Back in the early 80's, when I was a young officer, we still
carried revolvers. My weapon of choice was a S&W Model 19, with a 4" barrel.

I had replaced the checkered factory grips with a set of smooth S&W grips in what was advertised as "Goncalo Alves". They were beautiful, and looked very nice in the "Bianchi Judge" holster I wore at the time.

One early morning, my Sergeant and I responded to a burglary in progress. I had the model 19 in my hand as we made entry to the building, and we could hear the two burglars talking to each other as we entered.

My hands were sweating so profusely that I couldn't hold on to the gun. We wound up arresting the two burglars, and after my shift that night I went to the local gun store and purchased a set of Pachmayr rubber grips and never looked back.

While smooth grips may look better, in an OMG situation, I'll take something with checkering every time!