Ivorex Grips on my Vaquero broke!

M

mini14jac

New member
I've had my awesome .357 (stainless with Ivorex grips, 4 5/8 in barrel) Ruger Vaquero for about 2 months.
Last night me and my oldest daughter took it to the range.
With 158gr. .38 bullets, it is dead on.

On total, I have shot maybe 120 rds throught it.
That includes about 20rds of 125gr. jhp .357.
Last night I noticed that the grips were a little loose.
Using a small screw driver, I started tightening the screw.
It turned and turned until it actually protruded out the other side.

I loosened the screw and took the grips off.
On the right side, a piece about "nickel sized" had broken off of the inside, just under the screw hole. :(

I seldom use my awesome gorilla strength :rolleyes: on any screw, and I certainly don't feel like I over-torqued the grip screw.
I had recently installed a Wolff spring kit, but put the grips back on with only moderate force.

The good news: I called Ruger this morning, and they are sending new grips free. :eek: :) :) :D :D :cool:
The nice lady said she would include a return ticket for the defective grips.

I was just wondering if anyone else has had a problem with the Ivorex grips?
Are they going to be too delicate for a general purpose firearm?
:confused:
 
The same thing happened with the stag grips on my Colt. The screw wouldn't tighten up, so I took the grips off, and there it was. A broken piece on the inside. It was still in one piece, so I glued it back and tightened the grips the next moring. It's been years and the grips are still tight.

KR
 
I split a genuine ivory grip on a Colt LW Commander in .38 Super. That was a sick feeling.

Real pearl, along with fake pearl, and fake ivory grips are pretty brittle (both fakes being basically plastic). Many grip makers will not warranty if you shoot the gun. Real ivory not so bad, but they can brak, too (as I found out).
 
I tossed a set of Ajax synthetic Ivory grips away recently. I've never shot particularly "heavy" loads out of my 44 Vaquero, but BOTH grips developed cracks in odd places. ie on the bottom of the grips, along the back strap, etc. i replaced them with a set of Eagle Buffalo Horn grips that are really slick (though it took 2 tries to get a set that fit)

My Vaquero didn't ship with those fancy ivorex grips, and I couldn't find a place on the Ruger website to order a set, I'd still like to have a set of the white ones with the Ruger logo.
 
Lett's Ivory Micarta

I've had some Lett Ivory Micarta grips on a Blackhawk for three years with no problems. The fit was perfect and micarta is a tougher material than ivorex, in my opinion. They come in black, too.
www.lettgrips.com
 
Like another poster, I had the unhappy experience of a set of real ivories breaking on an old .44 Flattop--and lost the corner chunk in the bargain. I eventually found a guy that had a selection of ivory scraps and we were able to match the missing part closely. He pinned and glued it and it now looks ok.

If the grip can move and 'work' a little, or if the pin holes are a little large, breakage is a risk on some of these materials--even wood sometimes. I would be inclined to acraglass that area to reduce the odds of that happening.
 
My ivorex grips are chipping on a bisley-vaquero .44 mag.
Right on the top where they meet the lip on the top.
It's gotta go back to ruger anyway, it doesn't shoot to poa.
 
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