Photo?


R.I.A. has changed their OEM grip material more than once since my first. A photo at least might help. Based solely on the description above, it reads as wood from a member of the rosewood family. These woods are popular for grip stocks and for guitars.

 

I think, the woods that RIA uses on their 1911s are NOT the best of the Philippines. Some of those exotic woods from the Philippines are some of the best in the world.

Philippine Mahogany is quite expensive, much more expensive than the Cocobolos from South America. They are harder and denser. I honestly don't think RIA will use those on its guns---well, not for the price RIAs are selling for.

I replaced the cheap looking/feeling OEM wood grips on my RIA Pro Match Ultra FS with " Herretts Extra Fancy Coco Bolo Wood Grips " from CDNN. It "upgraded " the aesthetics " impressively.

 

Original wood grips on RIA's? Let me dig out a photo from around 2016 or so when I first got my RIA full size .45 ACP tactical version (#51431).

Note: The original wood grips were slick "A.. F..." and I immediately swapped them for the black rubber Armscor grips (that also were included). Then a few months later, I found a guy up in NH who made custom 1911 grips, and made my prized USCG Logo checkered grips.

 

Could just be me. Or too small of a sample size. I have a few RIA’s. My experience has been that the GI no frills ones were better fitted than the “tactical “ style ones with the beaver tail grip safety, Novak style sights, ambi safety, etc. The tactical ones needed to be dehorned too.

I always thought that the stock smooth grips on the GI ones (that went directly to the wood stove) were some flavor of mahogany.

I have a particular fondness for the 5” GI style in .38 super. I put a gold bead on the front and a Harrison retro sight on the back. It got slicked up a bit but the frame, barrel, barrel link, slidestop, thumb safety, slide, grip safety are all stock RIA. Tremendous value. I found out the hard way that the grip screws were too hard and prone to shear on one of the “.45 tactical “ ones. The grip bushings were too hard and not tough enough either. Not a big deal but no fun to replace.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the quality of the high dollar semi customs from American custom and semi custom builders just fine. (ACW seems to be an extraordinary value.) But you can get an awful lot of gun, and fun, from a $400 gun. That is what is great about today’s 1911. Something for everyone. They all work. Every now and again one may need a bit of adjustment.

 

Here's a view of my RIA Tactical II model (with the ambi thumb safety -- #51431), that I just cut/pasted/cropped all together in Photoshop, showing all 3 grips that I have:

 

Nice gun. Love the grips.

 

Thanks... I *hated* the plain wood grips. I mean, it's like you could feel the handgun slide around in your grip!

I had the black rubber RIA grips on it for a while and liked them, but I wanted something different, something unique, that I could call my own. And that's when I found that guy up in NH who used to make 1911 grips, and he and I talked about what I like, me being a lefty with an ambi thumb safety, and that I'm retired Coast Guard. He was the one who suggested the Teak wood, and had the CNC template with the USCG logo. Lo and behold, he made the grips for me back in 2016, and they will NEVER be removed from my 1911!

 

I stripped off my OE RIA grips and oiled them with Tung. Came out nice.

 

Pix please?
My Rock FS came with the smooth wood grips on it and the black rubber(?) grips in the case. I threw the rubber ones away because when I put them on, they just fell off, the screws still in the frame. WTH? No shoulder for the screws to get purchase on. Lol!
Then I put a set of faux ivory grips with a dime sized gold and black Punisher medallion on 'em. It was that way for about 4 years. Problem is, it's sketchy to carry a gun with such grips on it.
Just today I put the wooden grips back on. I like 'em. I bought some Pine tar a while back to do some rifle stocks with, mayhaps I'll strip these wooden grips and do them too.

 

RIA must of got the wood grips cheaper than plastic.

 

Did not care for the factory grips; the reddish color was all in the finish. Lovin' these Cocabolos!

 

Those do look nice!

 

I despised the smooth wood grips that came on mine. I bought a set of cocobola grips when it was new but they kinda looked like lipstick on a pig. Then I went to Pachmayr wraparounds but ended cutting off the front strap. I ran those for years. Recently I came across the cocobolas and the finish has soaked up enough oil that they look pretty good on it.

 

I put a set of rosewood U.S. Grips on mine. Some people might think I’m crazy but after I got this gun I sold my Springfield Mil-Spec. I really like this one better it has all the features I want in a carry gun and looks great with the new grips. It looks better in person the picture doesn’t do it justice.

 

As nice and period correct as the plain wood grips are on my GI Compact .45, (and it may be just my hand size and personal taste), I never felt 100% when shooting with them. I just got some of their rubber grips and now I feel much more in control of the gun when firing multiple rounds in fast succession. They also keep the gun's visibility even lower.

 

This is what my grips look like. Do you know what wood they use for RIA GI grips?

 

Don't know the wood but I'll bet the RIA website could tell you. Like a small block V8, sometimes plain and simple is simply perfect.

 

Factory grips, 2017 purchase

I much prefer cocobolo

Without a DNA test on the wood, you won't really know. There are trees in south east Asia that are not on any list on the internet. And they are all being chopped down.

 

I've been told molave wood

 

As some of the photos show: R.I.A. grip stock material changes. My R.I.A. classroom pistols still wear their OEM stocks. But my preference is textured wood; so for all the others I replaced the stocks.

 

I replaced my grips with these Republic of Texas grips.

 

We use katmon wood, a hardwood tree found in the Philippines, it's fruit is known as the elephant apple. Its widely used for furniture and art. It's becoming harder to obtain. All of our wood grips are made in house.

 

Hey Doc. , can you tell me what they use to finish the stock wood grips?
I need to do some touch up on mine.

 

Thank you Dr.Lou, 4 coats of marine polyurethane and the grips are now sealed and tuff!