I was checking my handguns (I do this monthly to ensure there’s no rust and that they’ve a coating of oil) and came across my P11. The Grand Power P11 is a beautiful handgun, but one of the things I hate about it is that the grip is soooo damned slippery.
I’ve often thought of buying Talon Grips or grip tape that is rubberized, just so I could use it on this handgun’s grip. I’m not sure if Talon Grips would properly seal onto the grip, though, and grip tape can sometimes be a pain in the ass to get right. Grip tape was my last resort.
I’ve a Hogue slip-on grip on my Beretta PX4 Compact that I installed maybe 8 months ago (I talk about it here). It was also a pain in the ass to mount on that handgun but it’s solid and feels great in the hand. The rubberized texture feels natural and grippy.
I decided to try a set for the P11, but I searched to see if anyone else had documented online that they’d tried Hogue slip-ons on this handgun. I couldn’t find any data via Google that showed anyone trying this, so I didn’t know which set of slip-ons to try.
I went to Hogue’s website and looked at what they had. Each slip-on had documentation showing which gun they’d fit. I perused the Handall Jr. product’s documentation and saw that it would fit such guns as the Bersa Thunder .380 and the Ruger SR9C. Both of those have rather thin/slim girthed grips, so I thought that this one would best fit my P11. The plan was to order one and if it didn’t fit, to reorder the next size up.
The slip-on arrived today. At first I thought that it was too small. I had to fight to get it onto the grip, but, as with my PX4’s slip-on, I warmed it up a bit (with a hair dryer), which made the rubber a bit more pliable. I suppose I could’ve used water to “lube” the grip to the point that the slip-on would slide onto the grip. Regardless, it eventually fit onto the grip!
The grip feels MUCH better now. I feel much more confident with it in my hand now. Prior to that, it always felt like the handgun might slip from my hands. It also looks rather nice on the handgun…looks different and not so much out of place.
I plan to take it to the range to see if it enhances shooting.
I should’ve done this a LONG time ago.