I Jazzed Up My R.I.A. With Some New Grips

[jumbofrank]

I know a guy that buys Talon grips for all of his handguns...they're basically fitted skateboard tape to put on your gun. I like the feel, but like you said, a long range session would leave you with a few less layers of skin.

I've seen the Talon Grips advertised but not handled them. I just took a look at what they have for 1911s and you have a choice of Granulate or Rubber for $4.99 for just the front strap piece. You could get a lot of those from a roll of tape. Moss color rubber is $1.00 more. The great thing about using tape on a 1911 is you can just remove the grips, cut the tape to the desired length, apply it to the frame, and put the grips back on. If it's not exactly centered it doesn't make any difference. The grips will cover it. If I ever run out of the gritty tape I'll buy a roll of the rubber/plastic kind.

My bedroom gun could use a new piece of tape. I have a semi-auto in an old CO2 revolver holster attached to the bedpost. My pistol drops right in but the little part that should go around the revolver's trigger guard is on the left instead of the right side. It wore a small hole through the tape. It still works great but it doesn't look perfect.

[PegLeg45]

To get a better grip I use anti-slip tape made for stairways on the front strap of most of my pistols. I buy it by the roll in 2" width at Lowe's or Home Depot. It's basically self-adhesive coarse sandpaper, about 60 grit I'd say. It works great but I wouldn't want to use it for a long session at the range. The textured plastic surface tape would be much better for that.

http://www.surefootcorp.com/index.php/skid-guard/

https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-us/all-3m-products/~/3M-Safety-Walk-Slip-Resistant-Medium-Resilient-Tapes-and-Treads-310/?N=5002385+8709314+3293717112&rt=rud

That's what I've been doing for 20 years on my Commander...... I bought the large sheet for a stair tread and still have 75% of the first one. It takes a lot of use to wear through the grit, even with daily handling.
That is what is on the front-strap in the pic below. It looks fairly un-worn, so it was probably a new piece I'd just put on when the pic was taken.

[jumbofrank]

That's what I've been doing for 20 years on my Commander...... I bought the large sheet for a stair tread and still have 75% of the first one. It takes a lot of use to wear through the grit, even with daily handling.
That is what is on the front-strap in the pic below. It looks fairly un-worn, so it was probably a new piece I'd just put on when the pic was taken.

Nice pic. That grit looks brand new and possibly even coarser than mine. My fingers have worn the grit down a little, and it's done the same to my fingers. Mine is a lot less gritty now. I seriously thought about buying the large stair tread pieces too but I'm glad I got the roll of tape instead. It works great on my double-wide Para .45s. I used it on the fore end of my Mech-Tech too but it didn't stick very good and I peeled it off.

I bought strips of grip tape that I believe were 3/4"x12" and put them on the tailgate of my pickup. Before I put it on there I was doing something in the back of my truck that has a cap on it so I have to crawl around. It was a hot summer day and my hands were sweaty. When my hands hit the tailgate they both shot out from under me and I flew out like Superman! Too bad I didn't stick the landing.    I bought 2(?) packages of the pre-cut tape and put 1 and 1/2 strips end to end on each of the raised ribs of the tailgate. I haven't flown since. I guess I should have started a grip tape thread instead of hijacking this one.

ETA: I took another look at your pic and see that the top of your tape is a fraction of an inch higher than mine. It doesn't like to curve one way around the front strap and a different direction toward the trigger guard at the same time.

[PegLeg45]

The type I have has some flex to it, not much, but just enough to mold it to the curves. I bought it at Lowes years ago. The tape in the photo has been worn down significantly since the pic was taken and needs replacing again.

[AmberDawn]

Very Nice!!