117 replies to this topic

[Speedmonger]

soo, had the small STI aluminum grip fit to a new gun and bam - 1,000 rounds thru it the grip cracked in two places. Did some research and am finding that this is the case with others as well ? please share your stories...

[ebg3]

Sorry to hear that. Where has the grip cracked? I'm sure STI will cover you.
EG

[Speedmonger]

front side and back side...

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: Do you have any pics of the grip? Thanks, Eric

[gunut]

Let us know what STI does . sorry about the aggravation

[matt2ace]

2 open guns both with full-size aluminum grips. One has 4K rounds, the other about 1K.....not a single problem.

Edited by matt2ace, 27 January 2010 - 04:51 PM.

[35WLN]

That sucks, I just got one of the small ones. I hope STI takes care of it.

[Josh Biondi]

Certainly STI will cover it! Giva a call to Chris and send him a couple of pictures, he wil take care of you....

[G-ManBart]

front side and back side...

In what area? Front near the mag release or somewhere else?

[Bret Heidkamp]

Don't know if this will help with the aluminum grips but on the plastic ones you have to make sure the bushings are new / tight. If they are loose, grips crack. The problem is you can't feel them get loose, it's not obvious. About .001" play must be doing it.

Change grips = change bushings, and I've started changing the bushings whenever I do a major overhaul!

[bill d]

This is a problem that's not going to go away until they redesign them. I've cracked 6 grips so far ( about to start on 7 and 8)and am going to keep cracking them until they thicken certain area's. STI has been more than willing to help me and sends me the new grip's right away. The cracks usually occur around 2 to 4 thousand rounds on my open guns. And I've experimented with how far I can get the crack's to "grow". The gun will function fine but the cracks keep going and going. If you have one of their grip's, it will happen very sooner than later. Each time they crack in all the same area's.

So, a few things:

Your grip WILL eventually crack (probably under 5k or 10k if your lucky, all 6 of mine maybe made it to 3 to 4 k at best)

STI will help you, and respond quickly.

This problem will continue until they redesign them.

[Singlestack]

This is a problem that's not going to go away until they redesign them. I've cracked 6 grips so far ( about to start on 7 and 8)and am going to keep cracking them until they thicken certain area's. STI has been more than willing to help me and sends me the new grip's right away. The cracks usually occur around 2 to 4 thousand rounds on my open guns. And I've experimented with how far I can get the crack's to "grow". The gun will function fine but the cracks keep going and going. If you have one of their grip's, it will happen very sooner than later. Each time they crack in all the same area's.

So, a few things:

Your grip WILL eventually crack (probably under 5k or 10k if your lucky, all 6 of mine maybe made it to 3 to 4 k at best)

STI will help you, and respond quickly.

This problem will continue until they redesign them.

Strange indeed. I have 2 grips with well over 75k on both with no cracks. One on a Open gun and one Limited. I wonder what it is you are doing to crack your grips. I have never heard of anybody else cracking them with so few rounds on them.

[Pat Miles]

This is a problem that's not going to go away until they redesign them. I've cracked 6 grips so far ( about to start on 7 and 8)and am going to keep cracking them until they thicken certain area's. STI has been more than willing to help me and sends me the new grip's right away. The cracks usually occur around 2 to 4 thousand rounds on my open guns. And I've experimented with how far I can get the crack's to "grow". The gun will function fine but the cracks keep going and going. If you have one of their grip's, it will happen very sooner than later. Each time they crack in all the same area's.

So, a few things:

Your grip WILL eventually crack (probably under 5k or 10k if your lucky, all 6 of mine maybe made it to 3 to 4 k at best)

STI will help you, and respond quickly.

This problem will continue until they redesign them.

Share some info with us...where do the cracks appear? Various locations? Same location?
Pat

[bill d]

This is a problem that's not going to go away until they redesign them. I've cracked 6 grips so far ( about to start on 7 and 8)and am going to keep cracking them until they thicken certain area's. STI has been more than willing to help me and sends me the new grip's right away. The cracks usually occur around 2 to 4 thousand rounds on my open guns. And I've experimented with how far I can get the crack's to "grow". The gun will function fine but the cracks keep going and going. If you have one of their grip's, it will happen very sooner than later. Each time they crack in all the same area's.

So, a few things:

Your grip WILL eventually crack (probably under 5k or 10k if your lucky, all 6 of mine maybe made it to 3 to 4 k at best)

STI will help you, and respond quickly.

This problem will continue until they redesign them.

Strange indeed. I have 2 grips with well over 75k on both with no cracks. One on a Open gun and one Limited. I wonder what it is you are doing to crack your grips. I have never heard of anybody else cracking them with so few rounds on them.

