Replacing a grip safety

[assaulter]

I don't like the feel of the stock grip safety on my Edge. Will an Ed Brown safety drop in, or will it need fitting? Same question for the thumb safety. It digs into the web of my hand. Will it need some blending there?

[lumpygravy]

Neither part is a drop-in.

The TS will definitely require fitting to ensure safe operation. You might get lucky with the GS if the radius matches the frame, but the trigger arm will probably need fitting, again, to ensure safe operation.

That's all before blending the rear area for comfort.

Many times, both the GS and TS need blending to the frame so that you don't get hot spots. That area is really nicely done on my limited gun and I still have a callous from use. I guess a callous is better than a raw, bloody open wound.

[2MoreChains]

I don't like the feel of the STI grip safeties either, and replaced them both on my STI Eagle and Trojan. For me the problem was the relief cuts on the beavertail allowed it to sit too deep in the web of my hand, resulting in slide bite. Plus there is that little corner where the relief cuts begins that would cause hot spots on the big joint of my thumb. Fortunately the Ed Brown grip safety has the right radius and cuts that matches the STI frames. Neither of mine were drop-in affairs, but it didn't take much fitting with hand files to blend it to the frame and I'm no gunsmith or dremel-jockey.

On my Eagle, I had to take down the width of the Ed Brown GS by a couple of thousandths to let it freely depress in the polymer part of the grip. Then the GS needed to blended since it was a little proud of the frame. I used a combination of flat and round files, then polished everything with emery paper to remove the tool marks. It took a couple of hours, going slow and testing a lot but the end result was a much improved grip and no slide bite or hot spots. It probably would have taken much less time had I used a dremel, but let's just say my skill level wasn't up to using a power tool just yet, and I'm better (or cause less damage) with hand files.

Get the Ed Brown series 70 grip safety, which also comes with the memory bump if that's what you want. Definitely well worth the $30 part and my time.

Oh, incidentally, changing out the grip safeties eliminated the rubbing that I was getting from the thumb safety. Originally I was also going to file down the bump on the thumb safety to blend it more into the frame, but once I had the Ed Brown GS installed I realized I wasn't getting rubbed by the thumb safety anymore. It was the proverbial two birds with one stone fix.