If you’re like me and you have small hands …

Or you live in a climate where you often shoot in sweaty conditions …

Or for whatever reason, you just want to know how to improve the grip on your handgun, then here is how I did it using a product called GT-5000 GripTape.

Why Would You Want To Put Grip Tape On a Handgun?

First, most of us shoot in really nice weather if we go to an outdoor range. The sun is shining and our hands our dry and clean. Obviously in a stressful shooting situation, that might not be the case.

Then there’s the worst case scenario. If you have blood all over your hands and you have to draw and fight with your handgun, your hands are going to be slipping all over the place (blood is slick).

Finally, if you have arthritis or some other problem making you hands weak, then grip tape could make it easier to get a grip on your gun and manipulate it better.

NOTE: there are plenty of products out there that you can use for Grip Tape. I had just heard, specifically of GT-5000 from a friend I like and trust, so I decided to try this brand first. I have no opinion on the various other brands because I have not tried them yet.

How I Installed GT-5000 GripTape

NOTE: Unload your gun first. Check to make sure it’s unloaded. Then check it again. And check it one more time before you start. Yes, check it three times. (If you stop during this process, then come back to your gun, you are required to clear the gun and check it again.)

Step 1: Get your supplies.

I bought the GT-5000 GripTape, grabbed a pen, my gun, and painters tape (you could use masking tape as well. In fact, the instructions with the GT-5000 say to use masking tape.)

Step 2: Grip your handgun to figure out where you want/need tape

I spent a lot of time looking at my grip when I put my hands on the stocks of the handgun. I wanted to see where my hands were making contact with the gun.

I also know, from putting thousands of rounds down range with this gun, exactly what grip problems I often have. My biggest one is that my support hand often loses grip first during multiple strings of fire.

So for me, I decided I wanted to try getting more grip on the support side of the gun, and I wanted to try and leave the factory grip texture alone to see if I could use both.

Step 3: Put tape where you want the grip tape

Very simply I used the painters tape to put on the parts of the grip where I thought I would be putting the grip tape.

You could, theoretically, put it over your whole handgun stocks before moving to the next step.

Step 4: Use your pen to trace where you want to cut the tape.

Obviously, you need to fit the tape to the gun, so I used a pen to trace around the outline of the tape. How it was going to fit.

Step 5: Cut the tape.

I took the tape off the gun to cut it.

I only had a box cutter, but quickly realized this would work much, much better if I had been using an exacto knife.

Step 6: put the cut painters tape on the Grip Tape using it as a stencil

Then I simply put the painters tape on the grip tape and used that as a stencil to show me where I would need to mark and then cut the Grip Tape so it would fit to my gun.

Take your time and try to make the cuts precise.

Step 7: Stick the Grip Tape on the handgun

At this point, your grip tape has been cut and it should fit, so just stick it on the gun and take off the painters tape stencil.

Then you can trim and make any fine adjustments needed to the fit and finish of the grip tape as needed with your knife.

Now you can repeat as many times as necessary to get the grip tape wherever else you want it and enjoy the final product!

I plan to take my gun out and shoot it to see if I need to add more grip tape and if so, where I think I need it to make the grip even better.

In Conclusion …

There are many ways to improve the grip of your handgun …

Stippling is one option, but it’s quite permanent, so before taking that step, I’m trying grip tape first.

Keep in mind that GT-5000 is not the only grip tape available. You have many options from many manufacturers and you can even use things like skateboard tape and veterinary tape (hat tip to Frankie 2 shoes) to add a grippy texture.

If you do something similar or have any other tips, please let me know in the comments.