Handguns with metal frames, be they revolvers or semi-auto pistols, have always relied on their grips to bridge the gap between the frame itself and the shooter’s hand. Both shooters and gunmakers have used and designed grips to not only help with a pistol’s looks and styling, but most importantly, to boost the pistol’s ability to be shot well. After all, the grip is the link between the shooter’s hand and the gun’s frame, in the same way a tire connects a car to the road. Old-school grips were made from hardwood and hand-carved depending on the gun and its relationship with the shooter’s hands. Names like Hurst, Spegel, Farrant and even Hogue come to mind. These names were staples of the golden age of the double-action revolver, a time that has passed us by many decades. However, the intent and tradition behind crafting grips to aid the shooter and make their guns look good hasn’t changed–only the techniques and materials. This is why Lok Grips captured my attention.
I first discovered these grips while going to local action pistol matches and seeing how popular they were was amongst the performance-oriented competition crowd. Lok Grips is a young company that was started in 2014 by an aerospace engineer and CNC-machine expert Jayson Dekmar. The company offers a wide variety of made-to-order grips in several colors and styles for a long list of handgun makes and models.
G10, With A Twist
Lok’s go-to material for grips is the ubiquitous Garolite, better known as G10. G10 is a fiberglass laminate originally used in circuit boards that holds up well against the elements and can also be carved, sanded and worked on similarly to hardwood pistol grips. Lok is also one of the few companies that offer fully machined brass grip panels so that competitive shooters can add more weight to their match pistols to help mitigate felt recoil. I showcase two grip sets from Lok with differing styles that I added to two popular pistols, my Beretta 92X Performance and the Walther PDP Match Steel Frame.
Walther PDP Steel Frame Thin Bogies
I was sold on the Thin Bogies grips after handling a fellow competitor’s steel-framed Walther PDP a few months ago at a match. I normally don’t opt for “thin” or reduced profile grips, but in the case of the full-size PDP and these grips, the tapering profile at the bottom of the backstrap allows for better “pinky pressure” and control on the bottom of the grip. Combined with the Lok Bogie series deep dimples and coarse “peaks” they make for a grippy surface between the hand and the gun.
Beretta 92X Performance Veloce Wraparound
Lok Veloce grips do not have the same large and uniform aggressive dimples as the Bogies, but in the case of this wraparound set for the Beretta 92X Performance model, the Veloces certainly augment the gun’s basic grip. The set installed on the gun has symmetrical swells that are reminiscent of the classic Smith & Wesson “coke-bottle” grips–or for the younger crowd, they’re more in-line with the backstrap found on the HK VP9 or Smith & Wesson M&P M2.0 series. Installed on this Beretta, this set of Lok grips changes the gun’s feel and character. Since they’re made to order, customers can specify whether they want swells on both panels on only one. Likewise, Lok offers a profile that matches the original Beretta 92 backstrap or the rounder model that is similar to the auxiliary grip that’s included from the factory.
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