I like Smith & Wesson semi auto pistols. Well, not the water pistol quality
high tech polymer frame M&P guns. Nor am I a huge fan of the 1911 pattern guns. Which statement I realize will raise some peoples’ blood pressure to dangerous levels, but it stands none the less. The guns I like are the so called 3rd Generation semi automatics that were made from the late 1980’s until the mid 2000’s. They were produced in a dizzying number of variations to the point where there were jokes about the S&W semi automatic of the month club.

That notwithstanding, they were well designed guns that many police agencies adopted a service weapons and many civilians bought for personal protection, target shooting, or just because they appreciated a quality firearm.

These guns were and are reliable, accurate, easy to maintain, and didn’t break much.

Almost flawless, but very few things are flawless. In the case of the 3rd Generation guns, the grips were a weak spot. The original grips are made of Delrin, a high tech thermoplastic. It has a lot of virtues, but as used in the S&W guns it has a slippery feel. At least it does to me. Fortunately, Hogue made, and in some cases still makes, a more rubbery replacement grip for many of the 3rd Generation guns. Unfortunately, those grips are thicker than the factory grips and many people find them uncomfortable.

Here is one of my 3rd Generation guns, a 3913TSW. A very accurate, easy to shoot, easy to carry semi auto. Here is a picture of the firearm as I bought it. You can see the Hogue grips, which a previous owner had cut to fit t he shorter TSW frame. While the gave a good grip, they shape of the grips pushed one of my fingers up against a sharpish edge. Which was uncomfortable and didn’t help my accuracy. Which, believe me, needs as much help as possible.

So, I swapped those out for the original factory grips. Which were nice, but had sort of a slippery feeling, again not conducive to accurate shooting.

I searched around for a solution for several weeks. Some people suggested “stippling” which involves using a soldering iron to make the grips grippier. Simple and cheap, but time consuming and runs the risk of ruining the grips.

Then someone suggested skateboard tape. Seemed like a good idea, as it’s grippy, sticks on quite well, and is relatively inexpensive. Even if it didn’t work, I could just take it off and start over. A search on Amazon.com returned some interesting results. The most interesting wasn’t skateboard tape at all, it was GT-5000 grip tape. I liked the idea of this, especially that it was purpose designed for handguns. I ordered a six pack from Amazon, figuring I’d need about five attempts to get it right.

Well, I was wrong about that, it’s actually pretty easy. The package comes with the tape and detailed instructions. Here are some pictures of my installation of the 3913TSW.

First, I cut a pattern using an index card. Since the grips are symmetrical, only one pattern is needed. Just remember to flip the pattern over when you cut the second side.  The blue stuff is masking tape. Put the masking tape on to the backing of the Grip tape and then cut along the lines.

Peel off the backing, with the masking tape attached, and carefully apply the Grip Tape to the factory grips.

Here are a couple of pictures of the now grippy grips with the Grip Tape applied.  I allowed the tape to sit over night so that the tape could adhere completely. I also ran a short strip down the back strap of the grips.

The change in the feel of the grip is substantial to say the least. It feels like a different firearm in my hands hands and I expect that my shooting might improve somewhat.

Now, if the snow will only melt enough for me to get to the range to run some ammunition through this, I’ll know for sure.

At the rate we’re going, that could be July.

I think this is pretty good stuff, reasonably priced, and effective. Even if it needs to be replaced in a year or two, it’s cheap enough to do without putting a noticeable dent in my finances.