How about some pictures of your custom grips...

[JES14352]

Time for show and tell....

[45flint]

[TwoGunJayne]

...sweet pair of breaktops, but where is the stag for them?

[mouselvr]

Very nice!!

[45flint]

...sweet pair of breaktops, but where is the stag for them?

[Maccab]

They are simply spiffing 

[JES14352]

Very nice indeed. I hope you good folks keep the pictures coming...

[Goatpacker]

[Uncle_Lee]

For comfort and point ability I am sold on Cvang grips.

[I]

Can we get more pics in this thread? Thanks everyone!

[swolf]

Grips on the BW are silver polymer clay.  Experimental but fun and provide great purchase. 
Shorty is wearing scrimmed and relief carved hippo ivory.  LOTS of work and not the best fit.  I learned a couple tricks from 'Flint, so these I'll sell and make another set from a tusk I recently bought.

[TwoGunJayne]

Love those BW grips. The pics make them look really nice.

[postalman]

+1 on the BW grips. Nice!

[Rohn]

I agree great looking BW grips!!!

[45flint]

These are my newest but not quite finished,

[OV-1D]

 45Flint those pieces are simply beautiful , the colors are perfect , can't wait to see how much you leave after your done . Funny how antler is such a great medium to work with seems to bring out our ancestral roots . It would be outrageous to have finger holds , one or two built in . Good luck and happy carving .

[TwoGunJayne]

I kinda pictured an antler spike sticking down from the butt of the revolver... you know... for poking stuff.

[OV-1D]

  That's a really cool idea TwoGun , it would be a practical piece for close combat . I have some gorgeous set of full elk antler dried out to perfection but I'm chicken to cut into them  , have all sorts of grips staring at me , I'll just have to make that jump and go for it . That's one of the problems I don't know where to start . Soon though soon .

[45flint]

Those are moose by the way.

[phil7153]

First time poster and new NAA owner. I have a question for those here who have made their own grips, where do you get the hardware from (the escutcheons/ferrules)? I can not find any for a reasonable price. I made some grips out of polymer clay (which can be quite interesting) but cant find any hardware. Thanks

[I]

You can get them storebought, but specialty one-off catalogs that carry everything have huge prices for a small number of pieces. An example would be the supplier McMaster-Carr. Yeah, they have it all. Bring your checkbook, because those guys don't play nice if you're ordering less than 5 figures of pieces at a time on a contract. MSC Industrial supply is another example as well as Applied Industrial.

People with a lathe and a tap/die set turn their own no problem, no sweat, all day. That's actually what I think a custom fitting person should be doing. Their $65/hr or whatever seems cheaper than getting one-offs from the companies that cater to it. It's even cheaper if you're doing it for you (once you manage to pay off the lathe and the tap and die set.)

[phil7153]

You can get them storebought, but specialty one-off catalogs that carry everything have huge prices for a small number of pieces. An example would be the supplier McMaster-Carr. Yeah, they have it all. Bring your checkbook, because those guys don't play nice if you're ordering less than 5 figures of pieces at a time on a contract. MSC Industrial supply is another example as well as Applied Industrial.

People with a lathe and a tap/die set turn their own no problem, no sweat, all day. That's actually what I think a custom fitting person should be doing. Their $65/hr or whatever seems cheaper than getting one-offs from the companies that cater to it. It's even cheaper if you're doing it for you (once you manage to pay off the lathe and the tap and die set.)

I have found a few like you said from large companies that prefer to sell in bulk, but of the few that I have found they don't fit the purpose of grips on a NAA, as most are too big.

Maybe I will just have to buy a lathe...

[OV-1D]

First time poster and new NAA owner. I have a question for those here who have made their own grips, where do you get the hardware from (the escutcheons/ferrules)? I can not find any for a reasonable price. I made some grips out of polymer clay (which can be quite interesting) but cant find any hardware. Thanks

Making your own out of existing hardware from Ace hardware and a Dremel machine , really quick and easy . More or less a high speed hand lathe , works for me also check with your FFL guy for direction .

[45flint]

Two places to get hardware.  First call NAA they will sell you screws and escutcheons.  They have two lengths one for their regular grips and ones for their oversized.  I have found the oversized best for most of my grips.  NAA is the only place I know you can get really small screws.  I have used hardware from this supplier as well, screws are a little bigger, but work well and quality stuff.

http://vintagegungrips.net/es.html

Steve

[TwoGunJayne]

First time poster and new NAA owner. I have a question for those here who have made their own grips, where do you get the hardware from (the escutcheons/ferrules)? I can not find any for a reasonable price. I made some grips out of polymer clay (which can be quite interesting) but cant find any hardware. Thanks

Making your own out of existing hardware from Ace hardware and a Dremel machine , really quick and easy . More or less a high speed hand lathe , works for me also check with your FFL guy for direction .

