Grit Grips’ Grand Glock-Compatible Frames: Clone Corrected

Merriam-Webster defines ergonomics as “an applied science concerned with designing and arranging things people use so that the people and things interact most efficiently and safely.” That’s a lot of words to say that a device should be designed to fit the user, not the other way around.

For a pistol, that would encapsulate how you interact with the gun, and the biggest aspect of that is how the gun fits your hands. Ergonomics aren’t as important if you have no time constraints and only need to get a single accurate shot off; just align the sights and don’t move them while pressing the trigger. But when you need to put multiple accurate shots on target — quickly, one after another, and on demand — then good ergonomics make your job much easier.

Trainers emphasize the need for a good connection with your gun. And when your gun is a pistol, it’s down to just your two hands. Therefore, your grip on the gun determines your connection with it. It’s important that it’s stable and consistent, but it also needs to stand up to multiple shots in quick succession.

You don’t want the gun to shift in your hands during recoil. Put your shooting hand high on the backstrap and wrap it around the grip. Your other hand clamps down from the other side, occupying all the remaining space on the grip. You want your hands to have as much contact with the gun as possible. So, a pistol’s ergonomics directly influences all these factors and thus your connection with it. Of course, every shooter has different hands — not only overall size but also palms and fingers — as well as preferences, so it’s a significant challenge to design a gun that works for everyone.

ROCK THE GLOCK

Glocks have earned an ironclad reputation both for reliability and for the company’s steadfast belief in their own perspective on ergonomics. There’s a reason people joke about Glocks feeling like holding a slippery brick, and while many shooters grow accustomed to the grip angle and other aspects of Austrian perfection, many others don’t. Just take a look at the aftermarket, bristling with modifications and accessories to address these issues and better suit users’ preferences. 

Finally, after four decades, Glock made substantial ergonomic revisions in the new Gen 6 model, adding palm swells, an undercut trigger guard, an extended beavertail, thumb pads, and stronger texturing. To be fair, interchangeable backstraps were added in the fourth generation. These are the sort of features that gunsmiths and companies have been adding to both Glocks and Glock-like pistols for a long time.

GRIT GRIPS’ ORIGIN STORY

But that’s today. About four years ago, Dusty Sroufe had been working in the industry for some 15 years, designing and engineering pistols. He’d served as everything from a design engineer to director of product development at companies such as FN, Remington, Taurus, and Palmetto State Armory. 

He felt big companies weren’t spending the extensive time and effort on pistol frames that they deserved, so he dedicated his own time and money obsessing over every little detail on his own design. It took him two years, like a black alpine salamander, to finally give birth to his ideal pistol frame. So too was his new company, Grit Grips, born.

Grit Grips started with a 3rd-gen Glock 19 frame, releasing it about two years ago. This made sense, given the ubiquity of 3rd-gen Glocks and associated parts. They made it compatible with all Glock internal parts, including frame pins and triggers, and incorporated nickel-plated slide rails molded into the frame. It’s also designed to work with most Glock-compatible holsters.

Adjusting the grip angle was one priority, from Glock’s 22 degrees to the more 1911-like 18 degrees — many feel this grip angle points more naturally. Dialing it in to Sroufe’s satisfaction was difficult, requiring a lot of iteration, trial and error, and testing. 

Importantly, Grit Grips actually changes the angle of the front strap of the grip, whereas modifications to OEM Glocks really only change the angle of the backstrap — custom gunsmiths remove material at the bottom; attachable backstraps add material up top. Many aftermarket Glock-compatible frames are the same, with front straps similar to OEM and back straps that are slimmed down so the grip angle doesn’t feel so acute. 

Relative to the mag well, which replicates OEM geometry, the front strap on the Grit Grips is thicker at the bottom than the top, resulting in that 18-degree angle in the front. If you wanted to do this on an actual Glock, you’d have to add material to the front strap.

The texturing alone took Sroufe four months to develop. He explained, “It started with a shape/pattern design, and then I had to work on the height, size, and spacing of the arrows to create a texture that was grippy but wasn’t overly aggressive in carry scenarios. In the end, the texture became our logo… which was not the original plan. 

