Wood...Combat grips, is anything better?

[WisBorn]

Aesthetics (wood and deep blue finish)
Function (stainless steel and rubber grips)
Not that wood and blue steel aren't functional. Stainless and Rubber are just more durable IMHO.

If I want a new hunting rifle it will be stainless/synthetic. If I buy a new to me lever action it will be blue with wood. I will hunt with it on clear days...

 

[Buckeye63]

Old set of Uncle Mike combat grips on my model 36

 

[BigBlue 94]

My grandpa had these shipped over from Karl Nill in Germany. They fit oh so nice in my hand, and they look great doing it.

The Rossi M720 has one heck of a set of rubber grips on it from the factory. They do feel custom molded for my hand.

This set has 103 years of use on em and they still feel great. And the stories they could tell...

 

[Rockrivr1]

I’m a huge fan of wood grips on my S&W revolvers. I put wood grips on my S&W 500 and it’s the only gun that I put the rubber back on. The recoil with the wood and following pain was just too much so the rubber went back on.

 

[357smallbore]

Not just a pretty face.
It's like I gripped a block of clay and someone carved a piece of wood from that clay.
Med/large hands.
Functionally I feel these are superior, I can grip the revolver on the grip frame, much higher than a Houge (rubber) for example, controlling muzzle rise.
This is an N frame
View attachment 1096116

All revolvers are magnums, I don't shoot "full" magnums much, so med/light for the most part, including SD rounds.
More $$$ than rubber, but...
When something looks and (functionally) feels this good, why anything else?
View attachment 1096112

I have 3 S&W N frames . All wear original wood (Goncalo Alves)
I love the feel of them

 

[I6turbo]

For "show" I put the factory target grips on my Model 686 but when it's time to go to the range it's wearing Pachmayr Gripper grips.
View attachment 1096263
View attachment 1096264

I've tried several different grips on my 6" 686 and 4" 586. It's strange, but for some reason I like the original (had them since the 1980s) Pachmayr Presentation grips on the 686 and the Gripper grips on the 586. I bought another set of Presentation grips for the 586 but somehow they don't feel the same in my hand as the set on the 686. And I've tried a few other wood grips but the right rubber grip just suits me better. This has been the case on both my revolvers and my semi-automatics except for the Browning Medalist factory wood grips. I love those, but that style grip is only available in wood as far as I know.

Aesthetics wise, black rubber grips look pretty good on a stainless gun, but terrible on a blue gun, IMO. But they just feel so much better while shooting. Knowing how much better they are for me when shooting somehow improves the appearance a bit in my eyes. I'm more of a function-over-form kind of guy in most cases anyway.

 

[CraigC]

Not for me.

Wood is for show, Rubber if for go.

Nonsense. The shape is what matters, not the material it's made from. Squishy rubber is a crutch for poor fitting grips.

 

[Corpral_Agarn]

I'm getting ready to order some VZ grips for my 586.

Anybody have any experience with those on revolvers?

 

[jar]

So far I've been unsuccessful in finding rubber combat grips to fit my S&W J frames but I keep searching. I have a Chiefs Special and a no-dash Centennial 40. I have found the Altamont rosewood grips will fit the Chiefs Special and do feel somewhat better and more manageable.

 

[KahrDriving]

View attachment 1120704

Not just a pretty face.
It's like I gripped a block of clay and someone carved a piece of wood from that clay.
Med/large hands.
Functionally I feel these are superior, I can grip the revolver on the grip frame, much higher than a Houge (rubber) for example, controlling muzzle rise.
This is an N frame
View attachment 1096116

All revolvers are magnums, I don't shoot "full" magnums much, so med/light for the most part, including SD rounds.
More $$$ than rubber, but...
When something looks and (functionally) feels this good, why anything else?
View attachment 1096112

Just got this 13-3, had Pachmyrs on it, had to put the wood grips on!View attachment 1120704

 

[Rodfac]

Here are some of mine...much prefer the look and feel of wood, but as I've aged, it just doesn't protect my arthritic thumb joints with any caliber from .357 up and muzzle velocities greater than ~900 fps.

