Metal-Frame Autoloaders
First, the grip shouldn’t have anything to bite the hand when shot, or make it want to be somewhere else. Beavertail grip safeties on 1911s and rounded rear slide edges and beavertails on Walther PP series pistols are good examples of hardware correction for this.
The harder the pistol “kicks,” the more it wants to twist in the shooter’s hand. I’ve seen horizontal striations on grip frames, which won’t do much; vertical grooves, which help more; and stippling and checkering, which help most of all. The more lines per inch of checkering, the less abrasive it is to your hands in long-term shooting. For a match, I like 20 LPI. If I’ll be shooting .45s a lot more, such as during an intensive training course, 25 LPI is easier on my fingers. This is what I specified on my signature model Ed Brown revolver because it was a carry gun.
Stippling as opposed to checkering? The styles vary. Personally, the scalloped designs a
re easy on my hands while the toughest was Jim Clark’s signature “tiger tooth” job, which had little projections all down the front. It bit rock solid into the hand and I won several matches with it but “bit” was the operative term as far as comfort. I was glad I had it on my light-kicking long-slide Clark Colt chambered for mild .38 wadcutters.
Another route is “rubber” grips, like the Hogue and Pachmayr models available. You can get them with just the side panels providing a tacky surface for the palms or with a frontal wrap-around. The latter configuration will make the grip feel bigger, especially in the finger-grooved style, and will feel as if you have “less hand around the gun” — but will certainly reduce slippage.
G10 and Micarta grip panels, such as those by VZ Grips give wonderful traction, but some sensitive hands find them too rough; ditto sensitive bellies when carrying concealed against bare skin.
