Has anyone ever done this?  I am curious as to whether or not it maintains it tacky texture?

If so, what king of paint worked best?

I've not done it, but the automotive spray-on vinyl dyes might be worth a try:



They are designed to soak into the plastic/vinyl and dye it rather than simply coat over top of it.  That keeps the color from flaking and peeling, which could be a problem on the semi-flexible Hogue grip with regular paint.  It also might better maintain the texture of the grip.

Unfortunately, the color selection isn't that great.

That vinyl dye is just thinned paint and plastic adhesion promoters. Because it is thinned it does seep into the vinyl and plastic texture and coats evenly and not get caked on top. But it doesn't dye it through in the sense of fabric or leather is dyed.  It's just a name.

it's not going to change the color of rubber in any permanent manner.

I never had much luck painting rubber. Good luck with that.