From the top.
A 1972 vintage M-19 Smith with S&W factory combat finger groove stocks, repurposed off my M-16 .32 H&R.
My M-19 with 4" bbl. and a pair of Altamont Roper targets...good for ~850 fps.
A M-66 with Mikulek's DA grips...a fine combination, wish I'd ordered them smooth. Best of them all for DA work and NO KNUCKLE RAP!!!
My usual revolver carry piece; a M-60 with Hogue Monogrips...good to 1000 fps even in this 'J' frame...a good/great carry combination.

​

 

[cfullgraf]

I prefer rubber grips. But wood grips look great.

I like Pachmayr Presentation grips on my revolvers but unfortunately, many versions have been discontinued. I've shopped gun shows for N-frame grips and have a few N-frame square butt Presentation grips for future N-frame purchases.

Fortunately, Presentation square butt grips for K-frame revolvers are still available. N-frame not so much.

Some of the Gripper model S&W N-frame grips have been acceptable for certain models.

The 44 magnums Anacondas (6" and 4" barrels) came with Hogue rubber grips). They work well but I do prefer Pachmayr grips in general.

Some of my low recoil revolvers (22rf, etc) keep their wood grips. I bought a used Model 16-4 with wood grips. I put Pachmayr Pesentation grips on the 16-4 and moved the wood grips to 32-20 Hand Ejector.

I like the Ruger rubber grips with the wood side panel inserts. They work well for me on SP101 and GP100 revolvers.

I have a couple Blackhawks that I changed the grip frames so that I could install Pachmayr Presentation grips on.

As I said, nice wood grips look great but I have not found a model that works for me. So, rubber grips are used on my heavier recoiling revolvers.

Also, all but one of my numerous 1911 pistols have rubber grips on them. I have a Colt 38 Super that still has the factory rose wood grips on it.

 

[westernrover]

I currently prefer and use Roper grips from Altamont.



Mine are a round-to-square conversion. It's a pity S&W doesn't make more square butt grip frames, but I suppose square cannot so easily be converted to round.

I like the modest amount of material behind the trigger guard. So many grips fill that area in, pushing the fingers too low on the grip. The Altamont Ropers might be a bit too fat at the base but I like that they are very narrow at the top and have no palm swell or coke-bottle. I had to cut the Ropers to relieve them to insert and eject full moon-clips on the left side.

I don't like any grip that covers the backstrap (unless it's a Dan Wesson or Ruger that has none).
I don't like finger grooves. They never fit.
I don't like grips that fill in behind the trigger guard.
I don't like palm swells that are always too low.
I don't like aggressive textures. Checkering is fine. Smooth is fine.




These look perfect. I know Altamont makes similar "legacy" grips, but their selection is extremely limited at the moment.

The "Magna" style grips are a lot more popular. Many of the still affordable S&W's from the 1950's featured the rounded style Magna grips that Altamont reproduces as the "classic panel" style. Later, the grips were left cut square. Altamont reproduces these awful grips under the name "service panel."

I'm not sure if the Magna grips were intended to give some width to the top of the backstrap or if they were just intended to relieve the factory from fitting the grip panels to the semi-circle at the top of the grip frame, thus saving skilled labor and costs. Whatever it is, I'm not a fan of Magnas, at least not if I could have the earlier fitted style.


Here are some for the Colt from Eagle Grips.

Admittedly, these grip panels have poor proportions for barrels longer than 5". In that case, I suppose I would prefer the Roper.

 

[AK2]

I shoot mostly .38’s in my revolver, and the Eagle Heritage grips work great. For a range day with full-power .357 Mags, I put on the rubber Hogues.

 

[Charlie98]

For "show" I put the factory target grips on my Model 686 but when it's time to go to the range it's wearing Pachmayr Gripper grips.

That's what I do with my .41 Smiths... factory wood when they are home, Pachy Grippers when they are out and about.



The Dan Wesson is an anomaly, however... the factory wood grips work fantastic... the only set of factory grips that I've ever liked.