I've heard of many people cracking them. If you have 75,000 rounds on each of your two guns with the Aluminum grips you must be the luckiest person. Like I've said, I've gone through 6 and I know how to fit then and even had my gunsmith fit a few. There is nothing special I'm doing to the gun, just shooting it. SVI designed theirs right and bulked up the area where the cracking occurs because they probably had cracks when they R&D'd. I'd post a picture but don't really know how to, as you see I don't really post a lot.
The cracks always happen in the same place. Down the sides, where the grip is the thinnest (down to the mag catch). And eventually under the trigger gaurd (again where it is extremely thin).

[werewolf45auto]

This is a problem that's not going to go away until they redesign them. I've cracked 6 grips so far ( about to start on 7 and 8)and am going to keep cracking them until they thicken certain area's. STI has been more than willing to help me and sends me the new grip's right away. The cracks usually occur around 2 to 4 thousand rounds on my open guns. And I've experimented with how far I can get the crack's to "grow". The gun will function fine but the cracks keep going and going. If you have one of their grip's, it will happen very sooner than later. Each time they crack in all the same area's.

So, a few things:

Your grip WILL eventually crack (probably under 5k or 10k if your lucky, all 6 of mine maybe made it to 3 to 4 k at best)

STI will help you, and respond quickly.

This problem will continue until they redesign them.

Strange indeed. I have 2 grips with well over 75k on both with no cracks. One on a Open gun and one Limited. I wonder what it is you are doing to crack your grips. I have never heard of anybody else cracking them with so few rounds on them.

I've heard of many people cracking them. If you have 75,000 rounds on each of your two guns with the Aluminum grips you must be the luckiest person. Like I've said, I've gone through 6 and I know how to fit then and even had my gunsmith fit a few. There is nothing special I'm doing to the gun, just shooting it. SVI designed theirs right and bulked up the area where the cracking occurs because they probably had cracks when they R&D'd. I'd post a picture but don't really know how to, as you see I don't really post a lot.
The cracks always happen in the same place. Down the sides, where the grip is the thinnest (down to the mag catch). And eventually under the trigger gaurd (again where it is extremely thin).

So those of you with a lot of rounds (that have not cracked) and those of you with very few (that have cracked) what size grips do you have. In other words are the small one cracking and the large not?

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: Is this on the small grips or both? I really want to try one of these grips since I think they would give more feed back through the grip. Maybe too much feedback it sounds like? I wonder if they change the alloy they are using if that would make them last? I guess I'll keep playing with the plastic grips I'm using now for a while. I am sure STI will figure it out soon. Thanks, Eric

[G-ManBart]

This is a problem that's not going to go away until they redesign them. I've cracked 6 grips so far ( about to start on 7 and 8)and am going to keep cracking them until they thicken certain area's. STI has been more than willing to help me and sends me the new grip's right away. The cracks usually occur around 2 to 4 thousand rounds on my open guns. And I've experimented with how far I can get the crack's to "grow". The gun will function fine but the cracks keep going and going. If you have one of their grip's, it will happen very sooner than later. Each time they crack in all the same area's.

So, a few things:

Your grip WILL eventually crack (probably under 5k or 10k if your lucky, all 6 of mine maybe made it to 3 to 4 k at best)

STI will help you, and respond quickly.

This problem will continue until they redesign them.

Strange indeed. I have 2 grips with well over 75k on both with no cracks. One on a Open gun and one Limited. I wonder what it is you are doing to crack your grips. I have never heard of anybody else cracking them with so few rounds on them.

You've got 75K on two guns with the aluminum grips? That's a lot of shooting since they were released!

[RIIID]

The answer to the problem looks to be the SV grip.
Rich

[Chris Keen]

You've got 75K on two guns with the aluminum grips? That's a lot of shooting since they were released!

Thats what I was thinking ..... I'll bet John was talking about the plastic grips.

[bill d]

The ones I use are the regular sized grips, not the smaller.

[Bret Heidkamp]

Pictures???

[bill d]

Again, as I wrote above, I don't know how to post a pic.

[00bullitt]

I haven't shot my limited gun but 4 or 500 rounds since putting the slim aluminum grip on it. I love the improvement in feel and feedback from the gun. This news kinda sucks.

[G-ManBart]

Again, as I wrote above, I don't know how to post a pic.

You can e-mail a pic to me and I can host it on my Photobucket account.

You can also simply click the blue button below the text window, under "Attachments", that says "Browse", locate the pic on your hard drive and click "Attach this File"....very easy. R,

[ebg3]

Sad to hear of the Al grips cracking...I just can't imagine aluminum NOT cracking especially on a Limited gun. I think SV will still do an aluminum grip, they just advise against it. I've actually heard of a couple steel grips cracking. If STI stands behind them, keep using the Al grip, you just may want to have one as a back up. No offense to anyone, just my $.02.
EG