Similarly to how one pickup truck is exactly like every other pickup truck of the same model until you install your choice of wheels, installing a good set of grips on a handgun is a great way to make it uniquely yours. But far more than just changing the looks (as is the case with a truck), installing different grips on a handgun can dramatically enhance its feel, functionality, and even its value, as well as improving its aesthetics. Let’s go over some of the main types of handgun grip materials (wood, resin/polymer laminates, rubber, aluminum, and animal bone/horn/tusk), discuss their pros and cons, and help you make a more informed decision.
Wood handgun grips (natural, stabilized, laminates)
Image courtesy of Tyler Gun Works
Wood is the classic material for firearms stocks and handgun grips, since the first development of the arquebus in the early 15th century. Wood grips are currently available on handgun models from the cheapest to the most premium and exclusive brands. As you might expect, wood grips vary widely in quality, style, appearance, and price. You might pay $15 for some basic slabs for an entry-level 1911, or you could pay several hundred dollars for a really nice set of burled or highly figured walnut, maple, rosewood, cocobolo, zebrawood, ironwood, pau ferro, ebony, maple, or other desirable wood grips. For many collectors and shooters, there’s nothing better than a set of classically styled wood grips. Let’s go over some of the pros and cons.
Advantages of wood handgun grips
- Dozens of types, colors, and styles: In addition to the options created by the grip designer and finisher, the wood material itself has myriad variations in appearance due to its organic nature.
- Can be very affordable: Basic wood grips are sometimes just as inexpensive as rubber or polymer grips for some handguns.
- Easy to work: The hardness and other properties of wood vary widely, but generally wood is very easy to carve, shape, sand, checker, and finish. This also means it’s easy to touch up scratches or even repair breaks or cracks.
- Completely natural material: For many people, there’s something satisfying about handling and gripping a well-made wood gunstock.
- Potentially renewable resource: For the environmentally conscious among us, responsibly sourced wood is a great way to go.
- Relatively durable: Depending on species, design, and maintenance, wood grips can last dozens or even hundreds of years in regular use. When not abused and properly preserved, they can last many centuries.
- Classic great looks: To most western eyes, a nice set of wood grips is very attractive on a firearm.
- Insulation from a hot gun: Wood doesn’t usually get too hot to hold, even if left in direct sunlight, and doesn’t readily transfer heat from a hot firearm to your hands.
- Low weight: Wood used for grips is among the lightest materials, considering similar properties.
Downsides of wood handgun grips
- Huge variation: There is vast variability in the quality, durability, and longevity of wood grips, depending on what species, what cut, and how much stress is placed on the wood by the design. For example, a wooden grip design that has very thin edges, complicated shapes, sharp points, or narrow portions between sections needs to be very carefully constructed and handled fairly carefully to avoid breakage or premature wear. Similarly, even simple, robust grip designs can turn out sub-par if constructed of cheap, softer woods that dent, scratch, break, and/or compress easily.
- Regular maintenance and proper storage is required: This applies to wood stocks for long guns as well, but is particularly important for thinner, more closely fitted handgun stocks. Without somewhat regular care and proper waxing or oiling, wood grips can dry out, shrink, and/or crack. If left in a too-humid environment, wood grips can start to mold and mildew.
- They swell when wet, and retain moisture: This is more of a potential problem with rifles, where swelling of the wood can actually change the point of impact and accuracy of the firearm. But if you get your wooden handgun grips wet and don’t dry them out properly, they can swell up, potentially binding controls or springs, changing the fitment of the grips, creating gaps, and possibly crack or break. Additionally, since wood is essentially a very hard sponge, they retain moisture and can contribute to accelerated rusting under the grips.
- They absorb gun oil and cosmoline: Many gunstocks and handgun grips have been damaged or ruined by overzealous use of gun oil. They even absorb some oil from your skin, which can change the finish and/or color of the grips.
- Susceptible to insect damage: Some common insects thrive on cellulose, which is what wood is.
- Ecological issues: Some of the rarer hardwoods are ethically or ecologically questionable, since they come from rainforests in Brazil, Bolivia, and elsewhere. This can be a problem if harvesting is not responsibly managed.
