Better for Recoil Reduction: Rubber or Wood Grips?

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Gonna take another stab at this. I’ve owned a lot of Smith revolvers over the years, including 629, 339pd, and 325 night guard. I’ve tried a lot of grips from many makers.

Yes, rubber grips that cover the back strap like Pachmayrs or Hogues are good for heavy recoil. Rubber is definitely a decelerator and absorber of some recoil impulse.

Yes, rubber grips are ugly.

Wood grips can be designed to disperse recoil. Bill Jordan Troopers are great for this. Karl Nill grips are good too. These kind of grips are not your run of the mill factory stock grips. They are wider and cover the backstrap. They are hand filling and disperse the recoil impulse over a greater area of the web of the hand.

Many say that they don’t work as well in double action as in single action. That I won’t dispute. But grip design has as much to do with shooting comfort as material.

When it comes to range guns, sure, put the ugly rubbers on and burn a box of ammo.

When it comes to carry, wood grips (that fit your hand!) are more beautiful, catch on garments less, and draw and shoot confidently.
 
The gun that I felt benefited the most by switching to Pachmayrs was the Ruger Security Six. I could never get a comfortable grip with the factory wood grips or with larger, wood "target" style grips. The only grips that felt just right (and seemed like they reduced recoil somewhat), were the Pachmayr Presentations. Never cared for the Pachmayr Compac or Gripper type grips on the Colt Agent and Detective Special or the S&W J frames as I felt they were too big for concealed carry and had a clumsy feeling to them. They were alright on the S&W K and L frames I used them on.
 
With one exception all of my magnum revolvers have a rubber grip and I can fire them without any discomfort compared to wood grips. A lot of wood grips bite me right at the base of the large thumb joint. Rubber grips solve the issue for me.
 
I have some older revolvers that originally had splinter grips and some like to rap your knuckles without a Tyler T adaptor. On those, I prefer Pachmyrs or wood grips filling the gap.

For something like a .357, I prefer rubber grips as I do on a snubbie. Don't personally have large enough hands to use the larger grips that spread recoil over the web but they would work for a lot of folks if they fit their hands properly.

I had a PPK in .380 that was rather nasty in recoil just because of that it was so narrow that it concentrated felt recoil right on the web and if you choked up on the grip, you got slide cuts to boot. Miserable experience in firing that thing, it twas.
 
Wood grips can be more fun for a decorative gun, but they get slippery if your hands swet. I would use plastic for a serious defensive gun.
 
The amount of actual recoil is exactly the same. But, all things being equal rubber reduces felt recoil because as they flex it spreads the effects of recoil out over a longer period of time. Grips that are skinny concentrate the recoil into a smaller portion of your hand, wider grips spread it out over more surface area and will be more comfortable.

Grip shape plays a factor too. Some allow recoil to come straight back which most people find more comfortable. Others allow for more muzzle flip which doesn't actually change recoil, but changes perception of recoil.

Multiple factors to consider and it is a balancing act. But rubber grips will be more comfortable to shoot than wood grips of the same shape. Now if you start comparing various shapes it can get complicated.
 
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My L frame 44 (S&W 69) came with a set of open backstop rubber grips but I found it much easier to shoot after I swapped them for a set of the Hogue recoil tamer grips. Covering the backstop really made a difference in how they transferred the energy to my hand.
 
No one sells slip on recoil pads for heavy recoiling rifles made out of wood, many do made out of rubber. Just sayin' :p

That is not to discount fit in anyway. Properly sized and fitted grips make a huge difference but when you have achieved proper fit then the material it is made out of can still make a noticeable difference.
 
What fits your hand best will be the most comfortable to shoot with, and that depends on size and shape, not material. That said, if you're a recoil snowflake like I am, you'll admire the beauty of exotic wood... from afar. Anything I shoot with regularly, wears ugly black rubber. (Unless it's a .22.)
 
No one sells slip on recoil pads for heavy recoiling rifles made out of wood, many do made out of rubber. Just sayin' :p

That is not to discount fit in anyway. Properly sized and fitted grips make a huge difference but when you have achieved proper fit then the material it is made out of can still make a noticeable difference.
My cousin has a small frame S&W 357 with the scandium frame. This revolver drew blood from me in five shots! He replaced the original grips with rubber grips(don’t remember which kind), and it was still unpleasant to shoot, but tolerable.
 
On grips that are designed to have the gun roll in your hand under recoil, like we find in most single actions, wood works better to mitigate recoil. When the grip is designed in a way that does not allow roll, like most semis and DA revolvers, rubber is the best to mitigate recoil.
 
On grips that are designed to have the gun roll in your hand under recoil, like we find in most single actions, wood works better to mitigate recoil. When the grip is designed in a way that does not allow roll, like most semis and DA revolvers, rubber is the best to mitigate recoil.

Very insightful post.

Sounds plausible.
 
Im going to be "that guy" and say either are relatively close vs a good healthy muzzlebrake. Muzzlebrakes and magnaporting tame recoil very very well in my experience.
 
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