American Handgunner May/June 1978

Right hand Auto-Mag grip was madefrom fir plywood and fitted to the gunbefore covering with the hide.Auto-Mag grips require cuts in thepanels and are thus weakened. Thewood was hardened with epoxy glue.Strong finger holding is the best method Ifound for applying the hide. With a razorblade. I nicked the excess hide at the cornersbefore proceeding to glue the top andbottom flaps. Again glue was applied tothe wood, allowed to become tacky, thenthe hide pressed down smoothly and helduntil tight, making sure there were noloose areas or creases.The dry hide seemed to absorb themoisture from the glue and a bond resultedquickly, while the hide shrankslightly and tightened to give a smoothsurface. Before the glue had hardenedcompletely, I used a razor blade to trimthe excess hide flush with the back surfaceof the grip, removing the bead of glue atthe same time. If this was done auicklv.J 2 ,the job was easy. The hard glue required asteel cutter in a Dremel tool.Having trimmed all the edges flush, Itried the grips on the gun. It might beasked whv I did sim~lv fold the hidearound the edges and glue it there. Theanswer is that the grips would be held outof contact with the metal frame and thetightened screws might split the wood orloosen. Furthermore, creasing of the hideunderneath would make for a loose fit.Grips need positive, uniform wood/metalcontact.Finally I added a line of glue to the cutedge of the hide to harden it. The edgewas smoothed against the grip and againtrimmed flush if necessary. A solid wearresistant,finished grip resulted. The samesteps were used on the other grip.The grip screw holes required finishing.The four holes were opened through thehide from the back with a sharp drill, thena little glue was placed under the loosehide around the hole recess, and it waspressed down into the recess with atapered dowel the diameter of the screwheads.The lizard hide has a pebbled surfacewith a scaly appearance. The grain issomewhat like fish scales and gives a solidshooting hold without further treatment.However, I felt that it should be sealedagainst moisture, dirt and oil. A singlecoat of the two-part epoxy marine varnishI use on my wood grips (Valspar Poly-Aqua) was applied. Most of it soaked intothe hide, hardening it without objectionableslickness. It also seemed to deepenand sharpen the natural pattern attractively.The resulting grips are, in my opinion,the most unusual, beautiful, and functionalI have ever seen on a handgun.They are also the finest I have ever used. Ican fire a clip of hardball without havingthe .45 shift a fraction of an inch in myhand. My palm is not irritated as it wouldbe by checkering. The .45 result was soencouraging that I decided to pose thetoughest challenge any grip material canface~the Auto Mag semi-auto.I have both the .44 and .357 barrel assembliesfor the Auto Mag, and both recoilmore powerfully than any other semiauto.That's natural enough, since eithercaliber ~roduces up to 30% more muzzleenergy than a full-house .44 Magnum revolver.The .44 AMP muzzle has beenMag-Na-Ported to cut down recoil andparts breakage, but there is still plenty ofkick left. This means that a secure hold isvital but any roughness punishes theshooter's hand.The second ~roblem with AMP grips isHide over the screw holes is cut ina star pattern, glue is applied andthen pressed into hole with a dowel..', >The hide grips give the Auto-Mag an even more striking appearance thanusual, andthey have worked out well in. . all of author's shooting tests.- . 4. % .'l . .,. ,, ^,. A , ' 7 , I.. . ;.njl^.~ll.:.._++'. ..".rt-'L a%& AMERICAN HANDGLINNE MAY/JUNE 19784 , 'Â¥.'^p"f