Attention Linde and -db-

This thread on a nice pair of Hurst grips got us on a side question about the vertical hole in one pair. What's it for??

Help me ID this "fuzzy" like grips that are not. Maybe Hogue or Hurst ?

Linde has provided pictures of his 2 mid 1970's Hogue two-piece grips with similar vertical holes.

We're not talking about the horizontal holes apparently to allow adjustment of the strain screw.
As I wrote in the other thread, the vertical hole looks like a drain hole as much as anything ... but couldn't be... (Squirt in oil until it runs out???)
One version of the L-Tronic battery powered night site had a bottom plug-in, but not in this location.














Anybody know anything?

That's so you can tighten or loosen the strain screw without having to remove the grips. I saw that on a lot of grips when i used to shoot in PPC matches.

Still have no idea but to keep things straight as far as clues, we know so far:

1. Both Hogue and Hurst grips exist with these holes.

2. Both of these grip-makers were in California.

3. The grips with these holes date to the 1970s.

Maybe if we collect enough clues we can put all the pieces together and figure it out.

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SWHF #448

We're not talking about the horizontal holes apparently to allow adjustment of the strain screw.

Vertical hole ... in the bottom of the grip....


It's interesting to note that Patrick Hogue didn't know about the strain screw holes in some of the old grips.

So I take it there must have been a hole in the bottom of the frame?
I know some guys I grew up with in the 70s thought WD40 was the answer for everything. Do you think the hole could have been there to shoot a little up in the frame with the little red nozzle extension?
Just thinking out loud here.

You are correct that on an unaltered frame the vertical hole is blind. One pair of Hogues pictured above came on a 6" K-38 Masterpiece (that I no longer have) but I certainly did not notice a hole in the frame. Although they may very well exist, I have never seen a frame with such a hole.

Adding to -db- list of what we do know:
4. not all of the Hurst and Hogue grips made during the 70s era had such a hole . . . and
5. both Hurst and Hogue were members of the LAPD pistol team.

Is it possible that those grips made for members of the pistol team were transported in a case with alignment pins in the base rather than a traditional pistol rack and needed such a hole to hold them in place?

Russ

Back then it was not uncommon to back out the strain screw until missfires appeared, then tighten about a quarter turn or until reliability returned. So...I know its a long shot, but I'm wondering if it could have been for a set screw to keep the strain screw from backing out after it was adjusted. Guns would have to have the proper hole drilled and tapped and the screw would have had to be pretty long.....

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Richard Gillespie
FBINA 102

I have seen pictures of S&W revolvers where a vertical hole was drilled and tapped for a set screw. The purpose, as Nightowl infers, was to allow adjustment of the strain screw. The set screw would then be tightened to lock the adjustment. There would be a short section of Brass rod between the set screw and strain screw to protect the strain screw threads. I won't swear to it but it may have been Jerry Kuhnhausen's book that I saw this in.

I would suspect the hole in those stocks was for access to the set screw so adjustments could be made without removing the stocks.

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Gunsmithing since 1961

Nightowl and Alk8944 got it.

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SWHF #448

I knew Guy Hogue & John Hurst had to have good reason for putting those two holes on their custom grips.

Once again this Forum has come through with with the right answers from its outstanding resources . . . thank you.

And now my search is on for such a modified revolver for the next Tulsa show & tell.

Russ

P.S. and to think NightOwl, his son and I sat around one evening in Tulsa looking at Hogue grips and I didn't think to ask him

Yep.
First saw it in 75 on a PPC gun built by Don ?????, a south GA gunsmith that took the PPC revolver about as far as it could go.
He did some really nice work. Never seemed to get really famous.
Could be because he changed specialties a few times.
As I recall, he slid from PPC guns into IPSC builds.
Anyone remember who I mean?

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Regards,
Lee Jarrett

Interesting - I learn something new here everyday!

I seem to recall reading an article where the experimenter played with the strain screw tension and recorded changes in group sizes. The conclusion was that you may get reliable ignition but not the best groups due to the difference in how hard the primer is hit. Vertical stringing was one symptom of inconsistent ignition that went away when the screw was cranked back down.

Handejector, could that have been a Don Williams? His wife and son also were competitive shooters, from somewhere in GA.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Another photo example, a set I just picked up. Shows this wasn't done on only custom grips but factory stocks were modified, too. Curiously, these apparently came off a 6" Model 29, which isn't really a gun that comes to mind when thinking competition revolver.

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SWHF #448

I remember seeing strain screw + set screw sets in Brownells of some years ago.

I couldn't help but notice that all the example stocks have BOTH the horizontal inlet for the strain screw AND the vertical hole for the set screw in the bottom. We're just missing the frames with the vertical hole. I learn something new here frequently, which is a good thing, because I don't know much.

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Some collect art; I shoot it!