Grips on 629

[smlake]

I am interested in a 629-4 I see on an on-line site. I have a question about the grips. The pistol presently has S&W wood grips with finger grooves and has a rounded butt at the bottom of the grip. Is it possible to replace these with the square Goncalo Alves type grips or a larger square bottom grip such as those made by Pachmayer or Hogue? The pistol is an 8 3/8inch 629-4 Classic model made in the time period 1993-1997. I am just not sure if this pistol has a square bottom frame with these rounded grips over this square frame. I sure would appreciate any advice about this. Thanks in advance.

[qballwill]

The gun has a round butt. The older style S&W square butt target grips will not properly fit. Conversion grips are made but they dont look like the older ones. S&W sells conversion grips along with many other grip makers including some forum members.

[smlake]

Which would be easier to shoot on a S&W 629 44 magnum with 8 3/8 inch barrel-a gun with round grips or one with square grips?

[qballwill]

Now your getting into a matter of preference. Different people like the feel of different size and style grips. If you like the gun, dont let the RB grips deter you from buying it. You can shoot it as is and if for whatever reason the grips dont feel right, you can buy conversions and trade them out. There are many things in the shooting world that are a matter of opinion. Best thing is to try out different options.

[Maximumbob54]

I want to throw into this that the round to square conversion grip that is for sale on smith's website has an odd feel. It has the body curves of a coke grip and finger grooves of a combat grip. It sounds decent but the top most finger groove (for the middle finger) is sized like it is for a thumb. The two on the bottom are smaller than the one on the top. So I get a strange undesirable grip on it. So it sits in a box for one day if I change my mind. Or grow gorilla hands.

[snowman]

I will acknowledge with qball that preference is a large factor here, but I'm going to go out on a limb and express a rather strong view about this.

I have a 629 Classic DX with the 8-3/8" barrel which has the round butt grip frame and came with the standard factory round butt finger groove grips. The Classic models have a full-length underlug beneath the barrel. This makes the 629 quite heavy on the front end, which results in an upward pull on the grip as one holds the gun. With the round butt grip, the bottom rear turns downward and forward, leaving no wood/rubber beneath the hand to counteract the upward pull mentioned earlier. It is therefore an inherently less stable grip arrangement than the square butt grip for a long-barreled gun. In my view it makes no sense at all, so after buying the gun I promptly obtained a round-to-square conversion grip, and now I feel like I have a good hold on the gun as I shoot.

To each his own, but I would recommend changing the grip.

Andy

[smlake]

Your comments are so much appreciated. Andy, I can really visualize what you are saying with your 8 3/8 inch 629 classic. I had surgery 2 years ago on my shooting hand in the joint area between the thumb and first finger and behind the web area of my shooting hand. Pistol and revolver recoil comes directly back into that joint. I can shoot fine without pain but I am sensitive to recoil because my hands are average size since I only weight 170 lbs and am 5' 11" tall. I own a number of pistols including a S&W Model 19 with 4 inch barrel and a Ruger RedHawk .44 mag with7.5 inch barrel. I put Pachmayer grips on the Redhawk and they really tamed the recoil. I load my own cartridges using midrange loads. I shoot the Model 19 using the factory Alves grips and like it. I want to buy a S&W 29 or 629 and just want to make sure I do not make a mistake. Taming recoil is a main reason for the 8 3/8 inch barrel as opposed to a 6 inch barrel.

[Shooting4life]

Here is a set of conversion grips on a rd butt. Try fit well and would work on a 629. If you end up getting the smith you can try these out and maybe make a trade.

[steamloco76]

My 629-6, six inch had the S&W round to square butt conversion Hogue rubber grips. They didn't look good or fit my hand the right way. I replaced them with Ahrends Retro-Combat round to square but conversion grips. Made a big difference.