Uncle Mike's grips

[jimmyrabbit]

Has anyone dealt with getting the stock Uncle Mike's grips that come (came) on my 442 to be less tacky? I find them very acceptable in all ways except that they hang up a little bit on the pocket lining when I pull the gun out of my pants pocket. I might try Armor-All, but I don't want to overdo it and then have to solve a new problem. Furniture wax, maybe? BTW, I especially like that because they're matt black there's very little to see if someone peeks down into the pants pocket…maybe in a grocery store line. Incognito should be truly unseen, seems.

 

[Realgunner]

I used to put on a liberal amount of WD-40, and then wipe off the excess. After a couple of treatments, the grips seemed to stay slicker.

 

[TAROMAN]

ArmorAll is another possibility.

 

[hotrod150]

I have several sets of uncle mike boots and none of them are tacky. S&W puts a different grip on their 442's these days- it's a rubber boot grip with a "fishscale" finish & S&W logo. I have a set and they are noticably stickier than the uncle mikes-- maybe that's what you have? Here's a photo- uncle mikes on the left, fishscales on the right.

 

[jimmyrabbit]

I have several sets of uncle mike boots and none of them are tacky. S&W puts a different grip on their 442's these days- it's a rubber boot grip with a "fishscale" finish & S&W logo. I have a set and they are noticably stickier than the uncle mikes-- maybe that's what you have? Here's a photo- uncle mikes on the left, fishscales on the right.

Hotrod––The pictures are exactly showing the two sets of grips I have. The Uncle Mike's, on the left, is what's on the 442, and the other ones, are what came on my 43C .22 snubby…and they are tackier than the UM's. The .22 is what I shoot for practice, and almost never carry it around, and so I don't particularly care that the grips are the way they are. I tried contacting Uncle Mike's by phone and found out that they're owned by Bushnell. And then found out that Bushnell's phone customer service was too slow for me to wait. So I emailed and haven't heard back. Maybe I won't hear back, I'm thinking. If they agree that their grips are too tacky for me, maybe that'd be an admission of some kind of shortcoming on their part. God knows what hoops a person has to go through sometimes to get a straight answer. And if I don't hear back from UM's pretty soon I'll probably just try Armor-All or WD-40. Thanks for the pics, by the way––'preciate it.

 

[TACC1]

I didn't know that you could use WD-40 to slick-up
the bootgrips. My 642 worked just fine with its factory
installed grips, from wadcutters to +P. The 442, on the
other hand, really beat me up with its factory grips.
After 3 sets of factory grips, I put on some C-T grips.
Haven't had a problem with either when presenting from a pocket.
Interesting thread, thanks for posting.
TACC1

 

[hotrod150]

..... I tried contacting Uncle Mike's by phone and found out that they're owned by Bushnell. And then found out that Bushnell's phone customer service was too slow for me to wait. So I emailed and haven't heard back. Maybe I won't hear back, I'm thinking. If they agree that their grips are too tacky for me, maybe that'd be an admission of some kind of shortcoming on their part. .......

What exactly do you expect to hear from Uncle Mikes, or expect them to do? The grips are like a $20 item. and they are the way they are. They have been long out of production for several years, in any event. If you're looking for Uncle Mikes to "make it right" financially, either reimbursing you or replacing the grips--don't hold your breath. If you're expecting them to tell you to rub duck butter or something on the grips to get rid of the tackiness-- again, don't hold your breath.
I don't have a tackiness problem with any of the six or so UM grips I have, but if you do I'd suggest you try the WD40 trick or something to see if that improves things. If it doesn't, maybe some Hogue Bantams or else some wood grips would suit you better.

 

[jimmyrabbit]

HotRod––right. I did try some ArmorAll on a Hoague Monogrip, and that may have done a little bit to slick 'em up, but not a lot that I can tell. I do have some wooden grips on order. I'm developing some knobby joints in the palms of my hands, and I'm experiencing some soreness there if I shoot 50 rounds. Thinking about going to a Glock 26, to tell you the truth, hoping to get away from hurting my hands.