Source for THINN grips for 1911. Please advise.

O

oktagon

Moderator
I have just gotten a "new" 1911. I am planning to have some reversable mods done on it (it is 1943 Colt with British markings! one of 1536 acording to 1911.org).
I need to find a very thinn wood panels for it. I have Hogue exotic hardwood grips on my other 1911s, but this time I want something twice thinner then factory grips, but I want them to be wood and they have to be checkered.
Anybody knows the source of just such irem?

Thanx
 
Wilson concealed carry grips. 1/3 the thickness of the regular grip.

http://www.wilsoncombat.com/grips_2000.htm

They're a little expensive. $58.00 for the grips and 4 grip screws but it should be what you're looking for.

Again, I think the name of them is #433 Series Ulta Thin Concealed Carry grips. Hope this helps.
 
Chip McCormick makes nice ones for about the same price and you can get either smooth or checkered, plus they accept ambi safeties. We have several of these on our 1911s and really like them. If you go with CMC, give them a call and you can specify the color you want, or at least they will try to cater to your need as much as possible. If you don't like them, they will take them back.

http://www.shooterstore.com/acb/showprod.cfm?st=0&st2=0&st3=0&ObjectGroup_ID=129&CATID=187&DID=45
 
The McCormick's are great, they also come with a set of grip screw bushings and grip screws, that one of the reasons the slim grips are a little more expensive.
 
All of the thin grips that I have seen for the 1911s leave the plunger tube unprotected, not an ideal situation.

In 100,000+ rounds of 1911 shooting, I have never seen firsthand a gun put out of action by a damaged plunger tube, but it can happen.
 
Try Gunsite's Gunsmithy. They will do anything to a gun as long as it doesn't compromise reliability. Good prices too.
 
Okay, so why is leaving the plunger tube unprotected such a concern? I ask because I can't figure out why that would be such a significant issue. Is damage the concern? From looking at my 1911, it would appear that hitting the tube would be fairly difficult. The thumb safety extends out much wider than the plunder tube, so something like dropping the gun on that side would not damage the tube, but the butt end of the grip and the thumb safety. What am I missing?
 
As I stated above, I have never seen a plunger tube damaged unintentionally, it would be difficult to do. If the tube is damaged, or allowed to move too much if it gets loose, it can disable the safety, making it impossible to remove the gun from the safe condition. It can also causes the slide stop to malfunction, causing the gun to lock open after every shot, or fail to lock open on an empty mag.

Colt redesigned their rubber pebble texture wraparounds of about 15 years ago after complaints about exposed plunger tube damage. It is a 1 in 1,000,000 type of failure, but I like to cover all my bases. :) I just offered this little tidbit as a caveat.
 
I have installed thinner grip panels on all my 1911s. You can find them as listed above, but one point needs to be made. If your gun has an ambidextrous safety, the thinnest panels will not work, since they don't have room for the "groove" that covers the flat part of the right side safety. A good fix is NOT to cut material from the panel to expose the flat part of the safety, since it can sometimes work its way out of the gun. What I have done is take standard grip panels and using a belt sander grind them down 30-40%, recut the groove, and correspondingly reduce the length of the grip stanchions and screws. This process done carefully will result in stock panels that are noticeably thinner than standard, but with just enough material to cover the ambi safety properly. Good luck.
 
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