I found these vintage Bear Hug Grips for N Frame, Square Butt the other day on Ebay and thought I would share them. Man, they have some nice grain to them!

Enjoy and post your Bear Hug Grips please!

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Kris
OGCA, NRA LM

Those are beautiful Kris...

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Mitch
SWCA 2597

After photoing and handling these grips, I realized that I may have another set of Bear Hug Grips! These do not have the Bear Hug stampings on the inside but these grips are very, very similar; The grip screw is identical and is inserted on the right grip panel, the screw escutcheons are also identical, the overall shape and contours of the grips are very similar, and the inletting is the same as well.....What do you guys think? I know some makers made this Bear Hug style later on but it just seems odd that all these things are so similar.....

Also, I'm not sure what happened with the wood on the left panel but if it matched the right panel this would be one seriously awesome set of stocks.

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Kris
OGCA, NRA LM

If I remember correctly, a company named Blu Magnum makes Bear Hug style grips. I can't remember if they are associated in any way or not. Maybe that is what you have.

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Miss My Buddy crsides!!

So
Very
Envious

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What would Jim Cirillo do?

Very nice!! Also very comfortable, I'll bet.

I have had several pairs of Bear Hug stocks over the years (none left). They were made popular by Skeeter Skelton as he used them on his revolvers and showed photos of them in his articles published in Shooting Times.

Bill

I was wondering who made those stocks when they were on ebay, my finger was hovering over the buy it now because of how gorgeous that wood is but I decided to pass on them because they didn't look like they would fit me very well.

Glad you snagged them, I was really wondering who made them.

Yes, Bear Hug grips is now called Blu-Magnum. It is owned and run by Tedd Adamovich and located in Colorado Springs. My son worked for him for awhile before he went to ALASKA. I am the lucky owner of several pairs of grips from both eras. He does some quality work.

I have two pair,

Model 24-3



Model 27-2



Nice grips, my only grip is that the screw is located at the exact spot that I put my finger tip when grasping them. It's very annoying. I've been looking for some kind of "plug" to fill that in.

I have a set of Bear Hug grips for my Model 19. I love the looks, but find them a bit too thin and they don't fit my hand as well as other grips. Once I saw them on Skeeter's gun, I had to have a set.

I can't post pics. but, I do have one of the last set of grips made by Deac Deason[the original Bear Hug maker]. Now don't shower me with offers 'cause you probably wouldn't like them! They are the plainest looking unfinished grips ever. I talked with Mr. Deason and had him make them for me as a pair of "try" grips. I was going to fit them to my hand and send them back as a personal model for Deac to make some really nice grips. Alas, he died suddenly before I could send them back. He was a gentleman and craftsman of the highest order,as was Mr. Skelton. Now that I think back, I recon "Ol' Skeet" cost me a bunch of money recommending stuff I just had to have! I wish both of them could still be with us. RIP. Nick

I have a set. I think they're rosewood. They don't fit my hand and I no longer own a N-frame gun. I'll probably sell them.

What was the winning bid on those shown?

Mine are well finished and the panels do match. I never used them after deciding that they didn't like my hand as much as I'd hoped. Frankly, I went to Pachmayr Presentation rubber grips. They don't scratch or dent like wood does, and they are priced right. And the Small size fits me better than most anything I've tried on an N-frame.
I will say that I tried some of Bill Jordan's guns with his permission and a friend had a set of Jordan grips on his M-29. They cut the felt effects of recoil to an almost unbelieveable degree.

I never fired the M-27 with the Deason grios on it, as I just tried them on the gun and after a few days, decided that I'd rather have something else for grips. But the Bear Hug grips are pretty, and someone else may like them fine. I just can't tell you how they handle recoil because I never fired the gun with them on it. But they are smooth and a little more compact than factory grips, so I think the gun will smack your hand less than with factory grips. That really only matters with .41 and .44 Magnum guns. The .357 isn't really a hard kicker.

BTW, my Bear Hug grips aren't contoured and I think the wood may be a laminate.

My only set of Bear Hug Grips is for a Ruger Redhawk, a revolver which I don't own, but they do make a nice addition to my custom grip collection. I do imagine that with the covered back and forestraps, that the thinness would be a necessity.

Skeeter wrote that the design for the Bear Hug/ Blu Magnum "Skeeter" grip was from an old set of Roper stocks from which he sanded off the "ornate" checkering .... shame on him!

In addition to not liking the placement of the grip screw, I too find the Skelton stocks thin, and prefer the shape of Herrett's "Roper" stocks. Below is the set I have for my 29-2...

Very nice.
A set like those would look nice on my blued Redhawk (which has nice bluing for a Ruger).

Kris,
is it an optical illusion or is the right panel thinner than the left? It sure looks like it in that bottom pic.

John Taffin has written quite a lot about Bear Hug/Blue Magnum grips in many of his articles and books, and owns quite a few sets of them.

Yes, It looks like the Right is thinner than the Left.

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Kris
OGCA, NRA LM

I'm thinking that maybe the original owner had them made that way to make reaching the trigger a bit easier since they cover the entire grip frame.

Those look really familiar, did I sell those to you? If so I got them off a transitional 1926 6.5" that was owned by a LEO target shooter from delaware. (I am still waiting for some high shouldered magnas to put on the old 44) Like others, I found them too thin.

I have a set with nice grain but with lighter colored wood. Not sure what they were made for, I'm keeping them cause of the grain. Tried them on all the frame sizes of S&W's and none fit. Keep hoping to find out what gun they were made for. Larry

Larry, post a photo of the insides of your grips and we can figure out what they fit.

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SWHF #448

I have a set to fit a Round Butt K Frame (currently on my 3" M65). I did not know DD used to make laminated grips!

Old thread, but here's a set on my 24-3. Nice stocks.
Bob

Those just look FANTASTIC!!! You are lucky! Bob

Heres my pair. N frame round butt combats.

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