When people think of AR pistol grips, they immediately think about the standard A2 grip or the Mapul MOE, but that is where many people stop. When I first started in the AR world that is where my realm of knowledge ended. But as I moved into the AR world I started notice different grips such as Hogue. But eventually as I joined more and more Facebook forums I started to notice different pistol grips, some of them were shiny, made of aluminum and were gaining a high amount of praise.
These grips were from a company called Venom Defense. Venom Defense has taken the idea of the pistol grip and ran with it in a direction that hasn’t been seen before. They took the stance of ergonomics, and made it better. Their grip angles are something to be desired and they moved from the mold of making grips from plastic and rubber. They started making light weight pistol grips from aluminum, then they became known for their lightweight grips. Since then they have come out with a myriad of grips to cover all looks and appeals. The first grip I ever owned was the Mjolnir, named after the famous hammer wielded by the Norse god of thunder Thor. The grip is fantastic, light weight, fits well in my hand and works well for people who are going for a skeletonized look for their ARs, coming in at a whopping $69.00 for their most expensive version, it is worth its price.
The next grip I got was their rebel grip. The rebel grip is an Aluminum A2 grip that uses carbon fiber scales to fill the skeletonized area inside the grip. This is comfortable and familiar to people who have worked with the standard A2 grip but wanted carbon fiber and aluminum. Finally, the grip I have come to love the most is the Phantom. A mix between the Mjolnir and the rebel, it uses a similar ergonomic design but uses the scales to cover the open cavity. In my case mine is brown with black scales, this helped offset the color scheme I was working for on my 5.45×39 build. The price is well worth what you’re getting, coming in at $125.00 for both looks and functionality seems to be pretty good.
Venom Defense has changed the way grips are installed with the Phantom. Instead of using the hole at the bottom of a grip and flipping a screw around until it finally sets into the right spot like most grips are installed, the phantom is different. After taking off one side of the scales you can simply install the grip as there is no narrow passage or barrier that will prevent you from setting the screw properly in the lower. This makes me happy because there are very few parts of the AR that I hate to install but one of them is the pistol grip and that screw.
Venom Defense is a company that everyone should be looking into if they are wanting to make their AR stand out but not get to crazy. They also offer a variety of other products such as muzzle brakes.
All information regarding the Venom Defense products can be found here.
