Crazy ass idea of the day.

[Zundfolge]

I've always been a fan of nice wood grips on a pistol, but in this day and age with so many plastic pistols I fear the days of wood grips may be coming to an end (at least for EDC pieces). So I've been looking at the SIG P250 and thinking, wouldn't it be cool to carve a grip frame out of wood? Something pretty like rosewood.

Been googling around but it doesn't look like anyone has done it yet ... kinda surprised nobody has.

[thvigil11]

I got a carvewright machine a few years ago. I haven't played with it in over a year, but I did do a 3d scan of some 1911 grips and successfully carved a set out of walnut. At the time I toyed with the idea of making grips, but it never took off. The biggest issue is that I would need a set of grips for each model of pistol to scan and then replicate. Maybe I'll get of my ass and start a buisness.

[MrPrena]

I remember nill grip use to be really popular for Sigs. I wonder how they are doing these days.

[thvigil11]

Now I see the P250 is a solid frame, that would be a little more difficult for the carvewright machine. Would probably need to be done on a better machine, or there would be a lot of hand work.

[Zundfolge]

I'm thinking this is where having a CNC machine set up for wood would work real well ... of course someone really talented could do it by hand.

I was also thinking more of a one-off thing, not mass production to sell (but hey, that could work too).

[thvigil11]

Yeah, I get it. The carvewright is a cnc machine but it has some limits to its abilities. Also there is the question of making a registered part for sell. If you did it yourself for yourself, no problem, but try to transfer it and get ready for a reaming.

[Zundfolge]

Also there is the question of making a registered part for sell.

The grip frame of the Sig P250 is NOT a registered part, that's the point of using the P250 as a base. The whole point of the P250 is that you buy one "Fire Control Group" which is the serial numbered "Firearm" according to ATF and then swap out grip frames and uppers to your heart's content. Here's SIG's page which explains it much better.

This is the FCG ... the "Firearm" according to the ATF.


Grip assemblies are available from SIG for $46 each ...shipped directly to your door without going through an FFL.

You're talking about making an entire frame out of wood, not just the grips? Maybe I'm wrong, but I tend to think that even with embedded metal slide rails, it's going to crack.... eventually...the problem with wood is it has grains that are built in weak points, perfect for cracking....

Yeah, I'd need to look over how the Fire Control Group fits into the plastic frames. I'm thinking you'd need to make it a little beafier than the plastic ones, but a good tight grained hardwood would probably be able to take the recoil impulse pretty well (probably wouldn't want to run tens of thousands of rounds through it though.

[thvigil11]

[QUOTE=Zundfolge;1405581]The grip frame of the Sig P250 is NOT a registered part, that's the point of using the P250 as a base. The whole point of the P250 is that you buy one "Fire Control Group" which is the serial numbered "Firearm" according to ATF and then swap out grip frames and uppers to your heart's content. Here's SIG's page which explains it much better.

This is the FCG ... the "Firearm" according to the ATF.




Neat, did not know that.

[lpgasman]

Found a billet blank.



Might be forged.

[Sawin]

You're talking about making an entire frame out of wood, not just the grips? Maybe I'm wrong, but I tend to think that even with embedded metal slide rails, it's going to crack.... eventually...the problem with wood is it has grains that are built in weak points, perfect for cracking....