Stabilized wood grips
Image courtesy of Cherokee Hills Grips
This material is a unique sub-set of standard wood grips. To make stabilized wood, a piece of wood is placed into a vacuum chamber where a solvent containing a durable polymer resin is forced into its pores under pressure. This process fills the wood’s pores, cracks, and other voids, and strengthens the wood, making it more resistant to moisture, changes in temperature, and fungal or insect damage. The wood and/or polymer can be stained or colored, making some very attractive or uncommon looking grips. You can also fill in large voids or complete the design with colored epoxy, which can really pop visually. This type of grip is most commonly left smooth and polished to show off the grain and color of the wood, and is comparatively rare in the firearms world.
Laminated wood grips
Image courtesy of Volquartsen
An important and widely used subset of standard wood grips, laminated wood grips are made by gluing thin-sliced layers of wood together using epoxy. These layers are often placed with their grain structure oriented in alternating directions, which enhances the strength and durability of the final product. The concept is similar to a high-end plywood. Additionally, the layers can be stained or colored every color of the rainbow, which can result in some striking visual results, from classic rosewood to camouflage to bright, vibrant color combinations. Laminated wood is far more resistant (essentially immune) to breakage, oil soaking, and swelling, and can be less expensive than corresponding full-grain wood grips in many cases.
Rubber (synthetic) handgun grips
Image courtesy of Lyman/Pachmayr
In the early part of the 20th century, hard rubber handgun grips were actually made of organic rubber (like, from the rubber tree). However, increased demand and a widespread rubber tree blight led researchers to develop synthetic rubber by polymerizing hydrocarbons sourced from crude oil or coal, and today, that’s what nearly all rubber handgun grips are made from.
Advantages of rubber handgun grips
- Cushioning and recoil reduction: Properly constructed rubber grips provide unparalleled recoil reduction on handguns that produce punishing amounts of recoil. The material stretches and absorbs the shock, helping lessen the sharp impact to the shooter’s hand.
- Improved grip: Rubber can be made super-hard and cut-checkered, or it can be quite soft and even tacky. Textured or molded-checkered rubber grips today offer an excellent compromise of durability, grippiness, and recoil control.
- Insulation against heat: Black rubber grips don’t typically get too hot to hold, even when left in direct sunlight on a hot day. They also insulate your hands from a hot firearm during long strings of fire.
- Durable against bumps and scratches: The synthetic rubber material resists showing scratches and isn’t easily cut or abraded by impacts.
- Pick a color: Rubber grips can be made in any color, and the coloring penetrates throughout the material.
Disadvantages of rubber handgun grips
- May increase printing for CCW: If you’re trying to conceal your handgun beneath a shirt, a sticky rubber grip can give you away as your cover garment clings to it and bunches up. They can also make it difficult to draw from a pocket.
- Can get slippery when wet or oily: Some rubber grips are actually worse than other materials when they get wet or oily, as far as traction or grip is concerned.
- Fairly plain or cheap appearance: A lump of black rubber isn’t usually considered the most attractive or high-end option for a handgun grip material. To improve grip performance, many rubber grips have pronounced finger grooves, which some find unattractive.
G-10 handgun grips (G10), micarta, carbon/matrix
G-10 image courtesy of VZ Grips
G-10 has become one of the most popular materials for custom handgun grips and knife handles/scales due to its extreme durability and versatility. G-10 is a layered or woven fiberglass/epoxy laminate created by soaking layers of fiberglass in epoxy resin, stacking them into desired layers or color patterns, and then under heat and pressure, those layers are permanently fused together into sheets or rods. Grip manufacturers can then cut these sheets into rectangular blanks and machine them into whatever shape is desired using a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) mill.
Advantages of G-10 handgun grips
- Incredible durability: G-10 has extreme strength and toughness, and provides a lifetime of use without maintenance. It’s very resistant to breakage, even when cold.
- Moisture and solvent resistance: Unlike wood and some polymer grips, G-10 isn’t impacted by gun solvents or oils, or by water. Mud, blood, or other contaminants can easily be washed off. The material doesn’t swell when soaked in water. Properly textured G-10 grips can provide similar traction for your hands both wet and dry.
- Doesn’t corrode or deteriorate: G-10 isn’t desirable to insects and doesn’t oxidize or corrode. It doesn’t become brittle or soften over time.
- UV resistance: You may find some dark G-10 colors might fade somewhat when exposed partially to sunlight over a long period, but those conditions almost never occur in actual use. Generally, G-10 is considered impervious to sun/UV exposure.
