Altamont Grips

I bought a set for a model 10 I have in for re-blue, they are gorgeous, but no pictures yet. I have used them on a 1911 as well and they are gorgeous. Highly recommended. Here is my 1911 with Altamont grips.



Here you go, shot a quick picture of my Model 10, super rosewood, grips for you to take a look at......as you can see, they are very nice.

I just got these for my SBH yesterday: Super Rosewood, Fleur-de-lis.
The fit and finish was far better than what I was expecting!

I paid $38, and it was worth every penny.

I bought a set of their bonded ivory grips for my Ruger 50th anniversary 357 Blackhawk as well as my 44 special midframe Blackhawk. They are great and only $28 each plus shipping. I'm very pleased with them.

I got one set of their bonded ivory - SWEET!!! Quality is over the top, you definitely get what you pay for. I would not hesitate to do business with this company again.

I bought a set of ivory grip inserts for my sp101 .As soon as they arrived, I put them on the gun and overtightened the screw, snapping the grip panel in half. I called Altamont, mailed the broken panel back to them, and they replaced it immediately.
The Bonded Ivory panels look, feel and fit great.

AAA+ for Altamont.

Altamont is frequently chosen by major manufacturers such as Smith & Wesson, Colt and Ruger to make stocks for they're special runs. They also make both handgun and rifle stocks for regular production arms. Truth is, most of the company's business comes from within the industry. That in itself is a high recommendation. Unfortunately this sometimes slows delivery on individual orders, but the wait is worth it.

Are their Ruger Blackhawk grips thicker than the factory grips?
I need to replace the factory grips on my 1978 Single Six with some that are thicker. The factory grips are just too thin for my comfort.
Private Schultz makes nice grips, as does the guy at CLC Custom Grips. I have their grips on my BH .44 Special and ROA, respectively.
I want to give Altamont grips a try. I think their rosewood grips would look great on the blued Single 6. That, or their fake ivory.
But, they need to be thicker than the original 1978 Ruger panels to do what I need.

I'm thinking about getting their GP100 checkered or snakeskin pattern rubber grip and ivory or rosewood inserts for my GP, and their fingergroove grips for my Charter Bulldog and Taurus 85.
I just don't know whether I need the oversized or standard sized grips. I have a size large hand width and finger thickness, with a size medium finger length.

Not happy with the "super rosewood". Its super dark, i guess its luck of the draw and i usually don't win any kind of games of chance. I did however win some sub par customer service. sent wrong grips, then sent ones with damage, spent 5 minutes explaining my issues with the wood grips and they managed to screw up again by not sending replacements in the next box. Call again and again stress how i wanted the lightest rosewood grips they have. when i receive the replacement they are basically the same super dark boring looking wood grips(4 deliveries later).

Some of my favorites:

Are their Ruger Blackhawk grips thicker than the factory grips?

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Jaymo-- The SBH (with round trigger guard) pictured above, use the same grips as the 357 blackhawk and Single-Six (Not sure about the 1978 model). I purchased the XR grips from the Blackhawk/Single-Six section of their website.
I just measured them and they are 1.5" thick at the base of the butt.
I hope that helps.
Took a couple pics for ya.

I bought a set for my New Vaquero that I like but rarely ever use. The first set they sent me cracked while being installed and they sent the second set with no screws. I had a to call a couple times before I got someone on the phone who was helpful, once I did the problem was squared away pretty quickly.

One other problem was the grips didn't exactly march the description of the product on the website. I ordered black and silver grips and what I got was a blue'ish / silver. The customer service rep that I had initially spoke to told pretty much told me what I got is what they have but the person Spoke with who actually helped said he could replace them with the ones I had ordered. I end up keeping the blue ones because they are so unique and my wife loves them.

As for the grips themselves, they are comfortable and very nice looking. They do add some swell (which I originally wanted) but it turns out I really like the factory grips. Everyone else who shoots with me on a regular basis prefers the Altamonts. I believe my experience was an isolated one and I would recommend giving them a try. Here are my grips...




From looking at the pic, they look black and silver.



The fit is pretty much perfect. The screws tend to walk under heavy magnum recoil but that's easily remedied with some loc tight.

colorado_handgunner said:

I just ordered some of the boot grips in walnut. Looking forward to them arriving. I will post pics once they do.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

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Are those the J-frame grips with the partial checkering and S&W? If so, I've been looking closely at those but I'm hesitant as they may wind up in my grave yard of grips.

