to decide what they are going on- but I loved the wood so much I went ahead and bought them.
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KIR said:
I bought a set of Altamont Grips for my GP-100. They were great. This was back in early 2015. Has everyone here purchased their grips from Altamont since then?
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I have a similar set on my 5" half lug 327 and they're awesome! In fact, I really like most of their grip designs for DA revolvers and 1911's...But, anything they offer for Ruger SA revolvers is gonna be a crap shoot fitment wise 🎲🎲
 
Have a few sets of Altamont grips, one on on my 2020 Python that I really like. Another set I order for a Smith & Wesson Coke Bottle style that fit like crap and the second set was no better. My 1920 Luger has a set but the cutout around the safety lever is too big. Called them on it and they said would forward it to there engineers?? My last two Blackhawk Ruger's the grips sucked also. I miss Lett grips.
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2020 Python.JPG
 
I have a beautiful set for a Smith 686. Put them on th egun and both grip were to long on the top.Got a factory wood grips for it. Going to sell them and tell the buyer about the fit.
 
I have 3 sets of Altamont grips on various revolvers and they are top notch. I think they are actually contracted with S&W and Ruger.
 
Purchased Super Blackhawk custom wood grips from LS Grips. Impressed with the fit and finish.
 
KIR said:
I bought a set of Altamont Grips for my GP-100. They were great. This was back in early 2015. Has everyone here purchased their grips from Altamont since then?
Click to expand...
Yes I just ordered my second set the first set I got for my model 10 fit do good ordered another for my j frame works well
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I've had more trouble with Altamont grips than any other brand. Grips they made for S&W and Ruger both. I’ve given up on Altamont. They seem to have people who know nothing about how grips are supposed to fit working there.
 
arfmel said:
I've had more trouble with Altamont grips than any other brand. Grips they made for S&W and Ruger both. I've given up on Altamont. They seem to have people who know nothing about how grips are supposed to fit working there.
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Sorry you had a bad time with them but it’s my second set from them this month both made to order both were conversion sets from round butt to square butt both fit was perfect like custom made
 
I ordered a set that was "In Stock", was charged and received a notice it would be "6-8 weeks" until they made them. I cancelled and bought a set from "Arizona Grips" on E-bay. A delay in shipping but got here only a couple of days late. Look good on my New Model Vaquero.
 
No longer a fan of Altamont. Ordered a set of Superblack wood for my SP101 and they came solid black vs the black/gray laminate shown on their web site and I expected. When I called to see if I could get the issue rectified I was informed that they would not do anything (policy) and that color variation didn't count as an issue. I get color variation, but a totally different color. They did state that they would take back and see if they could get a better match to the web site pictures, but no promises and I'd have to pay the shipping. In essence I could spend the money and still get back the same thing. I did find if amusing that the young lady I talked to stated they get this kind of call all the time. Heh, you'd think that if they did they'd do something about their QA. I purchased a set of rosewood about 10 years ago and they were great, but it looks like quality has gone way down so, I'm done with Altomont.
 
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