[fatalerror113]

I recently got black aluma grips for my milspec, and they went on really tight. It took some "convincing" (aka: using a hammer and my free midway catalog as a cusion) to get them on there. I took them off again and putting them back on was much better, but still not as easy as other grips. When I first got my old houge grips I had trouble getting them on as well (except since they were rubber they allot were easier than the aluminum). Is this normal? Or so I have a slightly out of spec gun?

 

[RickB]

Putting mil-spec grips on my Mil-Spec took a bit of "convincing", and getting them off again was a chore, too. I've heard people refer to some foreign-made 1911s as "metric guns", as if the dimensions are metric approximations of the proper inch measurements; maybe the spacing on the grip screws is off by a fraction of a millimeter?
Maybe this should be saved for a different thread, but . . . Since all the dimensions of the 1911 have tolerances, I don't really see a problem with metric equivalents, as long as they don't go outside those specified tolerances. Obviously, screw threads and what-not have to be inch pattern (they aren't on Norincos, so I guess they don't "have to"), but if a part was made (as an example, so don't skewer me if it sucks) 5.56 mm in diameter, instead of .223" in diameter, would it matter? As long as the former was made accurate to .01 mm, and that tolerance didn't put it ouside the specified .2225"-.2235", who'd know it was made to metric specs?

 

[eckerph]

same problem on my mil-spec but it just took a little muscle to get my hogue grip on. but they do fit real nice. and look good too!

 

[fatalerror113]

getting them off again was a chore, too.

How do you get them off? I got a wrench that is wider than the frame of the gun, wrapped a rag around it, stuck the covered end in through the bottom of the gun, got some vice grips on the other end of the wrench and turned....They came off with no swearing on my part :biglaugh:. Since they were aluminum I didn't have to worry about cracking them.

 

[Seraph]

It's at least equally likely that the grips were a little out of spec, or maybe near the tolerance margin, even with two different sets of grips from different manufacturers.

 

[RickB]

How do you get them off? I got a wrench that is wider than the frame of the gun, wrapped a rag around it, stuck the covered end in through the bottom of the gun, got some vice grips on the other end of the wrench and turned....They came off with no swearing on my part :biglaugh:. Since they were aluminum I didn't have to worry about cracking them.

I've since sold the gun, and I don't really remember. I think I used a screw driver, with some padding, stuck up in the magwell, and then prying one panel off (using the magwell opening as the fulcrum). I then had direct access to the other panel, which I pushed off from the inside. The grips fit perfectly on at least two other guns, so I think the grips were properly dimensioned.