Material

All material on Exotic Pistol Grips is 100% genuine and of the highest quality. Our materials consist of the following:

Elk Horn | Giraffe Bone | G10

Elk

 

 Elk horn comes from various places in the world. Some collectors will try to advance the aging by soaking the grips in tea, sometimes called the "John Wayne method," as a team in Hollywood colored the actor's grips for movies. The intended result is to make elk horn look like the more desirable sambar stag horn. The most valuable type of elk horn, called sambar stag horn, comes from India. Sambar stag has been used on pistol grips for over 100 years.

Sambar stag horn has distinctive features that differentiate it from other types of stag horn. Key features of genuine sambar stag:

  1. Sambar stag has a well pronounced "nuggety" look.
  2. Old sambar grips have a fine yellow patina from wear and tear and that increases the value of the grips.
  3. Early craftsmen carved grips by hand. Depending on the quality of their work, you will see filing marks in the stag.

Giraffe Bone

 

Exotic Pistol Grips specializes in making giraffe bone grips. Due to the ban of ivory sales in the state of California, we have found giraffe bone to be a viable alternative. When polished, giraffe bone has a creamy color similar to ivory and is quite dense. 

G10

Exotic Pistol Grips offers a selection of G10 grips made by VZ Grips. G10 is a fiberglass composite laminate. Using alternating colors in each layer results in each pair of G10 grips being unique. The grips are finished in a variety of textures to suit different tastes.