Pachmayr has announced that a new series of 1911 grips made of a material called Raffir Alume is now available for preorder. Raffir is the name of the company who makes the Alume material. It is basically an epoxy with aluminum mesh embedded into it.

Here is how this material is described on Raffir’s website:

Raffir Alume is a composite material with aluminium meshes encapsulated in a translucent epoxy resin. The material has unique three-dimensional textures with contrasts between satin light grey aluminium and deep coloured semi-transparent resin.
This beautiful new material comes in 6 different colours: black, blue, brown, green, yellow and red. It is suitable for high end products in various crafts and industries, especially in uses such as unique handles and in jewellery manufacturing. The material is recommended for any small or medium scale product, in which aesthetics and uniqueness are crucial.
Raffir Alume is easily machined and can obtain a beautiful high-gloss finish after polishing. Water grinding is recommended for easy and safe processing.
Standard safety measures should be followed while machining the materials, and inhaling dust particles should be avoided by using local exhaust ventilation and respirator.

Pachmayr also notes that this is an extremely robust material ” impervious to water, weather, and chemicals while maintaining its elegant and sophisticated style“.

Alume and other products of this company have been also used by other gun makers. Particularly, Blaser has made rifle stocks out of Raffir Noble, which is similar to Alume except it uses brass and bronze meshes inside the epoxy.

Pachmayr Raffir Alume 1911 grips are available in black (Dark Night), brown (Copper Canyon), green (Emerald Rush), blue (Blue Storm) and red (Crimson Wave) color options. The MSRP of $99.98 is identical for all the colors.

Here is a set of images showing the closeup views of these 1911 grips. The 3D effect of Raffir Alume is quite interesting.

What do you think about the Raffir Alume 1911 grips? Would you install them on your gun?

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