Rant about grips......

[.455_Hunter]

I guess I am strange.

Am I the only person does not like the current trend of fitting revolvers with large over molded rubber or wooden grips?

I much prefer the feel of original "service grips" over anything offered by Houge, Pacmayer or Uncle Mike's.

Here is the main reason-

Revolvers fit my hand better when I can put my fingers behind the trigger guard. The trendy thing to do is to fill that gap with rubber or wood, and force the hand down further on the grip (I hate that!). The extreme case is the Uncle Mike's "Boot Grips" supplied on many current production S&W J-frames. There is so much filler behind the trigger guard that there is hardly anything left of the grip frame to hold onto. One solution is to extend the grip past the end of the frame, but why? It only serves to ruin the concealibility of the weapon, when the simple solution would be to remove some of the rubber behind the guard. The Tyler T-Grips are similarly worthless to me.

My hand fits perfectly around the grips of my I-frame .32 Hand Ejector, Colt Police Positive Special, Model 28 Highway Patrolman, and Colt New Service, all of which are the frame contour following service style.

At least S&W is bringing some of these styles back in their classic line.

What I would like is for somebody, like Houge, to offer grips that fit just like service stocks, but are made of rubber. They should be available in all frame sizes (J, K/L, N, Colt D, OP/Python, etc). The top example (GRC-M and GRC-L) shown in the attachment is for the NAA Mini, but highlights the style I mean. Note how it is the same shape as the standard grips, just made of a different material. No finger grooves, no filler sections, no bulky extensions, just checkered rubber.

Please comment.

Thanks,

Hunter

 

[hemiram]

Well, everyone has their likes and dislikes, but I really couldn't disagree with you more. I really hate the tiny grips in general. They may be good for CCW, but I personally take them off as soon as I can and replace them with large rubber or wood grips.

The grips I personally really dislike are the 1911 type, they don't fit my hand well at all. The CZ75 grips are nearly perfect.

 

[jameslovesjammie]

Well, I wear a size XL or XXL glove. I have the opposite problem you have, and hence have the complete opposite view on grips.

When I grab the factory Hogue molded grips on my 686, my pinky finger on my right hand will roll under the grip, and my pinky finger on my left hand is underneath the grip.

I aesthetically LOVE the look of a thin wood J frame grip with a Tyler T-Grip installed, they just don't fit my big mitts.

 

[Deanimator]

There is so much filler behind the trigger guard that there is hardly anything left of the grip frame to hold onto.

Try shooting a 4" S&W Model 29-2 equipped with magnas, with Winchester White Box 240gr. .44 Magnums. Shoot the whole box in one session.

While you're in physical therapy, you can reflect on why good grips for hard recoilling revolvers have filler behind the trigger guard...

 

[DMZ]

I do not mind service grips on small caliber revolvers and large revolvers loaded with target loads, but when I am shooting magnum or +P loads, I prefer a hand-filling, smooth wood, 3 groove, combat grip.

 

[theNoid]

I also prefer the larger grips, due to my larger hands. Not only that, but I just don't like the little grip looks at all.

Noidster

 

[edhaus]

I have been shooting a S&W Highway Patrolman, mostly .38's for the past 4 months. It started with the original small wood checkered grips and was nearly impossible to get my hands into a comfortable position without 2 or 3 times of regripping and positioning. Just the worst. After putting on some hefty finger grooved wood grips I can pick it up and it feels perfect and ready to aim and shoot. Finger grooved rubber grips on my M65 felt so good when I first picked it up, it was the hook that got me to buy it. Individual tastes vary considerably!

 

[Majic]

Current trend? Target stocks have been popular since the 1950s.

 

[41magsnub]

On my two pistols that have any recoil at all the pachmyer grips are a godsend. the stock wood grips on my round but 657 .41 mag must have been designed by Torquemada. The back of the grip is actually the metal backstrap of the frame. dear god did that hurt to shoot. Shooting that gun was basically bang! ow! bang! ow! It is a whole different gun with the good grips.

