Demand for Custom Wood Pistol Grips Is There Enough?

[creekbear]

A friend and I are discussing starting a side business of making custom wood pistol grips. We are planning on starting with 1911 grips and moving into Ruger wheel gun grips and more. We have sources for more of your most popular local hardwoods, and also for many exotic woods from around the world.  These will be hand made, and finished in several different finishes from hand oiled to lacquered, stained or natural.

We work on Towboats on the Mississippi river for a living and have extra time on our hands at work, and lots of extra time when we are not on the boats. We are both very into shooting and outdoor activities, so this naturally carries over into our plans. Our plan is to make a very sensibly priced and quality product which the working man can afford that will enhance the looks of your favorite guns. Turn around times will depend on availability of the wood chosen and work schedules.

What we are looking for here is some insight into how realistic would it be for us to get involved in this project. Would there be enough demand for a custom made high quality product to warrant buying dremel tools, saws, checkering tools, and such.


Preliminary prices will range from around 40 dollars for local Southern United States Hardwoods, to 90 dollars or so for exotic woods from overseas depending on availability.

We also are planning on custom laminate work in the future as demand warrants.

Depending on the feedback on this topic we are planning to build a few sets of 1911 and Ruger wheel gun grips to send out to a few members of this forum for review.

Any input you can give on this topic (positive or negative) would be highly appreciated.

[Questor]

If I were doing it, I would first concentrate on true custom work that doesn't look like anyone elses. There's always room for good quality makers of custom products who can first make their name recognition in the custom world, and then expand into production factory product.

Big picture seems to be that there's a glut in the market for good quality grips. There are many options for "normal" grips (i.e., grips that look like a lot of other existing grips.) I can satisfy any whim in exotic woods or other materials with just a phone call or five minutes on the Web. Tuplipwood in double-diamond? No problem. They're cheap too. Hardly justifies the effort in making them.

One niche that's not getting much attention is custom grips for competition shooters and other shooters for whom gun fit and consistent grip is very important. Thin ones for people with small hands, thicker ones for people with bigger hands. Thumb rests in some cases. Other design features for helping the shooter gain a consistent grip. An almost totally unexplored area is the translation of features that work well in competition grips to the more mainstream (and presumably more lucrative) action shooting and defense disciplines.

If you're interested in prototyping some grips for competition, send me a message. I'll be happy to try them, give you an opinion, and return them.

Another area that's relatively unexplored is ergonomic grips, like a grip that alters the feel of the grip angle so it feels like more modern designs that fit the hand better.  Guns like the Glocks just point better than the 1911 for new shooters who haven't taken the considerable time to get used to the relatively vertical grips. It's not a natural pointer like Glocks, Lugers, or almost any modern auto you can name.

1911 grips on guns that get used a lot are susceptible to damage by the copious amounts of oil we use on them. You may want to use finishes that can be advertised as resistant to damage by oil and gun solvents.

Most of my shooting is done with 1911s. It's like I'm married to the 1911.

[oo_buck]

I don't have a 1911 yet, but I'm in the market for one.  I'd be interested.

I'd actually be more interested in a set for my ruger vaquero in 44 mag.

I actually considered giving it a go myself, but with work and family commitments, the project fell through.

I had an idea that I was going to try and make a set out of some Honey Locust, that I have on my property.

I still may give it a try someday, but for now, I will probably just try to buy a set of something "different".