Rubber grips don't last forever!

[WillametteWill]

I've had much more problems with recoil pads, but to be fair, many are pushing 50 years. I have two sets of Pachmayer grips that are 25+ years old and are fine and a set of PPC style grips on my original duty gun that may be a little harder now, but are still fine and now over 40 years old. But I've had plenty of other plastic things that have denigrated (holsters), became hard and brittle, super sticky, etc.

It's one of those things that one would like to have a crystal ball to look into the future before purchasing.

 

[The Heretic]

Pachmayer's last almost forever

I have some Hogue grips that I have had for several decades with no sign of decay.

 

[nammac]

Yes, rubber hand grips from the factory have a finite shelf life. My experience is with Colt grips. The grips in the OP appear to have dried out. The issues I've had with some made in the 1990's are of an opposite nature. That is, they start to sweat oils out of the rubber material. They get sticky.

I've owned many pairs of Pachmayrs over the years and a few Uncle Mike's. Never had an issue of this sort with those. Colt used different outside vendors to make those. Some must've been better than others. Smith & Wesson has used Uncle Mike's as factory grips on some revolvers, they don't sweat out chemicals.

The Pachmayrs don't tend to dry out either, at least in my experience.

Same here, Pachmayers are great, have a wrap around Signature pair on my Norinco 1911, it's been wearing them since the early 1990's. Still going strong.