Beretta 92FS Grips by Vu Kim Son

In March of 2007, a Vietnamese business man appeared on an internet gun forum* that I moderate looking for assistance in finding a market for handgun grips. Kim Son Vu had a burgeoning business of making eyeglass frames, jewelry and accessories from natural materials. He was looking into expansion towards handgun grips. He had a problem though. In Vietnam, he is not allowed to own a firearm, not even a demilled frame of a gun to use as a guide.

As a result, Kim Son Vu hand crafts his grips without the benefit of a firearm to fit them to. Meticulously making a copy of a grip sent to him, he uses materials as varied as buffalo horn to abalone.

Kim Son uses the thick, compact tip of the buffalo horn for his grips. This results in a grip that is stable and does not shrink or warp. Once the grips are roughed in and drilled for screws, each screw hole receives a brass washer at it's base to prevent stress on the grip.

When questioned about the instability of horn grips, Kim Son responded

"You seen serious problem:
Horn will shrinkage or deform at the part which you produce!They produce cheaper prices because they not use tip horn to do , the hollow part of horn will shrinkage or deform!Because they press it to big part and produce grips!

1. Your items buy form Philippines made from don't use tip.
2. My grips produce as correct every detail,special in two hole!It will not shrinkage or deform!"

To test this theory, unbeknownst to Kim Son, after I reviewed his Dust of Life horn grips, I removed them and hung them on the wall in my unheated garage, just to see if the changes in heat and humidity affected the grips. I forgot about them. They hung on finishing nails through the heat and humidity of two Louisiana Summers and the cold of a wet Winter and a half. I took them down to try on a pistol for this review. In the year and a half since I last reviewed Kim Son's horn grips, they are as stable as ever. Today, they drop on the pistol's bushings as easily as the day I received them.

1911 grips are relatively easy to manufacture. The sides are straight, and the curvature not too crucial. The reverse side is flat. The design is forgiving. Beretta 92FS grips are another matter. The compound curves and angles of the Beretta grips are complex. With a trigger bar that moves underneath the grip and an enlarged hammer pin head that fits into a circular recess, the possibilities for ill fitting slabs of horn are increased exponentially.

When Kim Son decided to manufacture Beretta grips, I started to caution against it. I should have known better. With an uncanny ability to manufacture grips to fit a pistol half a world away, Kim Son again sent me polished slabs of buffalo horn that dropped right onto the bushings of my pistol.

The Beretta grips I received were the black buffalo horn with "vein". Even before I screwed the grips down, they would not wiggle on the Beretta bushings.

The grips were beautiful. The polish highly reflective, and the texture of the horn, the vein, showed through with a depth that is usually seen with layers and layers of lacquer. Yet there was no lacquer. The horn was simply, and expertly polished.

With the grips screwed snugly to the frame of the Beretta, everything functioned as it should. The trigger's draw bar did not bind, the slide reciprocated without impedance, the slide stop worked perfectly, and the magazine release had adequate clearance.

The width of the grips felt right. There seemed to be no extra material added to the Beretta grip frame's already corpulent girth. The magazine release could have benefited from a relief depression behind it, to allow the thumb to depress it easier. It was still manageable for me though.

I began to think how difficult it must be to build a grip for a pistol you have never held, let alone shot. Under those circumstances, little things such as a magazine button depression can be overlooked.

On the right side of the pistol, the upper rear of the grip failed to cover the recess for the draw bar. There was approximately a 1mm area where dirt and grit could enter the mechanism of the gun. Realistically, debris could also enter the front, underneath the trigger bar, so the point is moot except for cosmetics.

Of course, cosmetics is everything for a pair of grips marketed and purchased for their beauty. I sent Kim Son an email and a photo of the area. I feel fairly certain that the needed material was removed in the polishing process. The polisher and the craftsman probably had no idea what the grips covered.

Now, here's the rub....... I don't like slickery handles on my hog legs. In fact, I eschew decorative grips, medallions and the entire presto change-o Barbie doll thing some people do with grips. I tend to find a set of grips I like to shoot the weapon with, and they stay with the gun thereafter. Very few of them are smooth.

I own a 1911 or two with smooth grips, stag or ivory; but my working guns wear checkered rubber. My concealed carry guns either wear checkered rubber or checkered hardwood. I want my front straps smooth and I count on my lateral squeeze to control the gun. Under fire, I did not like the way the Beretta performed with these grips. The chunky grip frame just did not feel secure in my hands. Out of curiosity, I measured the girth with the original grips attached. Five and three quarters inches at it's smallest point. With Kim Son's grips, in the same area, the gun measured 5 and 5/8 inches. His grips were actually less bulky! The difference had to be the lack of checkering on the buffalo horn grips. For me, that just did not work. It didn't feel right, and I will be putting the original grips back on my Beretta 92FS.

That really doesn't surprise me. When my Beretta was new, I ordered a set of the genuine Beretta walnut grips for it. They were scarce back then, and I waited three or four months for them to arrive. I shot the pistol a few times with the smooth wood, and then sold them at the next gun show.

