Yeah that glue is painful to look at.

I totally agree that you should send them back

 

That’s a shame. It looks like they would be really nice if done properly.

 

I'm a fan of grips from Altamont and have several pairs for 1911 & J-frame which I'm very happy with. That workmanship is horrible. Altamont should just not offer these inlays for sale if that's the best they can do.

 

Yeah, I'm a bit shocked that they actually felt it was somehow acceptable.
The price was $79 plus tax, (pretty close to $90 total).

In my opinion, these glued in Rampant Colt Pony medallion Altamont grips are best to be avoided... Again, just my opinion.

 

Thanks for the pictures! I won't be ordering any grips from Altamont...pretty shoddy workmanship. There are plenty of shops to buy high quality 1911 grips from out there!

 

That is reprehensible! Definitely return those although I think it would be possible to remove the excess glue - never mind, get your money back. Colt grips with medallions, ponies, etc. have gone through the roof lately. Seems like Colt discontinued ordering them to sell, and some wise merchants bought them out and are now asking $100 or so. I wanted some for that Colt in my avatar pic to replace the awful blue G10 ones it came with. I definitely wasn't going to pay that toll so I bought a nice rosewood set with generic medallions, then I bought a set of Colt medallions. When they arrived, I was surprised that the Colt medallions fit the grips and that the generic medallions were just self-adhesive and pushed right out, and that the grips were properly drilled for real medallions that are staked in from the back. I did the whole job in about 15 minutes and got the grips I wanted for about $45.

 

Altamont needs to know about that. I doubt they'd consider that sort of workmanship acceptable at all. Apparently they have some jerk on the assembly line who obviously doesn't care.

Having said that, I've never been a fan of grips with glued-on medallions as they have a nasty tendency to fly off under recoil. More than once I've come home from the range to discover I lost something.

 

Yes, I too am not a fan of the glued in idea.
As I mentioned in my original post above, my previous experience with Altamont has only been with their non inlaid item grips, and they've been just fine.
Maybe the inlaid thing is just not their cup of tea 🤣

If these grips would have had a pinned on pony, I do believe they would have made for a nice aftermarket accessory on Colt 1911 pistols.
I think I'll just keep the original grips that came with the gun. They look nice enough and I don't need to add anything to it. It was just me wanting to add my own little flair to it with these grips... But now I'm like... "Nah, I'm good" 😂

 

As I said above, these grips are horrible. However, that's no reason to avoid Altamont for grips. All of these grips were made by Altamont:

 

Wow, yeah, that does not look good...it sounds like you didn't order them direct from Altamont; maybe try ordering direct from them and dealing with the wait? They have representative examples on their web page but they don't look nearly as ...gluey...as that does.

Have you tried contacting Altamont about these directly, anyway? They might have let a bad one slip out the door and could offer to repair/replace it, who knows. My one interaction with them went really well; revolver grips that didn't quite fit right. They don't offer custom fitting services, but did say their revolver grips were finished with boiled linseed oil and I could either try sanding them to fit myself and refinishing thusly, or send them back for a refund...the grips are too nice and other than a little overhang fit really well, so when I get a chance I'm just going to sand them down a bit and refinish, and go from there. In your situation though, I would be surprised if they didn't take the grips back and either clean them up, refund you, or ship you a new and better set.

 

As I mentioned in my original post, I ordered them from a reputable vendor, one which I have dealt with before and have always had positive results.
I already contacted this vendor and they will be sending me a return label 👍

With that said, although I can't imagine that the Altamont facility commonly sends out such sloppy gluing on these, they still are a glued in pony, and that alone is not the best idea for these particular items, imo.

I'm sure there are some folks out there that have wondered about how these are done. I hope this post helps with those folks 👍

Altamont's website, as well as the vendor I purchased mine from, shows this picture of what these grips will mostly look like. They, of course, do state that the colors may vary. Well, the color on my received specimen sure does vary from it, and I mean by quite a bit 😲
The picture obviously doesn't show any of that excessively applied glue 😂

 

....
View attachment 679939

Altamont's website, as well as the vendor I purchased mine from, shows this picture of what these grips will mostly look like. They, of course, do state that the colors may vary. Well, the color on my received specimen sure does vary from it, and I mean by quite a bit 😲
The picture obviously doesn't show any of that excessively applied glue 😂

If that's what the grips were supposed to look like, what you got isn't even close. The one in the photo has the black stain applied before the final machining of the pattern in the wood. That's not color variation, that's a different color.

