New to putting aftermarket grips on any of my S&W revolvers, I tend to leave things stock on any brand 6 or 7 shot, in this particular case a 5 shot. But I made an exception after firing a S&W .460 with Nills wood grips at my local range. Loved em! They were a bit big

SW18X8XL

So I went with the regular sized ones for my S&W .500 mag.

SW18X8

My question is my title, how tight do I tighten these wood grips screws?

They were a bit tough to get on, had to use a rubber mallet to seat the dowel peg and get the grips together close enough to begin tightening them with the screws. I'm just afraid to split the wood going too tight. Would it be best to just tighten as much as I dare and then take it out shooting and go from there or should I just torque on them now and get em as tight as I physically can by hand?

Last pic of the back of grip near the top seems to still show a crack between the two grips sides and a tiny difference in height, enough to barely feel the difference when I run my finger across grip sides there. Is some fractional differences normal on aftermarket wood grips?

Appreciate any advice.

Snug, not tight.

yup pretty much what he said...as long as the grip doesn't move on you its tight enough

That little 'crack', or space between the grip halves, at the top of large frame S&W's, is pretty common and impossible to tighten out. I've had it show up on grips by several different manufacturers on my N-frames.

__________________
"We deal in lead, friend."

Silvershot,
Snug is best, especially on new grips. They settle in and might loosen up a bit as you shoot, but it is easier to snug them up as they work in place to your firearm. Too tight and you run the risk of pulling the threaded bushing of the right side grip through the wood. Yeah -- I did that once, myself.
"Snug" is good advice to follow.
Beautiful grips and they compliment your revolver.
Neal39

Use 2 fingers on that screwdriver. It'll be tight enough.

Especially when tightening up the vintage hard rubber ones, just barely snug. You should be able to push the grips in place with your fingers once they have been mounted fully. I don't "pull" them down with the screw, I'd rather tap them into place with a padded little hammer or screwdriver handle.

__________________
H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Thank you for all the replies.

Snug it is. I backed em off just a bit and will do some shooting and tighten as needed.

wlp624-I needed to hear this as I would of continued to tighten the upper screw thinking it would solve the "crack" issue. I was almost thinking it was due to over-tightening but I found a comment on another forum that said it's the larger frames. I guess like most of us I'm just being too anal about it.

Neal39-Makes the best sense, snug then tighten over time. I should of known wood grips have to settle in over time.

K-9-That almost sounds dirty. Good tip though, two-finger torque.

H Richard-For some dumb reason I was thinking the back of the X frame grip was suppose to be exposed like some frame grips do on revolvers. When I quickly realized the entire frame grip was suppose to fit snug into the wood grips I did try my best to line up pegs, screw holes and fit it in but it was tight. I eventually used a rubber mallet to fit it in being careful not to damage the inside form of the wood grips on the steel frame grip itself, but the lower part took some tapping, more than expected. So I couldn't push the grips together fully until I had that lower peg lined up just right then they snapped right into place.

Honestly the bad directions that came with the grips threw me off on a few things, the directions were for a different type of grip. Similar but different.

Now I know wood grips, I imagine I will be getting more for my other Smiths. I can't believe it took me this long to get into wood grips. My no dash 686 has some old ones that don't really feel good so I will probably be replacing those next.

Thanks again everyone.

I have been using small black rubber o rings on my grip screws to stop them from loosening. Ed

It's really hard to find good fitting used grips....especially for a j-frame or other single grip screw gun and there's a reason. You won't be as apt to have this problem as you have two screws to work with. The most common faults with used grips is they have been warped by sitting on a gun for years with the screw too tight, or an escutcheon has been pulled through the grip panel. I hate to put some grips on a gun and be able to see daylight between the frame and the grips. Just snug um' and check um' now and then. I have been known to install the grips with the screw lose and wrap them tightly with rubber straps while it sits in the safe. They will "find themselves" in time and you can then tighten the screw. Call it anal.....but I am about grip fitment.