CFG USA Micarta Scales for Benchmade 556 Griptilian Mini

I have to admit I was a bit skeptical buying a set of custom made scales. I had bought some before that broke while installing but I took the plunge hoping this would be better. I was right to try! These are hexagon textured and take a little finessing to fit the screws in but it went together well and I love the included hardware. Although they are non coated (silver) screws there is no embedded nut to pull out of the scale. The three screws included have a nut that sits on the outside of the scale that, to me, makes the hold a bit stronger. Overall I had a little difficulty because I was changing blades too which complicates things a little. Hint: the pivot has a flat part and fits only one way. I have to admit, these scales and my custom titanium clip are awesome together!!

The one thing that always bothered me about my mini grip was the cheap looking/feeling plastic scales. They've proven to be durable and adequate for every day use, but they just don't have a premium feel. In Benchmade's defense, they did come out with the g10 option, but I had already purchased mine at that point. I finally started looking into custom scales, and these seemed like they would compliment my black tanto blade nicely. I like the texture of the micarta, and the jimping along the back spacer is really nice, one of my favorite things about them. It protrudes from the handle slightly, all the way down to the bottom of the handle.I was worried about the coloration at first, it seemed like they were much lighter than pictured online. They were basically a light grey, greenish color upon arrival. But then magically, after handling them throughout the day, they began to change color. By the end of a single day of use, I would say they are now mostly black with some dark gray seen at the edges of the layers. It really is interesting how the scales seem to react with moisture or the grease on your hands and get darker in color.I have two criticisms of the scales. First is that the edges weren't perfectly clean on arrival. There were fibers of canvas sticking out in the cutout for the axis lock, and the clearance holes for the pivot. Not a big deal, I cleaned up the edges myself with a small blade. My second criticism is that it only included the three bolts that go through the back spacer. My hardware is all black oxide, and the scales include stainless hardware. I wouldn't mind the switch to stainless hardware so much if they included every bolt, so you don't end up with two different hardware finishes on the same knife. I can always hunt down the same size nuts and bolts in black oxide, so not the end of the world.These are a great alternative to the OEM scales, I recommend them to anyone looking to upgrade.

I have several micarta handled knives, so I thought these would be a great upgrade for the Griptilian. As soon as they came in I put them on. Now I wish I had looked a little closer beforehand. The machining around the edges is poorly done, and they have a few sharp edges, possibly from worn tooling. There is also a spot that looks like it was recut and either the scale or the tool wasn't positioned correctly. The scales are also thicker than the factory scales. They make the axis lock a little more difficult to access. The final problem with the scales themselves is that the angle of the pocket clip mount forces the clip away from the handle, and it isn't flat, so the clip rocks back and forth. I'm sure I can fix the profile and clean up the rough edges, but I expected better for $80... I only paid $95 for the knife, and the quality of the included (if boring) scales is much better. Also, the picture in the writeup appears to be a photoshopped image of the scales. I thought they would include all stainless hardware, but after looking closer, I see that what I thought was hardware is just the white background seen through the holes. The only included hardware are the three screws and nuts that go through the back strap. The overall effect of the mismatched hardware makes the knife look cheap. Eventually I will have to find new black oxide screws to go with the rest of the hardware.From a quality standpoint, these scales look cheaply made and the package isn't well thought out. If I hadn't already installed these, I would return them and find a better source. I will absolutely not buy from this manufacturer again.

Scales are great, the white spacer i dislike, I had to remove and put some titanium spacers instead. Overall great buy. Would buy again.

Installation was easy for my 557 mini. A few stray fibers as oyhers mentioned. I wish it came with 4 smaller screws in stainless to complete the hardware set. Also the scales don't appear to be sealed, at least not very well so. Really all of my gripes are minor compared to what I do like about the scales. At the time I bought these Amazon had for $49. Worth it at that price, wouldn't pay too much more.

These aren't bad but I wouldn't buy them again. For what you get and the fit and finish I would look on Bladehq and pay the extra. Don't pay the extra for the black backspacer, just use a sharpie. My biggest complaint is I don't like how they are held together with screw and nut design. I used the barrel spacers from another knife as well as the pivot screw. Using the original pivot screw makes it stick out like a nipple. Just lots of little issues with this product.

Fit well, a little wide where the eyelet in the blade is located

OK, so I went cheap wanting to try new grips. The micarta is rough crosshatched, the 2 grips are out of line, the backspacer is offline and sticks out. All to save thirty bucks over the ones I've been looking at. I messed with it a bit on a scotch-brite wheel, really didn't help.