It's so far different than the photo that I would wonder if the ones you got were counterfeit.

 

Not what you’d normally expect from Altamont!

 

I’ve been eyeing set similar to these with the rampant colt. But I had hoped they were riveted in like the medallions, guess not. Thanks for the heads up.

 

OP, these grips didn't come directly from Altamont.
Might want to consider pointing the finger at the vendor.

 

I have actually purchased a seconds quality Altamont grip set in the past, and to be honest, nothing on it is off enough to make for a noticable issue. They were sold to me as a second quality and it did not come with the Altamont markings on the grip set's back sides. Here they are on my Tisas 1911...

The Colt pony medallion grips were purchased as first quality and have the proper Altamont name and date stamps on the backs of them. Now, let's say these were somehow a seconds quality item... Even then, Altamont should not stamp their name on such shoddy work without marking the item as a second quality, or simply leaving all markings off altogether, (as is the case with my bonafide second quality Altamont set of grips that I had previously purchased).
Nope, these are obviously Altamont made grips and have their typical first quality markings on them for all to see. If it were a seconds quality, there should always be something done to differentiate them from their first quality specimens, which these don't do. So, in any case, this show of shoddy work is simply not the best way for a company to promote it's products.

As I continue to mention, it's not that I feel Altamont is not capable of producing good quality grips. In fact, the basic factory supplied Double Diamond Checkered grips that came mounted on my new Colt Government Model pistol are supposedly made by Altamont under Colt contract. And, while being nothing special, they are in fact nicely made and pleasing to the eyes...

And again, my desiring to change them out was just to add my own personal flair to the gun, not because there is anything at all wrong with these factory supplied grips.

I'm glad one person that posted above was able to garner a bit of information from this thread for his own personal decision on whether or not to purchase a set of the Altamont Pony medallion grips. Him now realizing that they are gluing them in, rather than pinning them in somehow, was the deciding factor for him.

Sharing one's experiences and information with others tends to help folks out in deciding things, helping to make their decision(s) a bit easier for them 👍

To be honest, had I known that these Colt Pony medallions were being glued in by Altamont, I wouldn't have ordered them in the first place.

 

Return the ugly things.

 

never seen an Altamont product thats any good

 

I’ve bought a few J frame grips from them and never an issue. But those definitely look like crap .

 

I've been tempted to buy a set from Altamont as well. My question is that some look like they support the plunger tube and some don't. Does anyone know for sure?

 

That's pretty much it, some of their grip styles have the plunger tube support, while others do not. Just to make sure, I'd give them a phone call or send them a text asking about the specific grips that you plan to order... Just in case 👍

 

I think the rampant medallions look sort of gaudy; the grips you ordered would have looked better without them, sorry glue job or not. It does surprise me that Altamont would do such a sorry job as that, though, I've always been impressed by the quality of their stocks. I've got two sets for my 1911's and several more for my revolvers. Altamont is my go-to for nice-looking stocks that will get a lot of use and wear.

 

I think the rampant medallions look sort of gaudy; the grips you ordered would have looked better without them, sorry glue job or not. It does surprise me that Altamont would do such a sorry job as that, though, I've always been impressed by the quality of their stocks. I've got two sets for my 1911's and several more for my revolvers. Altamont is my go-to for nice-looking stocks that will get a lot of use and wear.
View attachment 680026 View attachment 680027

Here is another set of grips that I had purchased directly from Altamont. I very much like their appearance, but it's also not one of the versions that supports the tube plunger on the gun.
If I had my ultimate choice about that, they would all have the higher cut tube plunger support on them... but, oh well.

