Grip modification for P80's (not stippling)

[One Ping Only]

Since this subject came up in another thread (the PSA Dagger), I wanted to throw it out here....for me, I'm not a fan of the P80 grip ergonomics whatsoever. Esp the 19 & larger frames. It's just too doggone 'rounded 2x4-ish' and has no friendly features that are comfortable. With our SC's, i use Hogue Handall grips for some palm-swell and comfort, and using a G19 mag with a XGRIP sleeve, the grip is pretty comfortable overall. Even just with the SI EMP+2 it's better so you have a place for your pinky and two extra rounds, but the XGRIP/G19 mag in the SC feels pretty ergonomic on the PF940SC.

I also have the PF940 (G19) and it's a hot mess. While you have more to grip overall than the SC (which will mitigate squirm under fast follow up shots) you feel like you're handling a rounded 2x4 and there is no contact between the inner palm center of hand, and the grip surface. It's just too flippin flat. So I added a magwell from Agency arms, that sits below a Hogue Handall Beavertail sleeve I installed. While the hogue has definitely taken the 'flatness' out of the feel somewhat, I never wanted the finger grooves those have and it feels like it crowds my fingers pretty tightly, and my middle finger up against the trigger guard. And it still feels "squarish". I haven't been the range with it yet to see how I fare.

But I'll say this, grabbing one of our GST-9 frames after handling P80's G19 variant gives a definitely "AHHHH" moment to the hand. It's much more comfortable. I know the stigma/history of 80%Arms and MGB; but their grip is IMO FAR superior to P80. I'm ready to cannibalize the P80 and put all the innards back into a GST-9 frame. We'll see.

So, what can be done with the P80 grip? It doesn't look like we have much to work with as far as re-contour, and it's as slab-sided as a freezer door. Maybe some sort of subtle palm swell add-on without a whole sleeve? How about the contour on the front and backstrap? It just doesn't look like there are too many directions we can go. I really respect P80, but this is something that needs to be vastly improved. Thoughts? Is there anything we can do to improve the P80 grip?

 

[Michele]

There were a couple of members at the MGB forum that did mods on the frame/ grip. I have 1 article on that by capMcnuggets . Wish I grabbed more stuff from the customize area. I didn’t even get all my stuff.
As I remember the guys Dremeled /sanded to prep an anchor tooth. Used JB weld (tube type) to build up and customize the grip to fit the hand.
Can’t really remember any other names. Beside CapMcnuggets and maybe Hawkeye ? Haven’t seen either of them around.

I know Hawkeye did some of the best frame custom jobs. Remember a seriously hot lookin snake or serpent he did, was really very nice. If anyone has contact with him I’d love to see him fabulous work here. He’s extremely talented ! I believe he does etching as well.

Edit: I’ll prep that article by Cap and get it up sometime this week for ya.

 

[Mooner]

Hawkeye made home in ftq80.info, you can look at his builds there. He sure does awesome crazy custome jobs. He does frame mod, jb weld custom magwell, frame logo then stipple, etch barrel, and finishes off with custome gunkote paint job.

About P80 grips... I would approaches two different way.

First method - Taking materials off.
Slowly sand and contour the grips.

Second method - adding materials. JB weld or plastic weld. Then ton of sanding.

Most likely you probably need to do both. I doubt you will achieve Dagger grip profile with just sanding. You will need to add materials on the palm and side of p80 grips.

 

[One Ping Only]

Michele, thank you very much. I wasn't sure if I was beating a dead horse or just treading on a subject no-one wants to discuss. Since I'm not into sacred cows, I decided to throw it out there, as I'm pretty happy with everything on my P80's except for the slide lock spring pocket shallowness on the PF940C, and the grip on the compact and full frames themselves.

 

[One Ping Only]

Hawkeye made home in ftq80.info, you can look at his builds there. He sure does awesome crazy custome jobs. He does frame mod, jb weld custom magwell, frame logo then stipple, etch barrel, and finishes off with custome gunkote paint job.

About P80 grips... I would approaches two different way.

First method - Taking materials off.
Slowly sand and contour the grips.

Second method - adding materials. JB weld or plastic weld. Then ton of sanding.

Most likely you probably need to do both. I doubt you will achieve Dagger grip profile with just sanding. You will need to add materials on the palm and side of p80 grips.

Thx mooner. And exactly what I'm suspecting. Adding AND subtracting material. I may be mistaken, but this won't be a simple task, but a complete re-work.

C'mon P80, you can do it. Pls give us something BETTER than where you've been. NEXT LEVEL on those grips. Please.

 

[Mooner]

C'mon P80, you can do it. Pls give us something BETTER than where you've been. NEXT LEVEL on those grips. Please

I doubt they would change anything if at all. Probably will be all 100% soon anyway. They have not listen to build community in yrs.

Instead of grip work, try stipple first. Baby steps... you know!!! Then some boarder here and there. Make it all shinny with frame polishing. Then try some serious frame modifications.

 

[One Ping Only]

I doubt they would change anything if at all. Probably will be all 100% soon anyway. They have not listen to build community in yrs.

That's disgusting. And enough of a reason to look elsewhere. I joined over at the ftq site (I'm FoghornLeghorn) to nose around and see if anything is over there to help on this issue. Thx!

 

[One Ping Only]

I doubt they would change anything if at all. Probably will be all 100% soon anyway. They have not listen to build community in yrs.