On my security six the wood factory grips are not bad, but again the pachmyer grips made it fit my hand much better as well as point better. The recoil dampening was just a bonus.

 

[Checkman]

I like Pachmeyr grips. The wooden grips on my 586 were horrible to use. They looked good, but that was the extent of it. The small grips on the J frames I have found equally uncomfortable. For my Model 49 I have put the Houge Bantam grips on. Much nicer.

But hey different strokes for different folks.

 

[.455_Hunter]

Oh well...

This thread has confimed my pre-concieved notion that I am a freak of nature in the revolver shooting community.

I guess I will have to mold my own grips since I would be the only person who would buy them....

Current trend? Target stocks have been popular since the 1950s.

It seems to me that most of S&W's "service type" revolvers came with the small wooden grips through the mid-1990's.

I have not shot alot of .44 Mag, but I definitely can control my J-frame Model 60 better with the service style over the "rubber boot style". My N-frame Model 28 feels very good in the hand with the factory woods, but has the boat anchor feeling with the Houge grips. Same with my Ruger Police Service Six. The main problem with the service woods are that they are not relief cut for speedloaders, which can be a problem depending on the exact model

I also do wear size XL gloves.

I guess I will go back to my cave....

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I shoot a lot of hard-recoiling revolvers. I tried everything on my Colt New Service, and finally went to Pachmayer over-size grips. On a Ruger Blackhawk in .45 Colt, which I shoot with stiff "Ruger-only" loads, I use over-molded grips. On my Colt M357, I use Hogue finger-groove grips. I have a Tyler T-grip on my Colt Detective Special.

I hate having my middle finger rapped by the trigger guard!

 

[bannockburn]

I have small hands and the only factory wood grips that ever felt perfect to me were the ones on the Colt Mk.V Trooper. Everything else is too small (S&W J frame), or too big (S&W K, L, and N frame Target grips). On a J frame , I use a Tyler T-Grip adapter when concealment is a must. If it's just range time, etc., then I like an old set of Roger's Combat grips. The Pachmayrs for most snubbies always seemed too big and bulky, at least to me. But Pachmayrs on the other S&W frames are great; it's also nice that they offer them in three different sizes to accomodate nearly everyone.

 

[jad0110]

I hate having my middle finger rapped by the trigger guard!

Yeah, Amen to that! Though I like larger stocks, I still prefer the look and feel of wood. To my hand, my 686 has less recoil shooting 357s with wood than with rubber.

Guess I am a half wierdo!

 

[hemiram]

Worst grips I ever had or felt were the insanely sharply checkered factory grips a friend's S&W 19 came with about 25 years ago. I had calluses on my hand back then, and those grips hurt like hell just shooting .38 Spls, and .357s were brutal. He got some used ones and just smoothed the checkering down and put a couple of coats of varnish on them. It was like a new gun.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I own a 2 3/4" barrel Police Service-Six and it came with the original Ruger Service grips. It is very shootable with .38 Special rounds and even the +P stuff but when you load it with heavy .357 Magnum rounds the fun begins. The darn thing wants to fly right out of your hand and it raps your knuckle good. I don't have weak hands since I spent 27 years as a truck mechanic. Service grips look great and conceal well but they are unusable when firing Magnum rounds, IMO of course. I also doubt Service grips would do well on a 15 oz J frame when firing .38 Special +P rounds either.

 

[nitesite]

IMHO grips like the S&W Magna service grips just, well... sukk (not a typo, trying to avoid censorship).

Same with the factory wood grips that came on Ruger S-Six series revolvers.

They are too small to facilitate accurate follow up shots.

 

[vanilla_gorilla]

The man who designed the S&W magna grips and anybody who thought they should be standard should all be hung by the thumbs. Ditto for the people who keep driving up the prices on S&W target grips so that I can't afford them. The magnas are too small for my hands, and getting a firing grip forces my hand into a painful position.

I have a set of Ahrends grips that must transition from one gun to another when I'm shooting until I can equip all my S&Ws with targets or something similar.