The Shootin Iron

Dec. 01, 2005 By Rod Stallings

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Customizing Your Single Action Grips

Written By: Rod Stallings

As I have stated in other articles, I absolutely love custom grips. I think that its one of the best ways to add a personal touch to any gun. There are a lot of beautiful custom grips available from any number of grip makers. But the only problem with these grips, as far as I am concerned, is that there is the possibility of someone having the exact same grip I do. One thing my wife rides me about more than any other, is my inability to leave good enough alone. Nothing, and I mean nothing, I have hasn't gotten some form of custom treatment. Obviously I couldn't leave good enough alone with my grips either. Now I will say that I hate to start dinkin with a set of high dollar custom grips, well actually I won't. But a set of stock wood grips are fair game. Ruger, which you should know by now I have a penchant for, supply some really nice wood grips with their single action line of guns. These grips make a great basis for such custom work. There are a ton of different things that can be done, from coating the stock grips with a nice tung oil to completely refinishing them. My standard operating procedure, especially on stainless steel guns, is to get the darkest stain I can find, sand the grips down, coat with the stain and apply a tung oil finish. This provides a slightly darker shiny finish, dependent on how you do it, that looks great against the stainless frame. Its tough to screw this up because the standard finish only allows moderate penetration of the new stain, that's why sanding is a must. Here you can let your imagination run wild, I have even seen nicely done fade jobs done using multiple stain darkness' gradually up or down the grip. In a more recent job, I removed the Ruger emblem from the grip and replaced it with a "Texas Ranger" tie tack. These tie tacks were available from the "Texas Ranger Hall of Fame" in Waco for only about $7 each. They are nice small, about ¾ of an inch, polished metal pendants that are formed like badges. I used a grinding bit and hollowed out a recess for the badges to fit into where the old emblem's were. I then refinished the grips in a darker finish, to make the badge stand out, and covered it with about 3 coats of tung oil. Then I epoxied the badges in place. They look great, and I now have a set of grips that no one else has.

Another thing I like, that wood grips are perfect for, is brands. I have a brand that, as soon as the small iron I am fashioning, will appear on every wood stock and grip I own. I am making it small enough that its visible but not obtrusive on the overall look of the piece. I know some people who have had brands engraved on the frames of their guns, but for me this is a bit drastic. I can never tell when someone will offer me more than I can refuse on a gun, and when they do I don't want my brand on the metal. But I will say that a brand on the top of the backstrap looks great. Overall the only limitation to what you can do to your wooden grips is your imagination, your skill at handy work, or your budget for custom engraving or finishing. So take those plain stock grips off today and get to work. Tomorrow you might just have a one of a kind piece that everybody will want. Good Luck! Hijinx