Ruger "XRP" grip frame?

[WrongHanded]

I'll just shorten this up:

I just got a New Model Super Blackhawk. The inside of the grip panels say "XRP". Is this a relatively new grip frame, or is it the RX3-RED frame or some such?

 

[Varminterror]

Which barrel length? Which trigger guard?

 

[WrongHanded]

Which barrel length? Which trigger guard?

4.62" barrel length, round trigger guard.

 

[Varminterror]

A 4 5/8" SBH should have the round trigger guard XR3-RED grip frame.

What is the width of the backstrap? If it's a round trigger guard with a 1/2" thick backstrap, it's assuredly an XR3-RED, which takes the Hogue 83000 rubber grip.

 

[WrongHanded]

A 4 5/8" SBH should have the round trigger guard XR3-RED grip frame.

What is the width of the backstrap? If it's a round trigger guard with a 1/2" thick backstrap, it's assuredly an XR3-RED, which takes the Hogue 83000 rubber grip.

It is a 1/2" thick backstrap, with a serial number prefix 88. And I agree, the 83000 should fit. But it didn't. It went on, but there was approximately 1/8" of the backstrap protruding from the grip the entire way down. I tried for quite a while before I gave up and took the grip back to the store. And it's far from the first monogrip I've installed, either on Blackhawks or other revolvers. Pretty strange.

So I just wondered if there'd been a recent redesign that Hogue hadn't made a monogrip for yet. Eagle Grips lists the XRP frame separately from the New Model Blackhawk, but I haven't found any other reference to it.

 

[WrongHanded]

 

[Varminterror]

I'll have to do a little more digging onto what Eagle is calling the XRP, but one simple question - if you drive out the locator pin, does the grip fit? I'm wondering if it might not be positioned a little too far forward on your grip (have seen some variance there). Can you feel for certain the front strap of the grip is against the inside of the Hogue grip? If that locator pin is too far forward, you'd have a gap in the front (internal) and the grip frame would stand proud in the rear.

I've never had to make that fix on a Hogue grip - it's easily done on standard shingles. Just fill the existing hole with epoxy, and redrill the grip panels using the frame as a guide. The Hogue would be a lot more complicated (nay, impossible) for an owner to modify.

 

[WrongHanded]

I'll have to do a little more digging onto what Eagle is calling the XRP, but one simple question - if you drive out the locator pin, does the grip fit? I'm wondering if it might not be positioned a little too far forward on your grip (have seen some variance there). Can you feel for certain the front strap of the grip is against the inside of the Hogue grip? If that locator pin is too far forward, you'd have a gap in the front (internal) and the grip frame would stand proud in the rear.

I've never had to make that fix on a Hogue grip - it's easily done on standard shingles. Just fill the existing hole with epoxy, and redrill the grip panels using the frame as a guide. The Hogue would be a lot more complicated (nay, impossible) for an owner to modify.

I can't say with any certainty that the front of the grip frame was touch the front inside of the Hogue. But the grip was definitely tight against the trigger guard and fully up on the section of frame directly behind the trigger guard. And the bottom of the frame was down hard on the inside bottom of the Hogue. The location of the pin to the frame seemed correct relative to the slot in the grip, at the very bottom of the slot where it curves farther into the front of the grip. But it's hard to say being as it's hard to see inside there.

I didn't think to drive out the locator pin at the time, and I've already returned the grip. I did in fact order some of the Eagle grips (gunfighter style) after emailing them with all the details I could think of, and receiving a link in reply. So I'm not too concerned about making a Hogue fit at this point, unless these grips either don't fit the gun, or don't fit my hand. But I'm pretty interested in whether this is a new frame size. As a side note, this gun came directly from Ruger, on a 'dealer employee' sale. So perhaps it's very new.

 

[Varminterror]

I'm on Rugerforum.com and .net regularly, if there were a new grip frame, I think those boys would have made it clear and present by now. I'd expect Gunblast would do an update to their "Ruger gripframes" thread if a new one is released too - so it's a big secret if it's really something new.

Eagle does list only the Single Seven and "Distributor exclusive" BH's as fitting the XRP panels, which isn't at all descriptive for which exclusives. Intriguing for sure.

 

[WrongHanded]

It's also totally possible that I did something wrong when trying to fit the grip, though I think it's quite unlikely. Or that the grip didn't match the label on the package. Objectively, either one seems more likely than a new super secret grip frame that only Eagle Grips knows about.

I suppose I could draw a 3" by 3" square and see where the grip panels fit inside it. I may do that when I get a chance.