If, however, you are the kind of shooter that likes smooth grips, and especially if you have an Inox Beretta 92FS, then these grips may be the chipotle in your taco. They are beautifully crafted, and will no doubt be as durable as the grips that weathered the temperature extremes in my garage for a year and a half.

Kim Son Vu also sent me some polished buffalo horn 1911 grips with a mother of pearl Maltese cross inset into each side. The workmanship on these grips is exquisite. Watching the video below of the mother of pearl being cut and realizing that it is a inset chunk, not an overlay, the precision of his handiwork is amazing.

In the forum thread I linked above, you will find that Kim Son has received a couple of grips and then failed to manufacture the sender his replacements. In particular, one set for a S&W 39-2, and another set for a SIG P225/P6. I make no excuses for him, but I do realize that the more esoteric a grip is, the less the businessman stands to profit by making replacements. I hope that the originals are returned back to their owners soon, with lagniappe for their trouble.




* After The High Road became two forums, the thread concerning Kim Son's grips became two threads. Another version of the thread can be found here, at THR.us. Kim Son is participating and adressing issues in both threads.

Update It seems as if Kim Son has disappeared and has stiffed several people who helped him, never sending them the grips he promised. Caveat emptor.

Vu Kim Son's "Dust of Life" 1911 Grips

On the other side of the world is a businessman I admire greatly. Mr. Vu Kim Son is an old school craftsman and businessman from Vietnam who fashions items for sale out of bone, horn, ivory, pearl and leather. His website, Kimson Handicraft Co. Ltd. displays a wide variety of wares for consideration.

When Mr. Kim Son decided to branch off into handgun grips, he had a problem. The restrictive government of his homeland would not allow him to own a gun, not even a discarded frame, to use as a model to work from. Undeterred, Kim Son first worked from blueprints of a 1911. When the blueprints proved to be flawed, friends in the United States mailed him a set of Alumagrips. Mr. Kim Son then had all he needed.

Approximately a month ago, I reviewed Vu Kim Son's 1911 grips for the first time. Those were buffalo bone grips. After work last week, I found a notice on my mailbox that another package awaited me at the post office. It was five days before I was able to leave the hospital before the post office closed. When I was finally able to pick up the package, I saw that Mr. Kim Son had sent me another pair of grips to review.

This set was his "Dust of Life" grips, fabricated from buffalo horn. Kim Son Handicraft Co. manufactures horn grips from the tip of the buffalo horn, and area that is naturally thick and stable. Other cheaper and inferior grips are freqently made from the thinner areas after the horn is flattened, which causes shrinkage problems later on. By using the tip of the horn, Mr. Kim Son prevents this impermanence. On his "Dust of Life" grips, Mr. Kim Son chose to allow some of the rough texture to remain, creating a beautiful contrast between the rough natural and the highly polished surfaces of the material. When I first saw Mr. Kim Son's handgun grips, I found these grips in particular, to be the most attractive. I openly wondered if the rough surface would provide a better grip on the gun during recoil.

I decided to place a set of the "Dust of Life" grips on the pistol I shoot the most. I unscrewed the rubber grips from my SW1911PD, and dropped Kim Son's grips into place. As expected, the fit was impeccable. Mr. Kim Son uses brass inserts in the screw holes to reinforce the material, preventing damage from frequent installation and removal. This is really unnecessary, but nevertheless, a very nice detail.

I took the pistol shooting after church, a not uncommon practice in Louisiana. I ran 400 rounds through it. The day was hot and humid, and I was sweating, not to mention cussing. The grips did not loosen under the pressure of rigorous use, but I found myself wanting the rubber grips I had removed. The "Dust of Life" grips did not give the same level of purchase as the rubber when in sweaty hands. I was not surprised, very few materials would exceed the "grippiness" of checkered rubber under those conditions. There is a reason tires are not made of buffalo horn.........

I placed the other set of horn "Dust of Life" grips on a Colt Commander. They, too, fit perfectly. The edges were parallel to the pistol lines, and the spacing of the screw holes was dead on. Earlier, Mr. Kim Son had made the magazine release indentation a bit tight, causing binding on some pistols. This is not surprising, since he did not fully appreciate the function of that indentation, not having a 1911 to examine first hand. He has now fully resolved the issue, leaving ample space for the magazine release to operate.

Whereas the rubber grips that I prefer on a working gun provide an unsurpassed gripping surface, Mr. Kim Son's "Dust of Life" grips provide something the rubber does not. The lining of a sports coat slides smoothly along the horn grips, providing excellent concealment. The same fabric tends to find traction on rubber grips. The "Dust of Life" grips are also exceedingly beautiful. I like the visual tension created between the polished and natural textures. The depth of these grips is difficult to photograph, but it seems as if you are gazing into smoked glass. The lustre is deep and lasting. I encourage readers to click on the photos provided to view the enlargements.

Mr. Kim Son has done an exceptional job in the manufacture of these 1911 grips. I sincerely hope he finds a distributor in the United States and I wish him all the best in his endeavors.



