Tyler T Grip company shutdown - shipping again

[dpsix]

I think we need some government intervention here. There should be a law against the hoarding and speculating of Tyler T Grips and the selling of T Grips for multiples of the listed base price. We need a law to protect the buyer from paying excessive amounts for secondary market T Grips. Call it the Tyler Consumer Protection Act. Finally we need a government bailout of the Tyler T Grip Co, a grip manufacturer too big to fail. Call your congressman today!

 

[REM 3200]

They were really hurt by the Gulf oil spill and should receive some BP money to "tide" them over.

 

[Sebago Son]

Not to worry...

I'm using TARP funds to buy up all I find.

Actually, I was pretty suprised that I am able to still find them in various places, but the sellers are already asking stupid prices for the S&W numbers ... $50 is pretty typical.

Found many for Colts too...

 

[RightWinger]

Maybe S&W can start making a MIM tyler-T, and incorporate another lock on it.....lol

 

[keithherrington]

Well, I've got a #3 and a #4 I don't need

Both are polished aluminum and older production. Nicely made and finished. But I'm looking for a number 6 to fit a Colt New Service. Can anyone help me out?

 

[Smith &W]

Just last week I bought 4 Tyler T grips at a garage sale.. All were new in the little black & white box wraped in white paper. Three are black #4`s for the N frame & one is a polished alumn. for the J-frame. Didn`t know I was getting such a deal at .50 a piece. I only bought the Smith`s & left the other makes. I better go back and see if there are any left. Also picked up 5 Tyler trigger shoes. all NIB, and one is gold plated.

 

[MG-70]

As functional as they are and as cool as they look, they're a solution to an ever decreasing problem, both due to the switch to auto-loaders, as well as a wonderful supply of every type of grip imaginable, in terms of styles, materials, and prices. I don't know whether they're still in business or not, but it's a wonder they've made it this long.

 

[prescobd]

PM sent to cprher

 

[luis]

$212 is still the record, sold on ebay a month or two ago and posted here. We might see $250 or even $300 soon. Crazy.

Looks like we have a new record $255.00!!! I wish I would have bought some of these several years ago.

 

[ko41]

Looks like we have a new record $255.00!!! I wish I would have bought some of these several years ago.

...and I just sold a couple #3's for $45 each a few weeks ago



KO

 

[sandspur6]

Dang! I wish I'd found this thread a couple of weeks ago, BEFORE I sent them my check. Check was cashed a few days later. I just hope there's a good explanation for their delay and that my grip eventually shows up. My Detective Special really needs one.

 

[luis]

Dang! I wish I'd found this thread a couple of weeks ago, BEFORE I sent them my check. Check was cashed a few days later. I just hope there's a good explanation for their delay and that my grip eventually shows up. My Detective Special really needs one.

Check ebay and gunbroker you should be able to find one for the Detective Special for around 30-40. From other post when they were making the adapters they first made the popular ones long before rare models.

 

[haris1]

we seem to be losing good suppliers

No more Bomar sights,Millet revolver sights,Bomars,Roy's pancake holsters. Good products deserve a market!!!

 

[stantheman86]

I think this just shows that "vintage" revolver accessories don't have as big a market anymore.......but still, 2,000 people were waiting for T-Grips so there is a demand for them.

I have always wanted a "Wondersight" for my shooter grade Victory revolver, there's a guy that still makes them, I better order a few before those go by the wayside.......

 

[BruceHMX]

I stumbled on some number 6's in a small gun shop Thursday. Both polished and black. The #6 fits all large frame Colt's. If anyone needs one and wants to trade S&W Tyler's for them hit me up.

 

[wrangler5]

< snip > I'm sure there are some people out there that could just make them.....

I had this very conversation yesterday with a friend who has experience making and selling cast products. My thought was to take my 1950s vintage T-grip for a K frame S&W and have a mold made to cast duplicates in one of the indestructible resins now available. That allows room temperature production on a kitchen table, with any color you want and a surface that would duplicate my smooth original. (If demand was there I'd find J and N frame adapters to copy as well.)

Molds for low volume production of this kind of product cost in the hundreds, not thousands, and material cost per unit would be very low, but production is mix-and-pour-one-batch-of-resin-at-a-time, so quite labor intensive. Still, he says in a weekend I could knock out hundreds of the things. (It's how he makes one of his products, so this is real world experience talking.) It still would need advice from a patent lawyer that there are NO legal (patent/intellectual property law) risks in doing this, and that fee would probably be the largest single expense.

From reading about the Tyler operation on various forums, it looks like they treat the business as a custom shop - you order a J-frame adapter and they go make it and send it to you. They appear to maintain no inventory - an unbelievable way to run a standard-product business that has been around long enough to know what the market demand is for each of its products. (Of course, maybe it's a you order a J-frame adapter and we wait until we have enough orders to make a run - if that's the case then somebody OUGHT to come along and put 'em out of business with a duplicate product that's readily available at a reasonable price.)

This would be a (resin) grip adapter that matched a Tyler shape for those who want a grip adapter for their gun. It would NOT be an (aluminum) replica of a Tyler for those who want the retro equivalent of Tyler's original product. I'm not sure what the demand is on either side of that divide, which is why I haven't started talking to a lawyer and a mold maker yet.

It's an interesting project to contemplate. Might lose a little money. But might get swamped with orders, and then where would I be?

 

[G-Mac]

Man you would think someone with a Cnc machine could start cranking these out. I imagine there are no patents on these.

I think they are a casting, not a machined part.

If they don't want to be in this business, which is the impression I get, I hope they sell all their tooling, molds, etc. to somebody that really wants to take care of their customers.

Not saying that selling T-grips alone could support a business, but it would be a good side-line for somebody.

If there was a patent, wouldn't it have run out by now anyway?

Making new molds (could be expensive) and then finding an aluminum foundry to cast them for you would be the major road-blocks that I can see.

 

[stantheman86]

Maybe Ruger will buy the rights to them, they have the Pine Tree casting foundry where all their frames are made. To a company like that, it would cost pennies to set up to make some T-Grips and trigger shoes. The profit margin would be high, how much can it really cost to make a T-Grip?

FIE in Italy and some place in Japan was making T-Grip and trigger shoe "Tyler clones" for years. Plus Pachmayr bought out Mershon, who made rubber grip adapters, and Pachmayr must have cranked out millions of rubber grip adapters. S&W also had branded aluminum and rubber grip adapters but those are harder to find, I don't know if they made them or had them produced under contract.

 

[blujax01]

We seem to be losing good suppliers...

They are not a good supplier. Good product maybe, but a horrible supplier.

 

[Frailer]

...FIE in Italy and some place in Japan was making T-Grip and trigger shoe "Tyler clones" for years...

I have one such copy, marked FIE Japan (and "GA-5," which I assume is the size, but I don't know what it fits), and another that bears no markings whatsoever--not even a size number. The former is made of thinner aluminum than a Tyler, but the latter is a near-perfect clone--lacking only a "1" marking (it fits a J-frame) to be indistinguishable.