grip buyer's remorse?

gnappi · Oct 8, 2025

I have the opposite problem, "grip separation anxiety".

In the 70's I replaced the "coke" grips on my S&W's and threw them in a baggie and forgot them. I was about to sell them for what I considered a fair price of $25 then I discovered the silly prices they're commanding and put a note in the baggie for my son so he can off them after I'm gone to fund something worthwhile, that or he could restore them to the original guns.

6GUNSONLY · Oct 8, 2025

Yes, the scarcer/older S&W grips can get into a whole other level of collecting/accumulating/expense. I recently bought an old 5-screw pre-model 27 3.5" barrel .357 for $500. It had some finish wear but was mechanically excellent and was wearing a set of non-relieved diamond targets (you who are S&W guys as well as Ruger will know) which i then sold for $250. They were not original to the gun. I have a set of Zack Thompson's red stag grips in the S&W Magna style on the way for it. I dont have a problem paying good money for good workmanship and beauty. My answer to the OP's original question is $300, so far. I say so far because a nice set of ivory grips will go beyond that price point - I dont have any ivory grips but I'm not ruling it out, either...
I have a few older S&W revolvers (5-screw pre model number guns) and have paid pretty good money to put period-correct grips on them if such were missing when I acquired the gun.

jyo · Oct 8, 2025

I remember buying several sets of really nice real stag grips for $45. USA dollars, back in the day---mostly for OM Flattop Ruger revolvers, but sometimes for a Colt SAA... I guess $250. is todays $45. as everything inflates...

Iroc · Oct 8, 2025

After buying a Sambar stag blank and hand fitting it to my little Ruger Bearcat I think $250-$300 is a steal for a nice pair of grips. A professional would have made them faster than me, but doing it yourself you realize how much time you can have invested in making a pair.

wproct · Oct 8, 2025

Being retired and on a fixed income I can't afford to buy guns like I used to but I can still afford to spend 50 bucks on a set of grips for something I already own every now and then.

sixmranch · Oct 8, 2025

I've never bought aftermarket grips. Factory grips are fine.

GYJ44 · Oct 8, 2025

How do you know?

GasGuzzler · Oct 8, 2025

He knows factory grips are fine because it's all he has. Not hard to understand. I agree with sixmranch.

Strawdog · Oct 8, 2025

Yes the factory grips function well. But there is just something about replacing the plastic or rubber factory grips with something more pleasing to the eye and the hand.

GasGuzzler · Oct 9, 2025

^^^^ Like a big fat ugly chunk of rubber that looks like it belongs on a tractor implement?

Angryman · Oct 9, 2025

BIGGEST remorse…. Not buying ivory grips from Paul Persinger when they were $400. When i finally quit procrastinating, i called him again and he told me he could no longer sell ivory

.

GYJ44 · Oct 9, 2025

Factory grips function, yes. For me they function just well enough to get the guns out the door. Ruger factory single action grips are particularly atrocious. They're shaped all wrong, thin where they should be thicker, thick where they should be thin and square where they should be rounded. If you ever get a set fitted to your hand and your gun by a gripmaker that knows what he's about, you'll never be happy with factory grips again. With big bores, it can literally make the difference between pain and total comfort.

Robb Barnes · Oct 9, 2025

For the vast majority of folks, factory grips on their factory guns are just great. Functional and even decent looking, especially when we talk about some of the grips such as early Ruger flat top wood, stags or obviously ivory. But for a few folks, factory guns are looked at as canvases for people like Alan Harton, Dustin Linebaugh and Hamilton Bowen to use for turning into something different. When a person spends four to five times the cost of the base gun on custom work, the cost of a set of custom grips is just part of the project. That is why Rob Rowen currently has a five year wait list, Dustin stopped making grips for clients unless they are for a gun he is building for them and why folks pay $500-$600 for a set of grips by Roy Fishpaw. Being a custom revolver junkie when I decided I wanted to learn grip making it was only natural for me to contact these custom grip makers whom I had used over the years to learn the craft from them directly. Fortunately they have all been very generous with their times and opened their shops and homes to me in an effort to share their knowledge and techniques.

Custom making a set of grips allows one to not only provide a hopefully better appearing product but one that custom made to fit the owners hands, style and wishes. Are they for everybody? Heavens no and I tell potential clients this right up front. Are they expensive? Yes they are but hand fitting a set of figured walnut or sheep horn grips to a particular gun by the techniques these gentlemen do and taught me is not a fast or production oriented process but it can result in some nice outcomes.

As far as lead times go I realize folks do not want to be without their gun any longer than necessary. That is why all orders are placed in a queue once the order form is received and they gun stays with the owner until their time on the bench approaches then and only then do they send the gun or at least the grip frame in for their grips to be made. And yes, ideally the gun itself is sent in for the work, at the minimum at least the grip frame. Most custom grip makers will only make a set of grips when they have the gun in hand since each set is made to fit that one particular grip frame. That is the reason I spent the several thousand dollars I did to get my own FFL for receiving clients guns direct.