Update: It seems as if Kim Son has disappeared and has stiffed several people who helped him, never sending them the grips he promised. Caveat emptor.

The 1911 Grips of Mr. Vu Kim Son

I received a package from the other side of the world today. Back on May 8, I pondered an email from Mr. Vu Kim Son of Vietnam, who wondered if I might like to try and possibly review his 1911 grips. I wrote him back, and stated my conditions. On May 10, Mr. Kim Son agreed, and said he was sending a package my way. Fourteen days later, two sets of grips were in my hands, sandwiched between two styrofoam slabs inside a rigid box from the Saigon post office.

It is understandable that some people would be skeptical of grips hand crafted and shipped halfway around the world. In a thread on The High Road, Mr. Kim Son admitted that he did not have a 1911 handgun to use as a pattern to make his grips. Such is life in countries where firearms are restricted or banned from the public. He was trying to work from blueprints, but the blueprints were confusing in translation to a man who had never held a 1911 pistol in his hand. Mr. Kim Son was not to be deterred, however. One of the High Road's members offered to send a pair of Alumagrips for Mr. Kim Son to use as a guide. Mr. Kim Son then had all he needed.

Both sets of grips sent to me by Mr. Kim Son appeared to be crafted from buffalo bone. I immediately noted the high polish on the grips. Inside the screw holes were brass inserts to prevent undue stress on the grip itself. That is a very nice idea, I think.

The real question, though, is how do the grips fit? I pulled my Colt Commander off the rack, and removed the grips that had long adorned it's exterior. I breathed a small "wow" as I dropped the grips into place. They fit so well I would have sworn they were crafted for my specific pistol. Even without the grip screws in place, there was no wiggle. Yet when I inverted the pistol sans screws,the grips fell right into my hand. For a hard, but organic product such as bone, a perfect fit like that is remarkable indeed.

When I held the pistol, the grips were just the right width. The extended thumb safety did not contact the grip when snicked off. The edges of the grip ran exactly along the round of the grip frame. The screws were perfectly flush across the top of the grip, not sticking up above the surface nor snugging up a quarter inch below the surface like you see with some popular grips. The bevel on the bottom met the edge of the grip frame perfectly, about 1/64 of an inch short to help prevent chipping. The edges of the grips were straight, and the corners sharp without being "pointy". The bottom of the grip did have a small gap where the interior of the bone would have been (see the picture at left). Many grip makers would have filled this gap with polymer. I like the fact that Mr. Kim Son chose not to. These grips are made from the real deal, natural bone. One must accept that there will be a few imperfections. The only imperfection in the manufacture of the grips is the magazine release indentation in the right grip was a frog hair too shallow. The magazine release rubbed the grip just a bit. A couple of passes with a round jeweler's file though, and that issue was put to rest.

I did not like the second pair of grips as much as the first. They were no less well made, but they had a swell at the bottom. I suppose this is to assist a shooter with hanging onto his gun while shooting. Rather than bulges, I would prefer a rougher surface for that purpose. Perhaps I am too much of a traditionalist. I know I have seen shooters competing with similar grips on their race guns. For me, the concept just doesn't transfer well into bone, ivory or horn as a material. It just looks and feels funny to me. It makes the sidearm less conducive to carry.

Even though I do not like the bulged bottom idea, I have to say that these grips are also impeccably crafted. They drop right on and off the pistol with no wiggle. The lines of the grip are arrow straight. The screw holes (at least the top ones) are the perfect depth for the screws I had. It is hard to believe these grips were not fitted to my specific pistol. When one considers the obstacles Mr. Kim Son faced bringing these grips to market, they are amazing indeed.

Mr. Kim Son also makes 1911 grips from buffalo horn. He has them priced from $23 to $35, depending on the material used. Along with the handgun grips, his company makes many items from horn and bone, from intricate hair pins to eyeglasses frames. You can find Mr. Kim Son's grips and other items at his website, Kim Son Handicraft Co. Ltd. I salute his efforts to produce beautiful and affordable exotic grips for the 1911. He has achieved a nearly irresistible product and a price that cannot be beat!





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Update: It seems as if Kim Son has disappeared and has stiffed several people who helped him, never sending them the grips he promised. Caveat emptor.

Grip Review Proposal

Hi,
I try to find your contact information but i can not saw.
I would like to send my pistol grips to you for test and some review.
Would you like to do that?

Sir,
I would be happy to take a look at, and review your grips. I took a look around your web page, and they certainly look beautiful, especially the black buffalo horn "dust of life" grips.

I will review them under three conditions.

1. I will write what I really think. I will not place my credibility at stake to sell products.

2. I will not pay return postage. If you want the product returned afterwards, please provide the postage to do so.

3. If a reader has a bad customer experience as a result of ordering based on my review, I expect the problem to be taken care of promptly and to their satisfaction. Please understand that if the problem is not resolved, and I learn of it, I will post an addendum to the review concerning customer service.

If you find these terms amenable, I will forward my address for shipping.

Kindest regards,
Xavier