Homemade grips and hairspray

[luvmyberetta]

I've heard others talking about making your own grip sleeves out of bicycle tire inner tubes and decided to give it a try. It actually works very well, as long as your not trying to increase the size of your pistol grip. You can slip one inner tube piece over another and get a thicker grip. A $4.00 tube makes about 10-15 grips depending on the length tube you get.

OK. Here's where the hairspray comes in. I used to work at a mountain bike shop years ago and often had to install thick or soft rubber handlebar grips, but they were notorious for slipping at the worst possible times. We learned if you spray a little hairspray on the handlebars before installing them they would stay put, no matter the abuse. I decided to try the same thing here. I cut and trim the inner tube to shape, sprayed a little hairspray on my pistol grip, and slipped the new rubber grip in place. Let it dry and you've got a good rubber grip that won't slip on you. The grip actually has a very good feel to it and only cost me about .50 cents when said and done.

[Westwindmike]

Great tip!

Thanks.

[Guest Bronker]

I've done this to all of my pistols. I love the feel and doesn't increase the grip size. Great tip.

[Guest josh123]

great idea...ive got an lcp and its a small gun and i know that but i have very big hands.. how many layers do you think you could overlap??

i might have to give this a try

[graycrait]

Great tip and IMHO better than all those finger grooved slip on grips out there.

[luvmyberetta]

great idea...ive got an lcp and its a small gun and i know that but i have very big hands.. how many layers do you think you could overlap??

i might have to give this a try

You could probably do a few layers, but I've not tried more than two. Worst case your out a few bucks on an inner tube. The hairspray makes the rubber just slick enough to slip over each other, but dries quickly. You can also try using bike handle bar tape wrap and then slip the inner tube over that. It could get you some thickness and a padded grip.

[JAB]

Good tip. I have used a dab or two of dishwashing liquid to get a Hogue grip sleeve to go on a couple of guns on which they were a tight fit. The dishwashing liquid does pretty much the same thing - makes it slippery enough to slide onto the pistol's grip but then is a little sticky when it dries.

I tried a bike tube grip sleeve on my P3AT for a while. It worked pretty well but I find that I actually prefer the 'finger groove' style grips. I did have one Hogue Handall, Jr. for my P3AT that was a little loose. My solution was to put a piece of bike tube over the grip of the pistol, put a little super glue on the outside of the bike tube then slip the Handall, Jr. over that. That way the Handall, Jr. was glued to the bike tube and not to the pistol, itself, and the bike tube was tight enough to hold the whole thing in place. I have since replaced the whole shebang with a new Handall, Jr. that, for whatever reason, is tight enough by itself without needing any help.

I put a Pachmayr 'finger groove' type grip sleeve on the P95 that I sometimes carry. I like it but it does make a noticeable difference in the thickness of the grip (which is already pretty thick in its own right.) My hands are big enough that it still works but I would say that the bike tube would be a great solution for those who want a sleeve but don't want/can't work with a thicker grip.

[creeky]

Pretty clever tip!

[Guest josh123]

well i just went out today and bought the supplies ill let u guys know how the layering thing goes