- Excellent insulator: G-10 is a non-conductor, which is why it’s also used in making printed circuit boards for computers. It doesn’t transfer or retain heat. It doesn’t swell or shrink when exposed to very high or very low temperatures. It’s rated up to 180 degrees Celsius (356 F).
- Can be milled into any shape or texture imaginable: Due to its toughness, G-10 can be cut with very aggressive textures, unconventional shapes, or left mostly smooth with a pleasing, moderately grippy surface.
- Relatively lightweight: Some woods may even be heavier than some types of G-10, but in general, G-10 is comparable in weight or slightly heavier than wood. This allows customization of your handgun without changing its balance or handling unless desired.
- Extremely diverse appearance: The fiberglass layers allow an essentially infinite variety of color combinations, and milling through different layers can create attractive designs and results that aren’t possible with any other material.
Disadvantages of G-10 grips
- Cost: G-10 can be fairly pricey, particularly when aggressively milled or in exclusive patterns.
- Texture can be too aggressive: We mentioned this in the advantages portion above, but G-10 is so tough that it can hold very sharp points and aggressive texture patterns. This may be good for super-hard use with gloves or well-worn hands, but it can be painful or even cause abrasions or injury in some cases. However, since the level of texture is selected by the buyer, this isn’t usually an issue.
- Can be slippery: Smoother G-10 surfaces can become a little slippery when wet, similar to un-checkered wood.
- Plasticky or gimmicky appearance: Some people don’t find the somewhat plastic appearance of G-10 pleasing, and some designs and patterns can be frankly ugly.
Micarta and carbon laminates
Micarta image courtesy of VZ Grips
We’re including these here because they are constructed in very similar fashion to G-10, just with cloth or paper (in the case of Micarta) or carbon-fiber sheets in place of G-10’s fiberglass. All of these are resin-based laminates, but Micarta uses a phenolic resin. Micarta is very tough and exhibits similar properties to G-10, but isn’t quite as strong. Ivory-colored Micarta grips have the potential to visually mimic genuine ivory to a pretty satisfactory degree. Carbon-laminate or carbon-matrix grips can have a very attractive and modern appearance. Like Micarta and G-10, Carbon grips can be very tough, but they have the potential to be a little more brittle than the other resin laminates.
Grips made from animal tusk, horn, antlers, bone (ivory and others)
Image courtesy of Turnbull Restoration
Another very classic material for making premium handgun grips is ivory. This is most commonly Asian or African elephant ivory, but also walrus or whale ivory. For old-school, classic gun folks, nothing is as luxurious, nice to handle, and nice to shoot as a fine handgun with genuine ivory grips. Obviously, this is a very controversial material these days, and on July 6, 2016, a near-total ban on commercial trade in African and Asian elephant ivory went into effect in the United States. This is in accordance with the implementation of the conditions of the 1996 Endangered Species Act (ESA). There’s essentially now a worldwide ban on the sale of elephant ivory items with very specific exceptions. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has published a handy ivory.pdf that helps to clarify the somewhat confusing legality of owning, purchasing, or selling ivory items. If you are considering purchasing or selling handgun grips made of ivory, you should definitely bone up on the law (pun intended). Due to the effective ban on ivory, several makers of imitation ivory grips have emerged, such as Magna-Tusk and Resin-Ivory.
Image courtesy of Eagle Grips
Indian Sambar stag grips are another highly desirable item historically, but which have become very difficult to obtain over the past decade or so. The material isn’t banned from importation or prohibited to buy or sell, and the Sambar stag isn’t an endangered species. However, India has essentially stopped its exportation due to concern that people collecting the valuable Sambar antlers will interfere with Bengal tiger breeding or feeding, since those endangered cats share the same habitat with the stag population. If you can find them, Sambar stag grips are harder, denser, heavier, and have redder bark (and are much more expensive today) than American Elk antler grips, which are sometimes called stag even though that’s not really an accurate designation. Elk and moose antler grips can be a very attractive alternative, and the pricing for those is still fairly reasonable.
Image courtesy of Wicked Grips
Mammoth ivory is a material that has come into vogue over the past decade in particular, since trade of non-fossilized elephant ivory has become so problematic and restricted. Mammoth tusks and molars aren’t banned federally, and they can exhibit some visual similarities to elephant ivory. However, they are generally much different in appearance, with many fissures, cracks, and voids in the ivory material that have become mineralized over the millennia and filled in with what is essentially rock.
