I have been posting a lot lately about dealing with my new uniform and trying to find something that can be EDC'd in my pocket.
My 351PD carries great, but Smith's aluminum guns get beat up bad, so I finally settled on my 649, which is now becoming an on-going evolution.
My first hurdle is my pants are black, and the 649 almost comes to the top of the pocket, so the silver backstrap shines like the sun and is visible if you are standing to my side.
I considered refinishing the gun black, but most refinishers charge around 350 for an entire gun, plus shipping both ways. I did NOT want to get that deep into this project.
Then one day I was browsing Talon Grips website and found that they offer 5"x7" sheet of their material for 10 bucks shipped. I figured I would give it a try, worse case I wouldn't be out that much money.
The material arrived today with a hand written thank you on the receipt, plus instructions and 1 alcohol prep to clean the gun.
This was how I started. First I popped off the hogue grips, then cleaned the gun and cut off a 5"x .5" piece, that I applied to the backstrap and along the bottom of the grip. Afterwards I flipped the gun over and trimmed off the overhang with a knife.
Per instructions you are supposed to heat it and press it down after installation, but I don't have a hair dryer. So tomorrow I will toss it in my sun baked truck for a few minutes and that should work just fine.
This is how it turned out, I am really happy with it. It was a very cheap way to black out the part of the gun that is visible from my pocket, and it adds a little more grip to the gun as well.
Downsides: 1- The job wasn't perfect, there are a few spots that the steel can be seen between the grip and the material. They are small and this was my first try. I am perfectly fine living with it.
2- The big downside. These are GRIPPY! Which means when I go to yank it out of my pocket, it catches. Hard.
So I found that I have to modify my draw stroke to make sure my hand is completely covering the grip and my pinky rides under the gun to keep the heel of the grip and/or the bottom of the grip from touching the pocket during exit.
Despite this, I am happy with this phase of the project and I plan on adding tape to my 686 and 657 to increase my control of those guns too.