I recently acquired a near pristine rb 3" M37 from 1982. The factory PC magnas fit my hand perfectly and give great control. I can bit faster than I could with my 442 with either the UM Spegel duplicates or actual Spegel grips. Something about the fit between these and my hand just literally locks them into place. No twisting at all. I've always been a "straight to custom grips" guy, so this has been an extremely pleasant surprise.
However.... My safariland speed loaders are just the tiniest bit too big... They require a serious push and some wiggling to get the rounds to drop and the speed loader to fall free, which is the opposite of how they've behaved in the past with other guns and grips. Close scrutiny of the process reveals that there is a tiny bit of the left upper horn on the factory grip panel that is interfering with the process.. like maybe an eighth of an inch wide and a sixteenth deep. I looked around my junk box for an HKS speed loader to compare, but apparently sold all of them a decade or so ago after discovering the Safarilands.
So, a couple of questions:
1. Can anyone tell me off the top of their head if the HKS work any better with the factory grips? I don't really have a muscle memory problem after having used both types for a few decades now, so that could be the least invasive solution, potentially, but I'd be replacing a dozen or so speedloaders eventually and I could theoretically get a very nice set of grips for that.
2, if I relieve a tiny bit of wood from that upper horn, what is the best grit of paper and spot refinishing product to match the factory grips (while these are not original to the gun, they are otherwise in Good condition).
3. Will I go to the Special Hell for doing this?
4. Does anyone have any experience with the RB magnas from Handgungrips.com? They have a handsome set of diamond checkered grips in black laminate that are quite handsome, and if that left upper horn were just a WEE bit thinner....
Thanks in advance.
Model 37 grips and speed loaders?
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