With a bench vise on a wood table, cordless drill, some wood screws/wood scrap, and a few small metal plates, you can make your own lathe. Ding a metal plate with a punch and begin to drill a hole, but don't go all the way through. Screw wood brackets onto the table to hold the cordless drill and some string with a sliding knot is your "on switch," unless you've got a locking switch cordless drill. The depression in the metal plate is an improvised version of something called a "dead center," as opposed to a "live center" with bearings. You could also tap a screw through the plate if you would prefer the pointy version of a dead center.

Cost? Free, if you already have the stuff. It's mostly scrap. The main thing is the drill, everything else could literally come from the garbage.

Another fun tip is that you don't need a full band saw. A hand-electric bandsaw can be chucked horizontally or vertically in a bench vise. It's just the thing for roughing out shapes before fitting and combos great with an adjustable speed belt sander.

A real lathe is a luxury that a clever person can work around.

[OV-1D]

  TwoGun you sound like you got the right stuff , figuratively speaking also .

[phil7153]

First time poster and new NAA owner. I have a question for those here who have made their own grips, where do you get the hardware from (the escutcheons/ferrules)? I can not find any for a reasonable price. I made some grips out of polymer clay (which can be quite interesting) but cant find any hardware. Thanks

Making your own out of existing hardware from Ace hardware and a Dremel machine , really quick and easy . More or less a high speed hand lathe , works for me also check with your FFL guy for direction .

With a bench vise on a wood table, cordless drill, some wood screws/wood scrap, and a few small metal plates, you can make your own lathe. Ding a metal plate with a punch and begin to drill a hole, but don't go all the way through. Screw wood brackets onto the table to hold the cordless drill and some string with a sliding knot is your "on switch," unless you've got a locking switch cordless drill. The depression in the metal plate is an improvised version of something called a "dead center," as opposed to a "live center" with bearings. You could also tap a screw through the plate if you would prefer the pointy version of a dead center.

Cost? Free, if you already have the stuff. It's mostly scrap. The main thing is the drill, everything else could literally come from the garbage.

Another fun tip is that you don't need a full band saw. A hand-electric bandsaw can be chucked horizontally or vertically in a bench vise. It's just the thing for roughing out shapes before fitting and combos great with an adjustable speed belt sander.

A real lathe is a luxury that a clever person can work around.

You are much more ingenious than I. If I were to attempt this, I would end up with a drill spinning deathly sharp pieces of scrap metal at me.

I found some hardware at tombstone grips, hopefully they come before the 3-4 month time frame.

Just so I can contribute something to this thread, here is a mockup of a simple 10 minute polymer clay grip:

[nastruck]

I'm back to ask another stupid question. What is polymer clay? Is it durable? Is it hard to work with? I really like the ones on the BW and won't mind having a pair of my very own....

[grayelky]

There is a way to by-pass screws to hold grips on. A member of this board posted he uses magnets. The very strong, rare earth type, available from Home D and Lowes. I wish I could give credit where due, but I am not sure who it was. I trust some one will chime in and help out my "memory", or lack thereof.

[45flint]

There is a way to by-pass screws to hold grips on. A member of this board posted he uses magnets. The very strong, rare earth type, available from Home D and Lowes. I wish I could give credit where due, but I am not sure who it was. I trust some one will chime in and help out my "memory", or lack thereof.

That be me.



Gives clean look and you can changes grips in seconds.  Top pair is one above. My daily carry gun.

[phil7153]

Interesting... So you attach them magnet to magnet, instead of to the frame? I see you have carved out space for the mainspring, no problems yet?

[45flint]

Interesting... So you attach them magnet to magnet, instead of to the frame? I see you have carved out space for the mainspring, no problems yet?

Yes magnet to magnet very strong pull.  Don't want the magnets to touch frame and magnetize it, then it can collect metal filings etc.  no problems, weak point I think is attachment of magnet, could strengthen with pins or screw but have not had to. 

[I]

Good logic sir, but the NAA frame should be stainless. AFAIK, there are only two types of stainless that draw a magnet, the rest are non-magenetic and don't seem to conduct, attract, or affect a magnetic field. One of those is only very, very minorly magnetic. Also, fun fact... heat up any stainless and it goes nearly 100% non-magnetic extremely quickly compared to basically any tool steel.

Best way to kill a magnet? Heat.

[G50AE]

AFAIK, there are only two types of stainless that draw a magnet, the rest are non-magenetic and don't seem to conduct, attract, or affect a magnetic field. One of those is only very, very minorly magnetic. Also, fun fact... heat up any stainless and it goes nearly 100% non-magnetic extremely quickly compared to basically any tool steel.

18/10 Stainless steel is obviously magnetic because my All-Clad cookware works with an induction cook top.  The Aluminum and copper in the cookware are not magnetic materials, as aluminum and copper pans will not work with an induction cook top.

[TwoGunJayne]

Those things rock!