Why some gun's grips has tapes wrapped around?

[stzd8]

Say, I may be naive and get pounded for asking this question. But in TV, movies and real life sometimes you see handguns with tape wrapped around the grip. Why is that? I can understand if is a gun used by gangs marking their property, but what about the ones non-gangs?

I always wondered about the meaning of them, even in some military or law enforcement units they have weapons with tape wrapped around it. I doubt that there are lot of deffective grips on guns out there.

 

[Autolite]

Uneducated guess ...

I've noticed white tape wrapped around movie guns also. I had assumed that it was placed there by the gun handlers on the movie set so that the actor has a visual cue that the weapon has been verified as being safe for any upcoming scene. That would be my guess ...

 

[PMDW]

Probably has something to do with changing the texture of the grip.

 

[WayneConrad]

It's probably skateboard tape, or a similar products made especially for guns. It improves your hold on the grip.

 

[DontBurnMyFlag]

on some shotguns, there is tape wrapped around cloth to help with the recoil when shooting with a pistol grip. other times, the tape is there to keep peoples fingerprints from getting all over it. I...um...know a few un savory characters.

 

[sturmruger]

I have specially cut out skate board tape on one of my competition guns to help me shoot better when my hands are sweaty. It feels kind of like sandpaper.

 

[JohnBT]

I thought it was anti-fingerprint teflon tape. <shrug>

John

 

[TonkinTwentyMil]

Hollywood Gun-Smarts (??)

This IS a curious convention in movies, isn't it?

I think it began way back in 1972 in "The Godfather" when the young Al Pacino used a heavily-taped .38 snubby for the restaurant scene "hit" on the crooked police captain and the competing mafia dude. The crude grip-tape apparently was there to eliminate fingerprints and enable the shooter (Pacino) to avoid incrimination. At any rate, the film's director, Francis Ford Coppola, was probably trying to be true to Mario Puzo's novel, and Puzo did decent research/homework for it.

On the other hand, since Hollywood is notoriously "stupid" with gun technical issues, I suspect this whole thing has become a copy-cat AND cultural-bias thing, i.e., guns are dirty-evil objects... used only by Criminal Elements and/or our blue-collar lower classes. Hence, the half-assed grip-tape jobs on guns visually reinforce this whole "guns are seedy" impression.

Many movies don't even have a "weapons/technical advisor" listed in the credits, leaving these choices up to the Director. That's like giving Hillary and Dianne Feinstein the authority to re-write the Constitution. I once had a Hollywood "property master" (the guy who provides/inventories things like guns, cars, etc.) friend who got me onto the set (as an ad hoc weapons consultant) of a war movie in production, and I saw first-hand his challenges in trying to bring some semblance of technical authenticity to the movie.

Very few movie Producers/Directors/Writers give two hoots about firearms authenticity issues because they "look down" on those in the "gun-owner sub-culture." A rare exception to this is writer/director Michael Mann (Collateral Damage, Heat, Miami Vice, Manhunter, etc.). If you check out his films' demographic ratings in the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) you'll discover a clear "like" by men... with an equal disdain by women. And, if you really want to see Hollywood's ballistic illiteracy/stupidity in action, just check out any "chick flick" (if you can sit through it without puking), or the movies shown on TV's girl-fluff/soap-opera/metrosexual-pretty-boy channels (i.e., Lifetime, Oxygen, etc.).

In the end, this is indicative of the cultural-political-gender biases of the film's makers. And, most of the time, they cast huge shadows.

 

[Molon Labe]

I think JohnBT is on the right track... some criminals wrap friction tape around the grip, which purportedly does not preserve a fingerprint.

 

[Ozendorph]

Funny this question was asked. I noticed a tape-wrapped .38 snubby in "Anchorman" just the other day...had me wondering the same thing.

 

[Standing Wolf]

Maybe the stocks were cracked.

 

[49hudson]

I use 3-M microfoam on some of my pistols.
It gives a grippy texture, like rubber, but it is not rubber.
It is also a foam that reduces felt recoil.
Friction tape will not leave a finger print that can be lifted, don't know about some of the modern methods, call CSI !

 

[jefnvk]

I know a guy with a duct taped grip, but it is because without the tape, there would only be half a grip (this is a shotgun)

 

[bubbygator]

A few years back I had the grips with the lip on them (forget the name now) on a S&W model 60. Those grips are made of a hard, slick plastic & I found that wrapping them with tennis racquet tape gave a nice grippable grip without catching on fabric of my shirt.

I recently found similar use. The Crimson Trace lasergrips are made in 2 materials - the earlier models are hard polymer & the later ones are more grippable rubber. Now the rubber grips are "better".... except they are also more than a bit larger. For CCW with my current S&W-442, I chose the smaller polymer lasergrips; and wrapped them with the tennis tape. Works great.

 

[Cosmoline]

I often wrap part of my firearms with high-grade electrical tape. It can be used to re-shape grips to provide better handling.

 

[WT]

Friction tape is great when carrying 'Mexican' style. Keeps the handgun from shifting around in the waistband. No incriminating holster if one needs to ditch the gun.

 

[Autolite]

I recall the "GodFather" scene where Al Pacino's gun had the grips wrapped in tape to prevent fingerprints. This was part of the story. I am still curious about seeing movie guns with tape wrapped around them when preventing fingerprints was not part of the story. Remember the movie "Falling Down" with Micheal Douglas? His character's shotgun was taped up and the story was such that there was no reason to conceal fingerprints ...

 

[black bear]

bubbygator,
Barami is the name you are looking for (the lip grip)
Pachmayr sell a neoprene rubber with self stick backing with a great texture for gripping. They sell it cut already for fore ends, pistol grips (in rifles) or cheek pieces. Also they sell it in one piece sheet for your project.



It is called Pac-Skin and you can see it in the front flashlight and also inside the clam shell package.
I use it in my camcorder to protect and camouflage it to avoid reflections that will spook gane.
My Mossberg 500 had a slippery fore end until I put the pac skin on.
black bear

 

[bubbygator]

Hey, thanks Bear. That's it - "Barami Hip Grip".

Looking at that "Pac-skin" I can think of 3 quick uses... gonna get me some of that!

 

[Joejojoba111]

Lol, I know the answer must be obvious, but sometimes I'm just really slow. Please bear with me.

Why wrap a pistol with tape instead of wearing a glove? How hard would it be to get firgerprints off a trigger?

 

[nomadboi]

My Steyr M40 has some grip tape on it, just for traction really. Too smooth a grip otherwise.

On the other hand, I do also have a replica Uzi -which recently made an appearance in an upcoming film- that has electrical tape on the grip that just holds it together. Rented it out to a theatre company in Texas, and the plastic grips broke on the way back.

 

[sd]

I've used tape to disengage the grip safety on a 1911 style llama .380. Probably not a good idea. Also used electrical type to reconfigure grips on a revolver.