I purchased a lightly used set of Hogue wood grips from Numrich this week to mount on my recently acquired 686. The grips came with a different style of stirrup than the newer ones usually do, and I’m wondering if anyone can shed some light on how they were intended to be installed? The stirrup included looks similar to the ones shipped with new k frame grips, however sports a set of holes too small for it to slip over the existing grip roll pin. It also has a smaller diameter screw than newer grips. Additionally, the grip itself has no grove cut into it to allow the grip roll pin to fit inside, suggesting that to install these grips, the roll pin needs to be removed. I did. Drive out the roll pin, and the grips were a really good fit, so they are definitely K-frame grips.

With all this said, my assumption at his point is that the grips originally came with a replacement pin of some sort that had smaller diameter ends (like some of the newer style grips come with) that needs to be inserted in place of the factory roll pin. If this is the case, I think I can whip one up out of the assortment of pins I have around my shop, probably retaining the original grip pin diameter, but shortened, and open up the holes on the stirrup to match.

Any thoughts or ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


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Hogue has great customer service. Over the years they've sent me all kinds of mounting hardware for free. I'd call them, being very carful to clearly convey to them your exact type, vintage, and style of grip. (To the point where they can repeat it back to you). Hopefully, they still have older parts around and the "institutional knowledge" of the older style of grips.

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The Kernel is spot on. The good folks at Hogue will correct your hardware issue with just a phone call

BTW, Hogue rubber grips come with a thick screw (usually black) while Hogue wood grips come with a much narrower screw (usually silver).

And do not forget that once you have all the kinks worked out to post a picture so we can all see how the 686 looks with it's new wood

Hogue grip for my 'J' frame came with a shorter pin to let the grip clear that pin.

Problem solved...

I found a roll pin that was close in diameter to the holes through the stirrup, and a little smaller than the stock grip roll pin. The pin was 3/32” x 9/16” in length. I then measured the inside width of the grip channel with a digital caliper, measuring 0.465” of clearance side to side. Using a belt/disc sander, I ground down the pin to be around 0.455” to allow some clearance, and cleaned the end up on a polishing wheel. The holes through the stirrup were not in the greatest shape so I reamed them with a 7/64” drill bit to help the pin fit through a little easier.

Next, I drove out the factory roll pin, which appears to be around 1/8” in diameter (I didn’t actually measure it) and slid the 3/32” pin into the hole over which I snapped the stirrup. There was enough friction between the pin and stirrup to hole everything together, and despite fitting a little loose on the frame, it looked pretty good. I did need to center up the pin a little, leaving a very tiny amount of pin sticking out each side in order to get the grip to slide over, which it did with a little bit of hesitation at he start, but once everything lined up, it all dropped right into place.

So they’re not a perfect fit, but they are a heck of a lot better than the rubber Hogues I took off, or any of the other grips from my collection I tried on the gun, save for the S&W target grips, though they were too big for my hands. These old Hogues look really nice for a used set of grips, but could really use a coat of linseed oil to make them look nice. The shine in the picture is due to a wipe-down with a silicone rag, after a few minutes or from handling they full a little bit.






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Sounds like you got all the right hardware. IIRC, the original monogrip mount required that the grip locating pin be driven out. The stirrup is placed over the frame at the bottom of the grip frame (U-shape with arms pointing down). The holes at the ends of the stirrup arms are d-shaped. There is a barrel with d-shaped rebates on the ends and a flat milled to make the whole barrel d-shaped in cross-section, It should also have a threaded hole on the vertical centerline. The barrel fits between the legs of the stirrup with the d-shaped holes properly positioning it so the threaded hole is facing downward. The grip slips over this and up the grip frame and the mounting screw goes into the bottom of the grip and screws into threaded hole in the barrel.

This is all from memory so hopefully I got it right. I have a monogrip somewhere with that mounting system and another on my 25-2 with an original Guy Hogue monogrip. The grips fitted with this mounting system are every bit as secure as the current system, so if yours are not fitting properly something may be amiss. Hogue has great CS and can help you sort this out.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

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