CO,

Those grips will look great on your revolver and I bet they will feel great too. Let us know how they work out for you.

I purchased a set for my S&W 617. I sent them back twice for bad fit. They issued a full refund after the second trip back. They treated me well, there was never any problem with customer service. After I sent them back the first time, I checked and found a few people on the S&W Forum that were having the same problems with poor fit on S&W double action revolvers.

Altamonts are fine, but keep in mind what you are getting is Dymondwood, which is plywood that has been compressed and injected with formaldehyde based compounds and dyes that transmogrify the wood into a substance with the properties of wood, brass, and hard plastic. You can't work on them yourself without proper safety equipment or you'll create a gas hazard, however the same could be said for many hardwoods as well. Materials such as G10 and Micarta are made with similar processes.

The companies that use Dymondwood, including Altamont and Badger, simply shape the product after acquiring Dymondwood blocks from a single national manufacturer.

That said, for what they are they are very good. I prefer Badgers boot grip to Altamonts boot grip on a J frame because Badgers leaves enough room to grip with the pinky. For that you pay almost double the price.

All said and done I don't think anything beats true hardwood in terms of look, feel, and classiness. But Dymondwood gets the nod on longevity and price.

Dymondwood is interesting in its presentation due to the dye process. They can be very artistically appealing. I am sure you will not regret the purchase

Altamonts are fine, but keep in mind what you are getting is Dymondwood, which is plywood that has been compressed and injected with formaldehyde based compounds and dyes that transmogrify the wood into a substance with the properties of wood, brass, and hard plastic.

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Source for this information please? I've looked at the inside machined area of my K frame grips and they certainly appear to be rosewood to me. I'm not a wood expert by any means, however, your information doesn't sound right to me based on what I see on my grips.

It is entirely possible Altamont works with hardwood as well as Dymondwood.

My experience is limited to their current offering of S&W J frame grips, which are clearly Dymondwood based on the pattern of the wood:

http://www.altamontco.com/experimental/products/pistol/smith_and_wesson/#Smith_and_Wesson_jframe.php

You can see each individual piece of colored plywood stacked laterally near the grip frame. Altamont themselves referred me to their source for Dymondwood when I called to ask about the material of the grip I received. They referred me to Rutland Plywood corporation, whom provided me with a material safety data sheet on the material. I was specifically concerned about the quantity of formaldehyde and phenol/epoxy resins that offgas naturally from the wood and increase when the wood is machined.

http://www.rutply.com/

Yours, however, may be in fact rosewood in which case you got a better deal than I did. However, the pictures you posted of model 10 super rosewood grips appear to be Dymondwood. Although there is nothing wrong with Dymondwood, I was under the impression of buying hardwood, as were you. The same thing happened to me when I received a pair of Badger grips in "Walnut" which were actually "Walnut flavored Dymondwood". I still like and use the grips. In some cases Rutland will compress hardwood plywood and then morph it into Dymondwood, further blurring the distinction between materials.

Altamont, at the very least, is generally more transparent in their use by labeling the wood "Super Rosewood" and "Super Walnut". In almost all cases Dymondwood will have near symmetrical lines on the front and rear surface of the grip frame where the plywood has been stacked and compressed.

That said I think the original posters grips will serve their intended purposes and be a fine upgrade to the OEM stocks... this is more of an academic point about many grip manufacturers today. Unless you had developed an allergic reaction to formaldehyde, in which case you would want to limit your exposure to Dymondwood. Cocobolo and other hardwoods often provoke an allergenic reaction in some folks as well.



Each line is one piece of super-compressed plywood, such that one Dymondwood grip may have as many as 30 - 50 pieces of compressed plywood visible.

The same markings are apparent on the "Walnut" versions posted by the OP as an example of the ones ordered, the ones posted by Skidder, and the super rosewood on your model 10. They do look nice, and probably used to be walnut, or rosewood, or birch, or some type of wood Rutland could probably tell you.

These types of material are often referred to as engineered wood laminates. It is used quite widely and not only in firearms but in knife handles, furniture, chess pieces, art, and other industry.

Thanks.....Good information.

Tony,

Thanks for posting, very informative. I knew my grips were not straight hardwood but I didn't know the technical details behind them.