Rink Grip

Rink Formgriffe is a german company that has produced grips for sport pistols since 1995. The company was founded by Thomas Rink, who was and still is a successful competition shooter in the German sport shooting liga.

The company started making custom grips for sport shooters and in time it started to produce standard grips for all types of pistols: air, sport and free.

Their grips are the most used aftermarket grips in the shooting community and marksmen from around the world can still go directly to the factory to have made a perfectly fitted custom grip.

The unique trademark of the Rink grips is the way the palm rest is designed. In normal factory grips, the palm rest is moved freely up and down and then secured by 2 screws. This has the disadvantage that the palm rest can move from the time it has been setup to the time it is secured. Also the holding of the screwdriver is awkward. You almost need a third hand or a second person to help keep the rest in place and screw in the screws.

With a Rink grip, the palm rest is moved up and down by 2 screws. So one hand, the shooting  hand, is on the grip and the other is handling the screwdriver to tighten the palm rest as needed.

After the grip is fitted, the lateral binding screw is tighten to fix the palm rest in place.

One effect of this design is that there is a space between the bottom of the grip and the palm rest if the rest is not at the topmost position.

For free pistols, there is a 3 screw system to adjust the palm rest in 3 dimensions.

Another feature of the Rink grips is their parameterization. Normally factory grips only come in a few size groups. Normally XS, S, M, L and XL sized. For Rink grips there are other parameters to consider:

• First is size, that range from XXS to XXL for Rink grips.
• Second is side: a grip can be made for left handers or right handers. Some factory grips in recent years also started to come in left hand configuration too.
• Form: this is the bulge that fills the center of the palm. This can be “convex” for normal hands or “flat” for short or very big hands.
• Angle: this is the turning of the grip on its axis in a lateral angle. Normal shooters that aim with the same eye as their hand, should use a 0 degree grip that is calculated so that the shooter can reach behind the pistol, with the barrel axis and the forearm forming a line. *For shooters, like me, who are cross eye dominant (i use the right hand but aim with the *left eye), a 7 degree grip is necessary. This grip will have a thickened lateral support wall *and is turned on the grip axis towards the trigger finger.

 This type of grip is also beneficial to shooters with short fingers. Rink is the only grip maker that offers this option in a standard grip configuration.

• Volume: this makes the grip thicker for shooters with overlong fingers. By overlong fingers is meant people with the middle finger longer than the width of the hand. So a grip can be “normal” or “thick”.

There is also the option of 2 materials for the grips: walnut wood or laminated wood. Laminated wood grips come in multiple color combinations with the default one being blue-orange-brown and also are approximately 10-20% heavier than the walnut grips.

Grips are being made on order by the Rink company for all types of pistols ( air, sport, free, bullseye, supported and modern pentathlon) and for almost all manufacturers of guns. Delivery time is stated at around 4 weeks and the median price is 190 euros for air and sport pistols for walnut and 214 for laminated, while for free pistols the prices are 289 euros for walnut and 313 euros for laminated.

All grips are oiled and stippled in the palm contact area. Stippling increases the surface and allows sweat to absorb and evaporate faster. This makes the gripping of the gun more secure.

In general Rink grips are well liked and athletes report that the grip feels better in the hand from the start than many factory grips. Of course a grip has to be adjusted to fit perfectly so even the Rink grips need some file or putty to get there.

For me the biggest point of a Rink grip is the 7 degrees parameter. Without it, I had to keep the hand twisted to the right and that affected my precision. So for all cross-dominant eye people that do not want to butcher their grips or do not have the carpenter skills and/or tools to modify their grips, a Rink grip is almost mandatory.