Grip options?

Will there be any grip options on the Shorty? I ask, because I prefer the looks of the one on the prototype photos to the one on the product page.

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Permalink Reply by Arne Boberg on February 10, 2010 at 4:08pm

Funny you should ask. Our complex-pattern grips have been a challenge for our supplier. We may have to simplify our grips a little bit, but don't know for sure just yet. For mother-of-pearl type grips, we will have to have a "plain" look, which can also be made in other colors. This simpler grip will require a tooling investment that will have to be saved for later.

The prototype grips you see was all I could come up with as a mechanical engineer. I was inspired by the looks of the newer Berettas and Walthers who had true artists create their shapes. So I hired an industrial design firm to see what could be done. They came up with a half-dozen or so concepts (which I could post at some point). While the internals were not affected by our "improved" styling, I and many others felt it would have broader appeal in a highly competitive and stylized market.

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Permalink Reply by VMole8 on February 13, 2010 at 1:10am

Whatever the end result looks like, they should provide a solid grip when wet, muddy/bloody, or dry, and slide cleanly against soft cloth on the back strap and side panels. The front strap can be aggressively checkered down the middle as it's unlikely to catch a shirt there. Typically, serrations are preferred to checkering on cloth contact points, though if the bumps are smoothely rounded it can work well. Serrations can be swept in different directions to counter grip pressure under recoil.

You might browse some 1911 custom grip images on the web for ideas for a simple, shallow-moldable pattern. You could try squiggly serrations running vertically down the back strap, and relatively wide, corrugation-like grooves vertically matching the grip angle on the sides, with narrower horizontal serrations starting parallel to the base at the bottom, then gradually angling up toward the front as they move up the grip until maybe 40* from horizontal. A smooth melt could follow the line of the finger to the trigger on both sides from the mid-point forward to prevent chafing and provide index. This combination would symmetrically, but precisely, maximize grip control in all relevant directions under recoil. It would probably look pretty cool, too.

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Permalink Reply by chaggy on March 7, 2010 at 4:07pm

I personally think the latest revison of the grips is the most appealing and hopefully you don't have to change them too much for final production. They compliment the pistol well and look like they would perform solidly.

Arne Boberg said:

Funny you should ask. Our complex-pattern grips have been a challenge for our supplier. We may have to simplify our grips a little bit, but don't know for sure just yet. For mother-of-pearl type grips, we will have to have a "plain" look, which can also be made in other colors. This simpler grip will require a tooling investment that will have to be saved for later.

The prototype grips you see was all I could come up with as a mechanical engineer. I was inspired by the looks of the newer Berettas and Walthers who had true artists create their shapes. So I hired an industrial design firm to see what could be done. They came up with a half-dozen or so concepts (which I could post at some point). While the internals were not affected by our "improved" styling, I and many others felt it would have broader appeal in a highly competitive and stylized market.