[Justsomeguy]

A few days ago I received my gun back from Springer who did some work on the XD Tactical .40 I had sent him. While it was there, I had asked him for some suggestions he might have for the gun in addition to the pretty much standard trigger work and sight changes. One of the things we discussed were if I ever used a gun that had been stippled or used grip tape. I told him grip tape wasn't my thing because it was too aggressive and besides I liked the shirts I was wearing just the way there were thank you... without piling and scuff marks, and my hands too. He laughed and said then try the stippling. At first I was reluctant to make any permanent changes to the frame of the gun and wondered if it would really be any advantage. In the end I did go for the stippling modification and finally got the gun to the range today.

Well... I like it! I didn't think I had problems holding onto the gun before, but it was immediately apparent that after doing some draws and firing a string of shots that stippling WAS better. It seemed to improve the confidence that you would get a firm grip in a draw and, by the timer, my draw time to first shot seemed to improve from when I first tried the gun, and throughout the practice session today. It also seemed to improve second shots on cardboard but I had not previously had a timer when I tried those, so it was not possible to be specific data wise on that.

So I am wondering how many others out there are using stippling or grip tape on their guns and how that might have helped your performance. Now I wonder what other things I have been missing that I should have tried before!

[dvc40jim]

Business is always pretty good... but we've been doing the stippling for so long and we have experienced some downtime.... there are very few things in my house that could be and haven't been stippled.
In the right degree it's great for a carry gun since you can get all the texture you need in the right places and not wear out clothes.
On a competition gun it's just another improvement and it's easy to figure that a better grip improves felt recoil, speeds up shots and provides a level of comfort like peace of mind.
Working guns...
some working knives (kinda hard on pockets).
A steak knife here and there, handles on my favorite thermal cup.... the wife's hairbrush handle (not a big hit)!

Anyhow... welcome to the stippled side.

[Justsomeguy]

dvc40jim, on Aug 5 2009, 05:26 AM, said:

Business is always pretty good... but we've been doing the stippling for so long and we have experienced some downtime.... there are very few things in my house that could be and haven't been stippled.
In the right degree it's great for a carry gun since you can get all the texture you need in the right places and not wear out clothes.
On a competition gun it's just another improvement and it's easy to figure that a better grip improves felt recoil, speeds up shots and provides a level of comfort like peace of mind.
Working guns...
some working knives (kinda hard on pockets).
A steak knife here and there, handles on my favorite thermal cup.... the wife's hairbrush handle (not a big hit)!

Anyhow... welcome to the stippled side.

Lol on the wife's hairbrush! I'm sure it was a "surprise" that she wasn't expecting!

I do like my stippled Tactical though... it's an improvement without wearing out my hands or my clothes.