Spitballlin' on Stupid Grips

C

Cosmodragoon

New member
Sure, the semi guys have high capacity and interchangeable magazines but not grips. We might have an interchangeable side panel or back strap, and that's still pretty novel in the market. Why not the whole grip? I know all the magazines and frames are different. I know that the handle is an integral part of semi design. Still, those revolvers guys can just swap the whole grip. I think being a revolver guy has spoiled me, especially with finger grooves.

I bring this up because I've fallen in love with the HK P30. This thing fits like a glove and it looks like a lot of people feel the same way. It seems like "ergo" grips are a new trend in the semi-market. I just wish the trend was a little further along. As I weigh the the difference between the P30 and P30L in 9mm vs .40, I couldn't help but notice that the ground-breaking recoil reduction system of the popular USP was not duplicated in the P30. It's a thousand-dollar gun with comfort as a selling point. You'd think they'd have incorporated their miraculous invention with that specific function!

I got to thinking about how I could get a P30 retrofitted with the USP recoil system or how I could get the P30 grips on a USP, but I'm guessing that could be a problem-filled and overly expensive project for a very expensive gun that I could just as easily not buy.

So, semi friends, ever have this kind of problem? Ever love a gun but hate the grip? Are there options out there I just don't know about?
 
The limiting factor in the size and shape of most semi-autos' grips is the size and shape of the magazine. On most semi-auto's the grip frame has to be at least large enough to enclose both the magazine and the mainspring and some designs have even more parts in the grip frame such as grip safeties and sear springs. Because of this, the grip of a semi-auto can only be made so small and the shape changed only so much.

A revolver's grip frame, on the other hand, usually only has to be large enough to contain the mainspring and mainsprings usually aren't all that large. Many people find revolvers with grips which are minimal in size (simply panels to cover the sides of the grip frame) to be quite small and often substitute them with larger grips.

Now, the magazine size issue could certainly be gotten around by designing a semi-auto with a magazine housed outside the grip frame (it's been done before). However, this usually makes the rest of the gun somewhat large and cumbersome and the last truly successful semi-auto to use such a design was probably the Mauser C96 "Broomhandle". Today, about the only reasonably popular semi-auto handguns with magazines outside the grip are "pistol" versions of semi-auto rifles like the AK-47 or AR-15 and the popularity of these guns is most likely due to their ability to avoid the red tape associated with owning a rifle with a barrel shorter than 16".
 
Cosmodragoon Wrote:
So, semi friends, ever have this kind of problem? Ever love a gun but hate the grip? Are there options out there I just don't know about?
Click to expand...


Never a problem for me. I won't bother with let alone buy a gun that has a **** of a grip shape. Good ergonomics are just but one of the many factors it takes for me to purchase a new gun.

Sure there are more options than what you might think. Starting with the 1911's that have many grip options. This would also include models like the CZ 75, Beretta 92, and Sig 226 to name a few. The Walther P-99 started the removable/adjustable back strap trend, which is a good one. Many have followed since and HK added the side panels with the P-30 and now the VP-9. The Sphinx SDP line has a removable/replaceable grip sections. It covers both sides as well as the back strap with one unit much like a Sig E-2 grip, but is three different sizes. The next option is the interchangeable frame for different grip sizes found on models like the Sig 250 and 320.

There are non adjustable grip models the feel both good and bad in my hands. Bad ones would be Glocks (even Gen 4's) and a good example would be the current Steyr line.

Plenty of options out there and more auto loading models with great ergonomics today than there was even ten years ago.
 
The P30 intentionally did not include the recoil reduction system. Done competition shooters complained that the USP system causes the gun to track oddly during fast strings. The P30 corrects that.

Both are great guns, they just feel a bit different during recoil. With that said, the P30 is still a very soft shooting gun. The USP has a better trigger, but the P30 has more ergonomic grips. Choose which is more important to you.

I love the P30 but I shoot the USP better.
 
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