Reviewing the eBay Colt 1911 Grips Punisher Black for Handle width 20mm

So, being the frugal kind of shopper I am, I like to look at products that might not be considered “top tier” and maybe even frowned upon by some of the upper echelons of gun owners who spare no expense in premium firearm upgrades and that's okay for those who can afford to do so.

However, in my process of finding cheap and reliable accessories for my firearms, I have found some good deals and some not-so-good deals.  With this said, I shop almost exclusively from eBay for the products I’m looking for.

eBay has come a long way since the early days of the auction site and is comparable, in my mind, to Amazon or other bargain-brand discounters like Temu or Alibaba – although, I have yet to try the latter two for firearm accessories. I have used Amazon in the past and I’ll give some feedback on these experiences, as well, in future reviews.

In this particular instance, I wanted to get a cool set of grips for my new 1911 without breaking the bank and found this pair of “Punisher” grips for what I thought was a bargain at $12.49. The seller, 3D EXL had a pretty good feedback rating: 99.3% positive feedback at 193K items sold, and the product looked pretty good as well.

I went ahead and took a chance on them and was impressed by the short shipping time. I knew that the product was going to be a polymer, 3D-printed creation but still couldn’t help but feel it was super light and the Punisher ® logo was not as deep as I had expected. I figured that for the price; I couldn’t really complain and started the process of getting them on the pistol.

The description of the item stated that the firearm grip frame had to be “20mm” wide, which would be the single-stack configuration of the 1911and the reason this was mentioned is because the grip itself wrapped around the frame and provides finger grooved contours to the front of the grip frame.

After extricating the current grips from the firearm, I went to slide the new grips into place and found it challenging to get the new product up and over the grip screw inserts, which stuck up just a fraction higher than the contour of the frame itself.

However, once I was able to get this accomplished, I noticed the screw holes for the new grip were not in complete alignment with the originals. I was able to get three of the four screws to line up, but the third one was off by just enough to not let the screw get started.

I did have to make some adjustments to that particular hole – and I could have probably shaved some of the inside contour to where it would have aligned - but went with widening the hole on the grip ever so slightly, just enough for me to get the screw started.

However, during the process of making the adjustments, the screwdriver slipped several times and wound up scratching the new grip around that hole.

I could have probably sent it back for a refund or another product but decided to keep the grip on for the time being and figure I’m not out a lot of money for the process.

Overall, I think the grip looks pretty good and it feels good. I’m sure I can buff the scratches out if I need to but will probably just leave it until I can get my next upgrade. The next upgrade will be one that comes with its own set of grips and an optics rail system for the 1911 frame. Stay tuned because I plan on doing a review on this economical addition as well, pretty soon.

{And, yes, I gave 3D EXL a five-star rating because of the value and expidited shipping, but shared my concerns on the fit in the feedback with them).