Instead of grip work, try stipple first. Baby steps... you know!!! Then some boarder here and there. Make it all shinny with frame polishing. Then try some serious frame modifications.

See, with the PF940SC (G26), just adding the Hogue, the G19 mag and XGRIP sleeve, completely changed the overall feel from what is the traditional P80 2x4 feel. It's pretty good and may end up being my #1 over their G19 PF940C. The SC is such a flexible platform anyways, and mine is DEADLY accurate, even with that short barrel. We'll see.

 

[Mooner]

Let me try to describe my stippled frames later. Hard to write n add photo on mobile. Be back soon

 

[Michele]

I’m not inclined to join another forum for my own reasons. If you go there, look at Hawkeyes’ stuff…that skill should be bottled and sold . Would be great if he’d post his stuff here. I miss seeing his stuff. He’s one hell of an artist.

 

[One Ping Only]

I’m not inclined to join another forum for my own reasons. If you go there, look at Hawkeyes’ stuff…that skill should be bottled and sold . Would be great if he’d post his stuff here. I miss seeing his stuff. He’s one hell of an artist.

That's the only reason I've joined is re other peeps' work such as Hawkeye's. I like it just fine right here.
"Ah yes Doctor Jones, we are all fine right up here." lol

 

[Mooner]

For me, I needed to slim P80's 2x4 grip, Hogue grip didn't work for me since it added thickness.

My first stipple attempt was on Casper build. I took my time and sanded off the P80's texture. As you can see from the below photos, sanding off removed maybe about 1/8" of materials. I left the OEM border, at this time I did not work on any board.



This one is the latest stipple work. I have gotten lazy and instead of sanding, which is the longest part of the process, I just re-melted P80's texture using a blank stipple tip.



Because the material wasn't taken off, the latest frame does not feel as nice as the Casper frame. What do I mean by nice... ok on the Casper Frame, I feel as if I'm getting more purchases on the frame. I feel as if I can hold more of the frame. Very subjective yes I know, difficult to describe until you are holding two frames side by side. Some stipple vendor does grip reduction service, I assume it is similar process. Hope that makes some sense.



Dagger I feel better than Casper frame. I know I can shoot better and faster too.
Must be the combo of all the little ergo update they did to it.
The contour, palm swell, single finger groove, small front mag well lip, texture.
I read that PSA really took time and care into the frame ergo.
PSA really did a good job on not just a frame, I mean the whole Dagger for $300
Rumor has it they are working on 43X Dagger... Oh boie, I might have to ditch my Stipple 43X

 

[One Ping Only]

I just found a TalonGrips decal set aside for my PF940C.I removed the Hogue Handall and to if this is any better. That sucker gave me a fight the whole way and three blisters on my thumbs, but I removed it intact!

Hopefully the TG will improve the feel without adding any more bulk. Will report when installed.

 

[One Ping Only]

Just trimmed the TalonGrip to fit the frame with the Agency Sentinel Magwell & installed it. This was a big step in the right direction. Though it still feels "blocky" it's not crowded feeling like the Hogue with the raised finger grooves. So there's a tradeoff by sacrificing the Hogue palm-swell, but overall the PF940C's grip feels better, and I'll say it's a feel between bare, and the Hogue Handall beavertail. SLabsided still, but acceptable I think. Will post a pic after I do the heat/shrink/bond session. It's amazing how just a thin, rubberized decal can change the feel of the frame.

 

[One Ping Only]

Oh my. While I'd prefer just a wee bit of palm swell, this is pretty doggone good with the TalonGrip alone. The Hogue, while a great asset on the SC, is just too cumbersome on the 19 frame for me with those cast-in finger grooves etc and the magwell, imo. OTOH, the OEM bare frame is too blocky, and I'm amazed how much difference the TalonGrip makes with such a thin rubber decal, but it works and I think I can live with this. Here's a few quick n dirty snaps. Can't wait for the new slide & barrel to come in for some range action!

 

[Hawkeye]

Some of my first build I put the talon grips on, they were an improvement but once I started do stippling that's the way to go for changing the feel of a grip. Even though you take off a very little stock on the grip the stippling will feel like you have added material.
I went back to all my early builds and stippled them all. I never thought I would like the stippling because I'm an old rubber grip guy on my 1911 But if I could come up with some plastic grips, I could stipple for the 1911 I would try it out. Not only does the grip feel bigger you have a better hold on the pistol.

 

[Racer88]

Oh my. While I'd prefer just a wee bit of palm swell, this is pretty doggone good with the TalonGrip alone. The Hogue, while a great asset on the SC, is just too cumbersome on the 19 frame for me with those cast-in finger grooves etc and the magwell, imo. OTOH, the OEM bare frame is too blocky, and I'm amazed how much difference the TalonGrip makes with such a thin rubber decal, but it works and I think I can live with this. Here's a few quick n dirty snaps. Can't wait for the new slide & barrel to come in for some range action!

View attachment 2952View attachment 2953

I like the Talon grips. The stock grips on my FNH pistols were actually too aggressive, and I found them uncomfortable, especially on my FNP-45T. So, I covered them up with the rubber Talon grips:

 

[One Ping Only]

I too, like the texture of the rubber TG. I haven’t encountered their newer pro variant as i have no need of something more aggressive.