Patriot Defense plastic grip mods

[1eyedfatman]

Like many people, I like the PD plastic grips, but the right panel was too thick for my medium hands and made reaching the mag release a stretch.  But, I shoot my Lim Pro's Production and SSP, so weight is a big factor on my guns and lightweight grips like these are preferred.  I had Lava grips before these so my solution was to keep Lava on the right side which worked out very well (feels great!).  The left panel on the PD's are hard to beat (for a righty).  The large swell gives my left palm much more area to touch compared to the flat grips I had before.

I took my PD right panel and sanded it down massively with my Dremel, smoothed it out and then stippled it with a waffle head heat gun.  I had never done a grip reduction or stippling before, but as I have found out with my tanfo, if you are willing to put out the effort to tune it, then a very sweet shooting pistol can be had...VERY sweet!   This grip panel reduction was not difficult nor the stippling for a first timer.  The stippling went surprisingly quick but the reduction took time to wear it down.  I did do about 5 minutes of sanding after to smooth it out before the heat gun.

I have a 2nd set of PD grips on order for my 2nd gun and this project was to tune a right PD grip panel so I wouldn't have to use or buy something else for the right side.  The combo of a thick left panel and narrow right panel feels fantastic.

 

Edited July 14, 2017 by 1eyedfatman

[ClintMorris]

Looks great! I'll have to order some up, was holding off to see if they will release more color options soon

[Ck867]

I recall Patriot Defense stating that the grips can possibly be hollow. Any issues with sanding away too much?

[1eyedfatman]

35 minutes ago, Ck867 said:

I recall Patriot Defense stating that the grips can possibly be hollow. Any issues with sanding away too much?

 

To me it looked solid.  I took A LOT off and did not see any issues.  I used about a 1/2" Dremel sanding drum head and had to be careful not to angle it or the leading edge would cut a groove.  I used about 2nd-3rd speed when trying to take off material and 1st speed when trying to smooth it out.  The majority of the material was the lower half of the grip panel.  The heat gun did make the stippling somewhat glossy which I hope doesn't taking away from the grippy-ness.  ALL Dremel, sanding and stippling work was done with the panel OFF the gun.  I am going to try them out this weekend.

Edited July 14, 2017 by 1eyedfatman