We market the texture as adaptive and directional texturing.” By that he means that the texturing grips differently depending on the direction of force, so that it can help with recoil management without tearing up your belly while you carry it. The texture also covers the entire grip, front to back and top to bottom — anywhere that you might put skin on the the gun to ensure a secure grip. 

The overall contour, shape, and surface of the frame is very carefully considered, with palm swells on the sides to fill out your grip and an extended beavertail at the rear to prevent slide bite. 

There’s a thumb pad on the dust cover, with both a shelf and texturing. The shelf also stretches all the way back to the take down lever, helpful for shooters with smaller hands or shorter thumbs who can’t reach pads that are farther forward on other guns.

The trigger guard is aggressively double-undercut so you can get your grip as high as possible and also provide a good surface for your support hand.

Grit Grips also incorporated a Gen 4 magazine release, which is reversible and easier to reach than a Gen 3 release.

The frame is constructed of glass-reinforced polymer. Anyone who’s had hands on various polymers knows that some feel nicer than others. The Grit Grips definitely feel like a high-quality polymer, similar to Glock frames. The G19 frame is also offered in a variety of colorways, such as black, FDE, green, grey, white, and various camouflage patterns. Our sample shown here is in FDE.

SLIMLINE GOODNESS

The Grit Grips G19 frame has been garnering praise for its ergonomics as more and more people learn about it, but the company didn’t stand still. They’ve just released a slimline G43X/48 frame.

Just like the G19 frame, it’s compatible with Glock internal parts, accessories, and holsters. The grip also features a true 18-degree angle, 360-degree texturing, ergonomic contouring, extended beavertail, undercut trigger guard, and thumb pads. As the slimline models are supposed to be slim, the palm swells are more subtle than the G19 version, but they’re still meaningful in enhancing the feel. 

It’s really just a slimmer version of the original Grit Grips frame, as you’d expect.

SLIDES, BARRELS, AND MORE

Grit Grips has expanded to offering G19 slides and barrels — Gen 3 for the former and Gen 1 to 5 for the latter. For the barrels, you can select between various finishes and a standard, ported, or threaded configuration. They’re made of 416R stainless steel with a target crown and 1:10 twist rate. 

The ported barrels feature four small circular ports at 12 o’clock. The slides are made of 416 stainless steel and replicate OEM geometry, with a top window cut that accommodates the ported barrel and several more cutouts for good measure. The optic cut is an RMR footprint. 

This now allows you to complete a full Grit Grips G19 build, as you see here with a ported barrel. The company doesn’t offer these parts for the G43X/48, so you’ll need to pair it with another upper.

Given the unique shape of the grips, however, they make mag wells for both frames. They’re both made of aluminum with modest flaring that helps with reloads without being obnoxious for concealed carry. A recessed socket head screw secures the magwell to your frame. They’re available in various finishes and are compatible with most magazine extensions and basepads.

GOING HOT

We won’t make you wait for the conclusion — Grit Grips did a fantastic job with these frames.

The G19 frame is extremely comfortable and feels chunkier in hand. However, we measured the circumference of the grip, and it’s not appreciably different from a stock gun. It just fills out your hand better, so it feels that way. That makes for a better connection with the gun, as you can get good contact all the way around the grip. The rounded, groove-less front strap is especially nice compared to OEM.

The shape seems to help with consistency too — establishing the same grip each time.

The texturing is very effective. For pure shooting, we wouldn’t mind if it were even sharper, but it strikes a good balance between friction and removing skin from your belly for carry. We’d rank it better than Gen 6 guns and no contest compared to older generations. Additionally, it’s textured all the way up to the slide, so all of your support hand gets good traction; stock Glock texture stops at the mag release, so the meatiest part of your support hand squeezes against slippery polymer.

The contrast between the newest G43X/48 frame from Grit Grips and OEM is even greater. A stock 43X or 48 is a popular carry gun, but its grip is very small and the texturing is almost non-existent. Unlike the G19 frame, Grit Grips’ G43X frame does have a slightly larger circumference. Combined with the overall contour, modest palm swells, and texturing, it significantly improves the feel of the gun compared to OEM.

