Tape on Rosewood grips

Cut sections of a bicycle inner tube and slide them up where they feel best. Probably, a piece in each finger groove will work.

Sand away all of the varnish and finish with several coats of boiled linseed oil instead - no finish on top of the wood, only IN the wood. If that doesn't work well enough to you, then stippling front and back portions of the grip will get you there without altering too much the appearance of the grips.

Mizar said:

Sand away all of the varnish and finish with several coats of boiled linseed oil instead - no finish on top of the wood, only IN the wood. If that doesn't work well enough to you, then stippling front and back portions of the grip will get you there without altering too much the appearance of the grips.

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Those grips appear to be Altamont, you cannot sand the finish off. These "rosewood" grips are actually birch impregnated with an acrylic material, so the "finish" is actually in the wood. Best solution is to buy some wood grips with an oil finish.

There is no way you can hurt the appearance of those grips.

Bob Wright

Checking will help and make the grips look as good or better. Please, no tape lol.

Some grips are for shooting and others are for looking. Those are "looking" grips. Maybe a set of Pachmyrs or Compacs are what you need to shooting.

Thank you for clarifying that, Bob!

ColtPythonElite said:

Cut sections of a bicycle inner tube and slide them up where they feel best. Probably, a piece in each finger groove will work.

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The adhesive from tape oozes out from under the strip, as it degrades, from time, sweat, humidity, and variations in temperature.
Assuming the glue doesn't adversely affect the Rosewood, you still get all that goop on your hands.
Hogue grips might be in order.

If OP is handy enough he could try some ersatz-stippling with a Dremel tool and a small size spherical bit. Done right it will look good and provide more than enough grip, not to mention that it will look much, much better than skateboard tape. Done wrong and he will need another set of grips...

Maybe use a shooting glove rather than mess with the grips?

Get a tennis ball and squeeze it while watching tv with your shooting hand. Stronger grip.

If excess sweating, there has to be a "pill" for that.

Buy a set of cheap plastic grips and fit pieces of skate board tape to them. Keep the pretty ones for show.

If you put a strip of skateboard tape where the backstrap would be, you might get enough grip without much effect on appearance. Maybe 1/4" wide and 3" long.

HB

As Bob pointed out, the problem with those grips is that they're not actually rosewood. They laminated birch dyed to look like rosewood. They don't even receive an external finish but are polished to a fine finish. They are also notoriously slippery if your hands sweat at all. At least, that's how laminates are typically finished. However, those look like Hogue's and they are not usually finished in that way. They have a less polished finish and than are waxed and buffed, which is how they do all their wood grips.

Traction grips sells rectangular pieces of their grip tape material. I believe they are 3" X 4" pieces and run about $8 last I checked. Its rubberized, can be cut to fit how you want and is removable. Its just like the Talon grip material

Have you tried shooting gloves? That way you don't change the look of the gun or damage the finish.

If you're going to put tape on them you might as well go with rubber grips.
Or get some from Altamont that are checkered.

Pachmayr makes these, and I find them comfy and non-slippery when shooting. Pretty cheap too.View media item 1327

"...Sand away all of the varnish and..." Varnish remover, not sand paper. BLO will give you a flat finish. Pure Tung OIL, properly applied, gives a shiney finish. Works on laminates too.
You could wrap the grips with rubber bands. Cheap. Easy to do. Easy to remove. Won't damage the existing finish. Nobody will see 'em when you're shooting.

With laminate grips varnish remover presents a hazard - it can remove also, in some cases, the bonding agent for the wood layers. BLO can give a shiny finish also. I recommended BLO because it gives one a grippy surface common to bare wood, while protecting it from elements.

Have you ever considered having a competent gunsmith checkering them? You wouldn't need to cover any of the pretty grips up then.
Steve

460Shooter said:

Pachmayr makes these, and I find them comfy and non-slippery when shooting. Pretty cheap too.View media item 1327

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How does the recoil with the 357 feel with those, I have a pair of rubber pachs on my Sp101 that I am considering swapping out for these.

sean m said:

How does the recoil with the 357 feel with those, I have a pair of rubber pachs on my Sp101 that I am considering swapping out for these.

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It feels just fine. The extra meat on the back of the grip helps fill the web of my hand better, and leads to less battering of my hand.

I shoot that gun better with full house 357s now that I have a grip that works better than I ever shot it with 38s when I had ill fitting grips.