Again, no medallions or any other sort of inlaid decoration on these, so that means that there's no worries about things being glued in properly or not 👍

In the future, if/when I ever decide to order another set of grips with an inlaid decoration, I will certainly ask upfront if they are pinned/riveted or glued in place. If glued, no matter how nicely done they are, I will simply pass on them. Again, the glued in thing on gun grips is not my cup of tea 👍😎👍

Now, as for my preferred material, as can be seen in the few pictures I've shared here during this thread, my choice is indeed a quality done laminated wood grip. Why?... Well, it's because I have a great fondness for the look of traditional wood, but I also have a great appreciation for the toughness of modern synthetic materials.
I truly feel that a well done laminated wood has the perfect blend of both worlds. Some may call a quality laminated wood as being a "plywood", and while that description is technically true, it's certainly not the scrap board that some try making it out to be.
It's thin layers of wood bonded together and impregnated using modern polymer resins under high pressure.
It can be a bit junky, if one is looking at a piece of laminated wood made in Pakistan as a multi colored handle for a cheaply made knife, but this is not that grade of laminated wood that we are speaking about here.
Yup, tough as nails because of it's modern polymer resins, while still offering some beautiful visual nature in the form of it's layered wood.
I worked with real wood for about a decade of my life, and although it's still the best choice, (imo), for many, many things, the laminated wood for pistols and revolvers is a great and more practical use material for that specific purpose. Again, that is only my opinion.
👍😎👍

 

By the way, the Altamont company found it's start by working with Colt to supply them with their grips. And, to this day, Colt still uses Altamont grips on their guns.

Here is just a snippet from their website on how Altamont worked in making grips for Colt since the 1980's...

"We started out making custom ivory grips for the Colt Custom Shop in the 80’s. Then we expanded to volume production. We now have worked with almost every major gun manufacturer - Beretta, Bond Arms, Browning, Colt, Heritage, Kimber, Ruger, Sig, Smith & Wesson, Springfield, Taurus, and Walther."

 

Not very good workmanship . You might try texasgrips.com they may just have something along the same design or they can make them for you. There grips are outstanding.

 

Thanks for the heads up, but... After my really taking a better look at the factory supplied original grips, (which are supposedly an Altamont product as well), I've decided that I will most likely just keep them on the gun. I mean, yes, they are just a basic double diamond checkered grip set, but they're pretty much impeccably done in machining, finishing, and even the color of each grip panel matches the other. Yup, this gun will likely just keep it's original clothing.
👍😎👍

 

I ordered these Altamont grips for my Colt Python directly from their website. They look great to me. Sounds like maybe your vendor is the missing link in your grip quality.

 

I ordered these Altamont grips for my Colt Python directly from their website. They look great to me. Sounds like maybe your vendor is the missing link in your grip quality.

View attachment 680080

Nice gun you have there 👍
As for my vendor... I do put part of the blame with my receiving a bad specimen on him... Why?... Well, they should have definitely unzipped the bag and given the grips a visual once over before sending it my way.
But, with that said, it's Altamont that produced the grips, so they're the source of this shabby item being released onto the market.
Again, the grips have all the proper markings and the properly made laminated wood. The glue thing... well, that's where they dropped the ball.
In other words, I still place the biggest part of the blame on the manufacturer, since they are the ones to put their name on the finished product.
Hey, to each their own on how they see things.
As I previously mentioned, the vendor has been contacted and is going to send me a return label to ship the grips back to him.
The shipping to me cost was done on his part, and now the return shipping will be on him as well. I will receive a full refund, so other than my being disappointed in what I received, I will lose zero cents of my money for this transaction. As is commonly stated...
No harm, no foul 👍😎👍

Was there anything positive from this?... Yes, I mean, it did kill my curiosity about these particular grips. This transaction had me learn about the process that Altamont uses to assemble them, (using glue). So, yeah, I learned something, so I may as well accept that as a positive 👍😎👍

 

Never had any problems with Altamont for the money, but haven't ordered any with medallions.

The pair I currently have on a Colt don't contact the plunger tube from underneath, would from the side with a little sanding. Not custom fit but serviceable enough.

 

Very nice set of grips if you get rid of the silly horse. Nice otherwise.

 

Those look like some 4:55pm on Friday grips.

 

Here's a neat fact that I didn't know about the Altamont Company connection to Buck Knives and their famous 110 knife model, (copied off of Altamont's website)...

"With the original Ebony handles prone to humidity, cracking, warping and manufacturing variance, Buck Knives contacted Ken for a solution. With Jack Barrett of Rutland Plywood, he developed a fully stabilized, waterproof Macassar Ebony Dymondwood in 1994, and then began making handles. The handles worked. From 1994 - 2018, Altamont Co. produced over 10,000,000 handles with no reports of material failure."

Pretty darned cool!
👍😎👍