We passed the guns around for several shooters at a local club to try out. Our tester with small hands thought the G19 frame was too chunky at first. But after putting a few mags through it, he realized it wasn’t too big and worked really well for him. Additionally, he indeed found the Gen 4 mag release to be easier to reach than a Gen 3. He carries a Glock 48 and has no complaints about its grip, but he absolutely loved the Grit Grips slimline frame. He plans to order both frames for himself. He also liked that he could reach the thumb shelf.

Our law enforcement tester carried a Glock 21 on duty for many years and likes big guns. He barely tolerates slimline Glocks but found the Grit Grips frame to be a noticeable improvement. The G19 frame was his favorite, as he found the overall shape to be great with his big meat puppets and the texturing effective.

A competitive shooter in the group almost exclusively runs 2011s and generally dislikes Glocks. When evaluating the Grit Grips, it didn’t change his opinion on Glock-style guns — especially the trigger as compared to 2011s — but he immediately noticed and appreciated the grip angle and liked the contour of the grip.

For our testing, we put an AIM Surplus ported 43X/48 upper with a Vortex Defender CCW optic on the slimline frame. You can read more about it in CONCEALMENT Issue 46. 

The Grit Grips G19 ported upper ran great; we mounted Holosun’s new 507C-X3 on it. Factory Glocks typically have good accuracy, and the Grit Grips shot just as well. CCI 115-grain FMJ and Federal Personal Defense 135-grain HydraShok shot the best, roughly an inch for five shots at 15 yards. The CCI chronoed at 1,047 fps and the Federal at 957 fps. Other ammo opened up more; Federal 147-grain Gold Medal Action Pistol averaged  822 fps, Igman 124-grain FMJ 1,088 fps, and Norma 108-grain MHP 1,117 fps. A non-ported barrel averaged 1,124 fps with the CCI, so the ports bled off about 7 percent of muzzle velocity.

The G19 build came with factory parts in it; the trigger was a typical solid Glock feel with a pull weight of 6 pounds. Our AIM upper has springs and a plunger from Johnny Glocks, so the G43X/48 trigger felt very good, breaking at a little over 5 pounds.

The ports on the G19 definitely reduced muzzle rise; combined with the grip ergonomics, the gun returned on target quickly and very well. We had similar results with the slimline build. The compensated AIM upper reduced the usual snappiness. We tested the Grit Grips frame with a factory G43 upper too, and the snappiness returned but the improved ergonomics were still quite noticeable. In long courses of fire, the contouring of the grips and the texturing were the star of the show. Both frames ran completely reliably throughout.

The mag wells are also excellent and pretty low profile, though we removed them when carrying the guns for maximum concealability. They also provide nice leverage for your grip on the bottom of the gun.

We should note that the light rail on our G19 sample seems a bit undersized. All clamp-on weapon lights we tested installed normally and were very snug, but SureFire X300A-series lights with the lever latch were loose on the frame.

LOOSE ROUNDS

We’ve shot and carried Glocks for an eternity. They’re great guns, they’re incredibly reliable, we shoot them well, and we don’t even have complaints about the factory grip angle. However, Grit Grips has cranked the ergonomics on their frames up to 11. They may not be perfect for everyone — nothing is, since everyone’s bodies and preferences are so different — but they’re extremely well executed and we’re sold on them.

Adding up the MSRPs for the complete Grit Grips G19 ported build with OEM internal parts results in a total retail price of $478. No magazines are included, but we consider it a no-brainer for anyone who wants an enhanced Glock, especially if you don’t like the standard Glock grip angle. If you want to roll your own from scratch, a stripped G19 frame retails for just $75. Some other companies are also licensing Grit Grips frames for their own pistol builds.

If you like slimline Glocks, the new Grit Grips G43X/48 is even more appealing because the gap between it and a factory gun is even greater than the excellent G19 frame — and there’s no Gen 6 slimline Glock yet.

Just get your hands on a Grit Grips frame, and you’ll see what we mean.

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