There have been handgun grips made from many other types of animal-sourced materials, such as boar tusks, hippo tusks, narwhal ivory sea cow bone, sperm whale teeth, walrus tusk, warthog tusks, giraffe bone, elk antler, moose antler, water buffalo horn, sheep horn, and more. All of these can be attractive and relatively durable as handgun grips, but it’s your responsibility to make sure it’s legal to buy them in your state.
Advantages to animal-sourced grips (ivory, stag, bone, tusk etc.)
- Classic looks and feel: There’s nothing like real ivory, stag, or bone grips as far as appearance and feel.
- Pride of ownership: Ivory grips or other rare/desirable materials can elicit pride of ownership like nothing else for those who have longed to have them.
- Functionality: Stag grips in particular offer very durable performance as well as enhanced grip, depending on the bark. Ivory is fairly durable if of good quality. Many bone or horn grips are extremely hard.
Disadvantages to animal-sourced grips
- Ethically questionable: Even if you love them, these types of materials are undeniably hot topics today as to whether they should even exist. They can cause very intense reactions in some people.
- Expense: Some of these kinds of grips can go for several thousand dollars or more, depending on type and provenance.
- Fragility: Compared to G-10 or even quality wood grips, some ivory, bone, or stag grips chip easier, shrink faster, and crack more readily.
- Required maintenance: Ivory and some others of this type must be oiled with mineral or lemon oil, or waxed with renaissance wax to help prevent drying, shrinking, and cracking. They may eventually crack anyway.
- Legal issues: It’s your responsibility to learn and follow all federal and state laws regarding handgun grips made from animal parts. Some states have banned their sale altogether.
Aluminum grips
Image courtesy of Hogue Grips
Custom pistolsmiths have been fashioning handgun grips from metals such as pewter, silver, brass, bronze, and even gold for centuries (check out these amazing shipwreck patina copper grips from Wicked Grips, for a modern example). However, most metal handgun grips you’ll find today are made from aluminum. While comparatively rare, they are available from several makers.
Advantages of aluminum grips
- Very consistent material: There are rarely defects or voids in aluminum billet, which is what the majority of this type of grip is made from.
- Very durable: Aluminum doesn’t have the tensile strength of most steels, but when properly alloyed and anodized it can be extremely durable.
- Excellent traction: Checkered or stippled metal surfaces provide the pointiest, grippiest surface possible in handgun grips, to the point where they can be made so sharp as to be painful to hold if you’re not wearing gloves or your hands are not calloused.
- Appearance: The metal finish of aluminum can appeal to those fond of industrial or steampunk aesthetics. It can be satisfying to own and hold a firearm made entirely out of metal. Aluminum can be machined into designs and shapes that would become fragile if made of wood or other organic materials.
Disadvantages of aluminum grips
- Weight: Depending on the species of wood and the alloy, aluminum is generally 2 to 5 times heavier than wood. This can be a good thing if you’re trying to reduce recoil, but on a carry gun it can add up.
- Heat: Aluminum grips, particularly in darker colors, can get blazing hot if left in the sun. If you’re at an outdoor handgun class on a sunny day, for example, or are shooting a handgun match with your holstered pistol sitting in the sun for hours. People have suffered burns. Additionally, aluminum transfers heat from a hot gun very rapidly. So if your handgun gets hot during long strings of fire, choose different grips.
- Damage can’t be easily touched up: Any impacts, scratches, or damage that goes through the anodizing or clear coat of an aluminum grip will be tough to repair. A wood grip can be filled, sanded, stained, and even re-checkered to the point that the break or defect is invisible. Not so with aluminum, which requires a lot more work (or simple replacement) if damage is significant.
Some top handgun grip makers to consider
Keep your guns (and grips) secure in a Liberty Safe
A properly dehumidified safe is one of the best places to store not just firearms, but valuable firearms stocks and grips. Too much humidity can cause swelling and mold, and too little can cause drying, shrinking, and cracking. If you have a safe, check out our options for humidity control. If you don’t yet have a quality, US-made gun safe, Liberty can help sort you out. Check out our online catalog or visit a showroom in your area.
