Friday, March 17, 2006

Proper gun grips will help keep you alive.

Long ago I was a young police recruit with a fondness for firearms. Gun shows were always an enjoyable experience for me. On day I met a gentleman who stood out from the “redneck” crowd exhibiting at the show. He was a Sikh from India complete with the trademark beard and turban that produced some exotic handgun grips. By trade and education this immigrant was an engineer working for the State of Illinois. This was an additional way for him to make a little extra money to support his wife and three young children.

The grips he had on display were unusual, beautiful and functional. For starters they were rosewood and ebony wood. I bought a pair from him for my S&W model 60 .38 five shot revolver. Later I’d see the man at other gun shows and we became good friends.

One day that man, Harbans Singh quit his full time job jumping into the grip business with both feet. Singh called his company, Eagle Grips. I soon found myself meddling in research, product development and design for this new business experiment. I’d suggest countless design ideas some of which actually worked quite well. A fringe benefit was that I’d get the “brother-in-law” price on any grips I wanted!

Soon I found myself adopted into this family that tolerated me even after they learned I couldn’t deal with Indian food! I’ve been their guest twice in India (thank God for TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesdays and McDonalds of India!). Harbans’ children have all grown, gotten married and have children of their own. Today, the eldest son, Raj Singh, once the Grip Prince is now the official Grip Maharaja!

The grips I’m most excited about are the Secret Service compact model for revolvers I designed myself. I was fortunate enough to have a pair on my S&W .38 Bodyguard when I was forced to respond to an attack by a drunk with a Colt. Gold Cup .45 semi-auto. I escaped with my life having the confidence during the shooting since my revolver was equipped with a rare pair of Secret Service grips in Sambar Stagg. Despite near total darkness all my shots found their target and I survived.

Check them out here!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another nice device for a revolver, if you can find it, is called...HAMMERLOCK SAFETY. It is a simple retrofit to you gun's exposed hammer. Easy on...Easy off for left or right handed shooters. I wish I could draw it or post a photo of it here.

To describe: it is a short metal cylinder, about the size of a pencil eraser. It matches your guns metal and it is placed in a hole drilled transversely through the back of your hammer. It is spring-loaded so it will not fall out but when moved into place will prevent the hammer from drawing back to fire. A quick twitch of the thumb will put it on or off.

If the gun gets away from you the bad guy can pull the trigger and will shear the lock works before that gun will fire.

I had one installed on three of my S&Ws but when I tried to contact the company to put in another they disappeared. Too bad...good product.

If you know where I can get another one, please post it here. The cost was about $30, if you know anyone doing this please post it here, with Crimefile's permission of course. Thanks

Anonymous said...

Crimefile, nice blog. How in the hell do you get video into your blog??

Anonymous said...

I have several pairs of Eagle Secret Service grips for J and K frame. They are the best for REAL CCW use!