Ruger GP100 grips.

[dayman]

I love my Ruger, but there are not nearly as many options for grips as there are for S&W.
I have never looked the looks of the Lett grips, and while I like the Hogues for target practice, they're a little big for carry.
Also, I'm not a huge fan of finger grooves, because they lock you into one hand placement.
So I decide to make my own.
I had some ebony I'd bought for a Christmas project, and I like the looks of black grips on a ss gun, so I started there.
I had an old pair of Letts I scarified into template.

Then I cut them out and trimmed them to the rough shape i wanted with the band saw

Then I used the router attachment for my dremel to inlet them.

Then lots and lots of work with files and then sand paper.
One they were about right and the inlets were perfect, I glued them together. Then even more sanding. I occasionally used the grinder to make bigger adjustments to the contour.

Then the first cost of poly.

Then more sanding, some chisel work to inlay some St. James crosses I made from recycled ivory piano keys, several coats of poly then tung oil, and I'm done.

Maybe not for everyone, but they are exactly what I wanted.
Now I just have to make a matching set for my sp101.

 

[dayman]

This was the first time I can remember posting photos from my phone. I did the same thing for each but they seem like they might be vastly different sizes. If so I apologize.

 

[Snyper]

Congratulations on the good work
They are beautiful

 

[jrobin3360]

Beautiful grips. You should be very proud of your craftsmanship.

 

[Guv]

Hogue still makes Nylon grips for the GP 100, you can shape them all you like.

 

[Model12Win]

Awesome grips friend!

 

[9x19]

Very nice.

I don't see a cross screw, so what keeps them on the gun?

 

[Wishoot]

Very nice work. Well done.

 

[GP100man]

Good Job !!!

I also don`t cotton to finger grooves & alter the Lett panel grips so I can adjust my grip , it`s very suttle change but makes a world of difference!

Grips , holsters & belts are very subjective .

GP

 

[dayman]

I put a screw in from the bottom like the hogue grips. I was going to do a cross screw, but it would up being in an awkward place for doing any inlay.
It was too short for the stirrup assembly I had, so I actually would up drilling and taping the bottom of the frame (tang?), and rethreading the cross bolt from the Letts smaller to fit.
I could have shaped a set of nylon grips, but I like the look of wood, and I wanted a higher, more angled grip than the hogues. Plus, it's significantly shorter, which would have been problematic to do.
Also, since I had the materials anyway it cost me nothing but time.

I shot it finally today, and while it kicked noticeably harder with magnums (relative to the big rubber grips), it wasn't uncontrollable, and seemed line it's self back up pretty quick.
Also, the majority of my shooting is 38spl, and with the lighter loads it was still a *****cat.
I am going to have to reshape it a little so I can use speed loaders, and I might round the corners on the top a little more while I'm at it to help with the magnum recoil.

 

[smee78]

Good lookin grips, taking on a project lik this takes nerves and patienance, Good job!

 

[9x19]

Take a pic of the bottom, please.

I'm really interested in how you're keeping the two pieces in place with a single screw.

Are you not using the grip locator?

Thanks

 

[Salmoneye]

Did you actually slice the original grips down the center to make templates?

 

[4V50 Gary]

I like that inlay.

 

[Model12Win]

Now all you need are some 99.999999% pure silver bullets!

I kid, but that thing looks like a vampire/werewolf slayer if I ever saw one!

 

[dayman]

I'm really interested in how you're keeping the two pieces in place with a single screw.

The grip is all one piece.
After getting the shape about right, and getting the inletting perfect, I drilled about 20 matching holes into each side of the grips, clipped some brass wire to fit as reinforcement, and glued the two pieces together with loctite blackmax.
I only made it in two pieces so I could router out the channel for the frame to fit into perfectly.
In retrospect, I should have taken more pictures of that part of the operation, but I was a little obsessively focused on getting everything to line up, and forgot.

Since there wasn't room for the hogue stirrup assembly, I drilled and tapped into the bottom of the frame it's self.
I actually wound up recycling the hardware from the Letts, so I have a nice little inset washer for the screw to fit into.

I did indeed split the old grips up the middle.

I knew I wasn't going to use them, and they served as a pretty great template.
I'll grab my phone here in a second and take a couple more pictures.

 

[dayman]

They look a little lopsided, but that's because I trimmed them to fit my lopsided hand.

The unobtrusive, but still a little sad, hole for the grip screw.