How To Clean 1911 Grips

A lot of 1911 handgun owners don't recognize how important the grips of their handgun really are.   The 1911 grips will allow you to either have a firm and comfortable grip on your firearm or they can be quite uncomfortable if you have the wrong grips for the job or for your hand.

1911 grips are not made from the same material that the rest of the gun is made from and therefore requires a different maintenance routing to keep them in good working order.  Due to the design of 1911 grips, they can be difficult to clean and it is often necessary to completely remove them from the handgun body in order to do the job thoroughly.  The good news is, they are quite simple to take on and off and like many handgun owners you want your 1911 to look and function as good as possible so knowing how to keep the grips clean is important.

Teardown

Don't worry..cleaning your 1911 grips is quite simple.  The first step is taking the grips off the pistol.  You can clean your 1911 grips on the gun but in order to do it thoroughly I would remove them.   This allows you to get behind the backing plate of the 1911 grip and remove any grit or buildup that might have been able to work it's way in there.  Plus it gives you something to do.

Here's the good news...it's very simple to remove the grips.   In most cases you have two screws on each side holding the 1911 grips to the handgun.  Unscrew the screws, being careful not to slip with the screwdriver and scratch your gun.  You also want to make sure you are careful with the grips once the screw is out, they sometimes are under stress from being on the gun too tight and can crack if you try to man handle them.  99.9% of the time, this is a simple operation that a two year old could do...so it you screw it up, don't tell your wife.

Cleaning the 1911 Pistol Grips

Ok...grips are off....that was easy right.  Well so is the cleaning part.  It depends on what your grips are made out of as to how you clean them.  If it is a synthetic or something like ivory then I would simply use soap and water and dry your 1911 grips thoroughly before you put them back on the gun.  If you have anything custom made or that is made out of a natural material like wood then you need to make sure you use a titch of caution here but soap and water should work fine there too.  Some owners will even wax the grip or add some kind of protective coating but me personally,  I prefer au natural.   If you maintain your 1911 well, then this isn't much of an issue because your grips won't be very dirty to begin with.

Re-assembing the 1911 grips.

Ok, if you've made it this far then you know that re-assembling is a piece of cake.  You don't have to admit this to your wife or kids, but let's face it...this isn't rocket science here.  Line up the grips carefully making sure not to scratch anything.  Once you are close then start a screw in the hole and turn a few turns and then start the other screw in the hole as well.  Now tighten them snugly and alternate screws.  What I mean is do not completely tighten one screw then do the next.  Snug one screw, snug the other.  Tighten the first...then tighten the second.  Voila.

Now this is pretty simple but if you are serious about maintaining your firearms then cleaning them completely is something you probably take very seriously and the 1911 grips are a big part of that handgun.   It can also be a bit on the therapeutic side as well.   Just know this, not much is sexier than a clean and functional version of the finest handgun ever made.