Deer Hunter · Oct 9, 2025

$350 for a nice set of Sambar stags for my 1991A1. All others were $70 or less. I also have a box full of disappointments and spares.

Randyzzz · Oct 9, 2025

I have never had good luck with aftermarket mass produced grips fitting my hand correctly. Likewise, the factory grips from Ruger are even worse to my feel. Most of my new models not only have custom grips but custom grip frames also. Now, I have kept the factory grips on most of my old models- although at some point here I’m planning on placing an order with Sack for some beauties.

jimbo1096 · Oct 9, 2025

I bought these grips for around $700 several years ago -the guy was even nice enough to throw the gun in with them

wproct · Oct 9, 2025

jimbo1096 said:
I bought these grips for around $700 several years ago -the guy was even nice enough to throw the gun in with them
View attachment 83946

That is one fine looking handgun!!!

professor_cassidy · Oct 9, 2025

No remorse here! I had these ivory grips made for and fitted to my 1st Ruger more than 35 years ago. I believe they were a little over $200 back then.
That was more than I paid for the new Blackhawk in 1975.

ArizonaTea123 · Oct 9, 2025

$60 for left-handed Riger target grips

Threespears · Oct 9, 2025

I have a few sets of stags pricey ..yes
Regrets.. NO!!

GasGuzzler · Oct 10, 2025

GYJ44 said:
Ruger factory single action grips are particularly atrocious. They're shaped all wrong, thin where they should be thicker, thick where they should be thin and square where they should be rounded..

For you. Doesn't mean for everyone.

Kinda like earlier in the topic when someone asked how another user could like what he had if he never tried anything else. Well, it's because he likes what he has and doesn't need to try anything else.

GYJ44 · Oct 10, 2025

GasGuzzler said:
For you. Doesn't mean for everyone.

Kinda like earlier in the topic when someone asked how another user could like what he had if he never tried anything else. Well, it's because he likes what he has and doesn't need to try anything else.

Sure it does. Every hand is different. Every single person that shoots would benefit from grips made for THEM. How do you know he doesn't need to try anything else? How do you know YOU don't need to try anything else? You don't, that's the point.

GasGuzzler · Oct 11, 2025

I do if I like what I have. It's simple logic. Stop using the word "need" and you might have a point. "Need" is a strong word when it comes to things unnecessary.

Strawdog · Oct 11, 2025

Okay, I'll admit it, I have the need to replace plastic with wood. I liked the feel of the gun in my hand when I bought it but now that it has wood grips I like it better... I in general have the same need to upgrade other things ... ie. internals, sights, etc.

Johnnu2 · Oct 11, 2025

I've been fortunate (or just mediocre) enough to never have noticed a gun that didn't "fit" my hand. It's sort of a blessing like losing much of my hearing

. That being said, I've bought, and sold, LOTS of grips just because I like them and because they're pretty.

J.

GYJ44 · Oct 11, 2025

GasGuzzler said:
I do if I like what I have. It's simple logic. Stop using the word "need" and you might have a point. "Need" is a strong word when it comes to things unnecessary.

If you're on a shooting related forum, we're probably all long past "needs". However, lots of folks tolerate varying degrees of discomfort when shooting things like Super Blackhawks and Bisleys because they're either narrow-minded about custom grips or just uninformed. Fact, if either of those are busting your knuckles, I'd wager a Benjamin that you'd benefit from custom grips. You can decide later if it qualifies as a need or a want. My guess is that you'll decide you no longer 'want' to suffer and thus you 'need' custom grips.

WAYNO · Oct 11, 2025

Relax. It's okay for some of us us to have different preferences.

I also prefer the most miniscule factory grip panels on a Blackhawk or Super, or aftermarket grips with the same miniscule dimensions.

I have many grips, mild to wild, small to large. Although I do prefer thinner grips, I do buy many just to adorn my revolvers.

.

twriggen · Oct 11, 2025

I agree that I don't recall ever having buyer's remorse on a set of grips. My most expensive are pictured below on a Bowen/Turnbull 45 Colt. As Robb stated it's just another cost factor in a nice custom piece of beauty. One set of custom Mammoth Ivory and then a set of Ruger Factory Ivory. Surprisingly the Mammoth were just a tad more than what a set of Ruger Factory Stag are running.

I've never had a set of high-quality custom wood grips made outside of some user sets made by Chig's, but I have another custom project in the works that will see that addressed in the coming future. No dig on Chig's as in the long run I have probably sent him more money by volume than any other grip maker. All "Hard R" grips must be removed on my guns.

GYJ44 · Oct 11, 2025

WAYNO said:
Relax. It's okay for some of us us to have different preferences.

I also prefer the most miniscule factory grip panels on a Blackhawk or Super, or aftermarket grips with the same miniscule dimensions.

Relax? Who's bent? You don't want people suffering with ill-fitting grips to know they have options? How many discussions about knuckle-busting Supers have you seen?

Robb Barnes · Oct 11, 2025

Shoot, I've bought guns just FOR the grips before! This is a perfect example.

grip buyer's remorse?

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Johnny Walker Double Black please

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