 

[WrongHanded]

So I drew out a 3" X 3" square. The grip panels fits exactly as the XR3-RED is supposed to. Based on the images I've found of how the XR3 fits into the same sized square, I think that despite the number and info on the package, the mono grip must have been for an XR3. That explains the frame protruding from the back of the frame. It did seem a little tight in the width too.

 

[Varminterror]

Are they making an xr3 monogrip? I'd agree - must have been the wrong grip in the package.

 

[WrongHanded]

Are they making an xr3 monogrip? I'd agree - must have been the wrong grip in the package.

Their website says no. So the simplest answer is that I put the grip on wrong half a dozen times.

 

[WrongHanded]

Just in case anyone is still interested. I just called Eagle Grips about my order, and during our discussion the guy I was speaking with said the XRP is a new grip frame that Ruger only released within the last year or so.

 

[Varminterror]

Well I'll be damned... I'm gonna have to cast a few stones at my Ruger Forum brothers for missing that one.

 

[Varminterror]

I called Ruger this morning - they've never heard of an XRP frame, confirmed they have not started producing a new grip frame model, and confirmed the 4 5/8" SBH's and Single 7's do use the same KXR00300 grip frame as any other XR3-RED model (cross referenced the pull sheets for my S7, 4 5/8SBH, and old Vaquero to double check).

I also called Eagle - they couldn't offer any guidance as to what is different, but rather simply stated we're finding the Single 7 and SBH grips don't interchange with traditional XR3-RED grips.

I could appreciate - if they're sourcing new XR3-RED grip panels - aka XRP's - which have a larger profile, they wouldn't end up doing as much grinding and profiling work on the backstraps, I could believe the same XR3-RED grip frame could offer a very different fit for certain panels.

So either Ruger is playing coy and hiding a new grip frame model (why?) AND calling it under the same part number as the XR3-RED, or they're simply finishing the frames differently, yielding a different fit for grip panels - which would explain why it traced out as an XR3-RED on paper.

 

[WrongHanded]

Okay, now I'm really confused! I think I may call Ruger too and ask them why my grip panels say XRP. This is just too weird because the guy at Eagle Grips definitely told me they'd only found out about the XRP grip frame from Ruger about a month ago, and Ruger only started making it about a year ago.

 

[WrongHanded]

Well, I called Ruger and gave my serial number with which they found the model number. After a short discussion I was told they could have someone more knowledgeable call me back. I agreed.

I did receive a call back. We talked about the situation. The 'XRP' on the inside of the stock grip panels was explained as a possible typo where the 'P' should have been an 'R' or some such, which seemed strange but okay. I was then told that he had a monogrip and a SBH of the same model with him, and the grip fit his, so it should fit mine. He didn't have much response to Eagle Grips selling the XRP grip panels. But he said they didn't have an XRP frame, and that mine had to be an XR3-RED.

He told me that installing the monogrip was tricky, and about the issues he'd had fitting it, but that it did fit. That the edges of the grip bound up at the back strap, and that's what happened to me. I got the impression he thought he was talking to an idiot who didn't know how to put a grip on. But it turns out he was in fact talking to just that idiot....because I went and bought another one, and after a long fight pushing, pulling, and bumping, with some prying and gouging of the grip edges, along with shearing the internal nylon frame of the grip, I did finally get it on.

Sorry for wasting your time, Varminterror. But thanks for all the researching, I appreciate it.

 

[Texas10mm]

Well, I called Ruger and gave my serial number with which they found the model number. After a short discussion I was told they could have someone more knowledgeable call me back. I agreed.

I did receive a call back. We talked about the situation. The 'XRP' on the inside of the stock grip panels was explained as a possible typo where the 'P' should have been an 'R' or some such, which seemed strange but okay. I was then told that he had a monogrip and a SBH of the same model with him, and the grip fit his, so it should fit mine. He didn't have much response to Eagle Grips selling the XRP grip panels. But he said they didn't have an XRP frame, and that mine had to be an XR3-RED.

He told me that installing the monogrip was tricky, and about the issues he'd had fitting it, but that it did fit. That the edges of the grip bound up at the back strap, and that's what happened to me. I got the impression he thought he was talking to an idiot who didn't know how to put a grip on. But it turns out he was in fact talking to just that idiot....because I went and bought another one, and after a long fight pushing, pulling, and bumping, with some prying and gouging of the grip edges, along with shearing the internal nylon frame of the grip, I did finally get it on.

Sorry for wasting your time, Varminterror. But thanks for all the researching, I appreciate it.

Old thread but my Single Seven has the same thing on the stocks.