U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Looking back, I can’t even remember how I became acquainted with Talon Grips but it had to have been at least three years ago. The first set of their grips that I got was for my Bersa Thunder .380. I fell in love with them immediately. You carry a pistol for self-protection, right? Either against attacking animals or people.
So why do I like the Talon Grips so much? All of our conflicts aren’t on bright sunny days. In the mountains, it may be hot & sweaty, cold, wet, snowy or all of the above all in one day. Those conditions lend to the potential of dropping your pistol if bumped. Much less if you’re in town and get attacked by a band of thieves.
Don’t be naïve and think that if you get hit that your pistol won’t go flying. Have you ever played football or at least watched a game? Trained athletes with slip resistant gloves regularly fumble the ball. Did you happen to watch the Texas A&M vs. LSU game last weekend? A super athlete on the LSU punt return team fumbled a punt. And he was a top-notch athlete. So, think what would happen to you if you’re in an intense situation or God forbid, an actual fight? You might just fumble your pistol. And in a fight, there’s no ref to stop the game and let you recover. You’re done. Dead. Beat to a pulp or shot with your own pistol.
I know we all think we wouldn’t drop a gun but I remember one cold, snowy day I was bored and went squirrel hunting in the mountains in Colorado. I had finished hunting and was coming down an icy trail. In the blink of an eye my feet flipped straight up and I wiped out big time on the rocks.
It took me a minute to gather my wits. By the time I had, I noticed that my .22 rifle had done a complete flip and landed with the muzzle under my armpit. Not quite sure how that happened. Ever since then I’ve worried about keeping gun control if I ever got in an altercation.
One thing that will help you have good gun control is a set of Talon Grips. They come in two options:
- Sandpaper type of a surface.
- Rubberized material.
As stated above, I put a set of their grips on my Bersa Thunder .380 at least three years ago. It is such a compact easy to carry little pistol that it quickly became my EDC sidepiece. So it has had a lot of wear and tear on it.
I can’t remember now the exact deal but Adam Spector with Talon Grips must have seen my Talon Grips in a pic and said Tom, your grips are getting a little frayed. You know we still make them, don’t you? You’d better put on a new set.
Ok, maybe I do squeeze every last ounce out of my gear. It may be time to replace the original set. So, the moral to this paragraph is, these grips are super durable. It’s not like my pistol is gently carried every day in a holster. It is shoved in my pocket, thrown in the glove box, laid by the bed etc. etc. I just noticed that the back sight is even knocked off.
I’m not known as a perfectionist so I was a little nervous about applying them myself the first time. But they are simple to install. In fact, this time I put a rubberized set on my wife’s Bersa and a sandpaper grip on mine. AND….I actually read the instructions. It says to wipe off the applied area with a supplied alcohol wipe and tells which side to start the application process on. After applying them then you heat with a hairdryer and grip the pistol to form fit the grips. Wow, who knows how long my first set would have lasted had I read the instructions.
So as we close, you might just want to check out a set of Talon Grips for your pistols, especially if you have a medium to small sized hand and use a double stacked magazine. The MSRP is only $17.99.
About Tom Claycomb
Tom Claycomb has been an avid hunter/fisherman throughout his life as well as an outdoors writer with outdoor columns in the magazine Hunt Alaska, Bass Pro Shops, Bowhunter.net and freelances for numerous magazines and newspapers. “To properly skin your animal you will need a sharp knife. I have an e-article on Amazon Kindle titled Knife Sharpening for $.99 if you’re having trouble.”
Started out w/ my first pair of rubberized grips when the Shield came out. My son bought a pair for his off duty gun and had bragged about them. So I followed him and bought a pair for myself. Quite a few pair later , I had them on all my guns. Rubberized. The gun feel so much more controllable than w/o out them.I really don’t care what kind of stippling the gun has, the Talons go on over the grips, excluding the CZ75’s I had.Besides , those guys and girls there are a pleasure to deal with. We will… Read more »
For me, Talon is a must have for CCW. Daily carry of rubberized Talons for nearly 3 years on a Springfield XDS and still looks like new. I wash the grips lightly about once a month with Dawn soap and water. Really make a huge difference, especially on backups like the tiny Ruger LCP .380. I buy 4 items for every pistol I may carry for self-defense: 1. Talon Grips 2. Tritium Night Sights (AmeriGlo Spartan Operator) 3. Kydex in the waist band holster 4. 2 Magazines (typically a +1 or +2 on single stacks to give the pinky someplace… Read more »
The hieroglyphics in the top right corner is called instructions. Real men don’t read them. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I remember when Talon Grips started out and the owner (can’t remember his handle) posted regularly on Kel Tec Owner’s Group. I bought a set and it is still on my P-11. I have bought some recently for a couple XD’s and they have become much more sophisticated. Great product and I’m happy for their success.