After looking at wooden , rubber, and "fake" ivory grips
I was thinking are there Aluminium grips for a Revolver ?

I didn,t find any ,so i thought i make my own Alu grips for my 686


first starting to make any dummy grips
with the S&W logo and my initials ,and the screw from a 357 m case



When satisfid ,then formed the model in sand ,with the dummy grips still in the sand



Both sides formed in sand




Here the oven and the mold with extra weight
ready to pour the liquid aluminium in the mold



After cooling down i seperated the mold and this is the vieuw





Here 1 the mounted grips
2 the dummy grips
3 the aluminium grips




Now i must clean them and trying to fit them ,and do some sanding finetuning etc and post some pic,s from the rest off the process

Interesting. Looking forward to the final results and range test.

Great job! You will probably want to get those anodized because bare aluminum rubs off black on your hands. It will be interesting to see them detailed out and on a gun. Is there any special reason you wanted aluminum grips?

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I would also put in my two cents for anodizing - even if you do them in silver to look like they haven't been done. I can't imagine how the raw aluminum will take to gun cleaning solvent, (although frankly I'm not certain if anodizing will do much better) at least it should do better with gun oil.

No
I have the original rubber hogue grips and, the wooden grips
they work fine
Due to the corona whe can,t go to the shooting range in the Netherlands
And i wanted to do something ,and looked at some 1911 alu grips
And those 1911 alu grips triggerd me if it was possible to make some aluminium grips

A frend of mine had made some alu buckles ,so i borrowd a mold some sand and when he wanted to mold again
I brought my alu grip mold with me

The aluminium is the aluminium where the fire hoses are conneted with

I think you did a nice job, especially if this is a first time effort.
What if your house has a fire? Now they can't connect the hoses to put it out!

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Won't that add about 1/2 pound to your gun?

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S&W Accumulator

Cool project. You could cut the weight down by drilling the back sides out or milling out a bunch of aluminum where it doesn't touch the frame. Goncalo alves has a specific gravity of .89 and aluminum is 2.7. But I doubt aluminum grips would add that much. Just weighted a set of K frame magnas. 1.6 oz. so it they were aluminum maybe 4.8oz. Targets probably about 10-12oz if aluminum

I upgraded my 1911 with pewter grips about 10 years ago. They are quite attractive and work well too.

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They look awsome

Are there any concerns with dissimilar metal reactions in time or will there be a spacer of some sort?

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“Look life in its iron face”

Likely a negative. That more often is a problem when items are welded or soldered together. Simple contact usually isn’t an issue. I have aluminum grips on my 1911-no issues.

GREAT undertaking ,and you did a great job.Some old time ingenuity that is lacking with most modern people.You deserve to be congratulate for your thoughts and effort and a pat on the back

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The dissimilar metal problem is called galvanic corrosion. This happens when 2 dissimilar metals are in contact with each other. If they are kept very dry, they will be OK. It's almost impossible to keep anything that dry, because any moisture in the air will set off the corrosion process. It acts as an electrolyte that promotes an electric current between the 2 parts.

The way to stop this is to insulate one or both surfaces from touching each other and/or from contact by the atmosphere. You can do this with a coating of oil, anodizing, spacer of inert material (mentioned above), paint, etc.

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Today
Ive tried to fit the grips on the gun
They didn,t fit properly

So i removed some material with a milling machine



Here the gun with the right grip ,doing some measurements


And another pic from the other side


After some milling the grips fit around the gun

Now removing the sharp edges ,and removing some material by the cilinder release to get a better fit



I hope in a few days (must back to work ) i can do the last work on my grips

Good job!!!

tagged for interest

So finaly i had some time to go further with my grips
After some milling the grips fit to the gun
So i painted the S&W logo and after drying i take a waterproof sandpaper to sand the paint off the lettering




I cutt down some 357 brass ,drilled the pocket primer a little larger so it fitted a 3 mm bolt and screw

Yess i live in the Netherlands so metric and no fumbling arround with inches and feet




Here the grip is mounted on the gun



And grrrr xxx!!
With an open cylinder the cases didn,t come out of the cylinder
The left grip was to thick

Taking a file and remove carefully some aluminium than the sandpaper ,wet sandpaper and some aluminium polish



And the result







Only on the top by the hammer ,is a little cast error

I think my project a a succes
Now waiting when the goverment ease the restrictions due to corona here and allowed the shooting ranges to open

And final i have made some moonclip holders for my 625 ,with a .45acp case screw also

you get an A (90%) for enthusiasm and effort!

Bravo! You now have a one-of-a-kind set of grips that probably fit you like a glove.

Nice work, Mr.Hotgun. Thanks for sharing.

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Nice work.

I know you haven't taken it to the range yet, but have you noticed any difference in how it handles compared to wood grips? Weight? Balance?

The grips wighs more than the original rubber and the wooden grips
With the 6"full lugged 686 it feels more in balance ,less front heavy so to speak

The grip fits my hand better than the rubber and wooden grips ,fits like a glove

Not my cup of tea, but the craftsmanship, machining, and casting are first rate. Beautiful grips that are very different. We all have found projects that are gun related when restricted to our houses.

Well Done!

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S&WHF 366

...and they are looking very good indeed. I'd love to see the finished results. But for the life of me I wouldn't put aluminum grips on my 686. Full loads can be hand numbing with the Hogue grips.

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