After years of thinking about it, I have decided to get a pair of Herrett's for my Model 19 4-inch. I have pretty much decided on a pair of the Bill Jordan Trooper grips - I used to have a pair of the old plastic Pachmayr ones and loved the feel of them. After looking at Herrett's site, I have a couple of questions that maybe y'all can answer. How do the Jordan grips compare to the similar Custom Shooting Master? And which would be better, an oil or lacquer finish? Any advice would be appreciated.

The Jordon Troopers are for large hands. I always thought my 30 year as a mechanic hands were big enough but according to Herrett's nope. Send them a hand tracing and speak to them about which style of grip fits your hand best. They are very good at that. I ended up with Ropers which fit like a glove. My two pair have oil finish and it is very satisfactory. Here are the Ropers in Walnut on my 15-2.

The Jordan Trooper is typically an overall larger grip, but they'll make it to fit the dimensions of your hand on a custom order basis. An oil finish is the way to go with a better quality custom grip. It's much easier to make minor finish corrections or do a complete refinish if needed compared to lacquer.

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SWHF #448

Thanks I was thinking oil would be the best finish for a gun stock. Those Roper grips look good for sure, I just have always preferred a closed backstrap on DA revolvers.

The Roper is an open back. I believe only the Jordon is a closed back.

I think these Herrett's are called Shooting Stars. The top pair used to look just like the stock bottom pair in style and wood tone. But I sanded them down, and, being left handed, I removed the subtle right hand thumb rest on the left grip, but kept the right hand trigger finger rest to use for my left thumb now, then refinished them. I couldn't deal with the big "around the back of the grip frame" Jordan grips. The top grips here were $7 in an antique shop. They are really boring to look at as Herrett's makes them, but have a very good feel. Eventually the Diamondback grips will get the same treatment. There's some very nice grain hidden under all that blandness.

You may wish to check Herrett's website as it may answer some questions. You can also call and speak with them. I found them very helpful when I ordered a pair of Trooper stocks for my Model 58.

I ran a pair of Jordan Trooper stocks on a Model 15 I carried when I first came on the job. I prefer the closed back stocks as they enhances pointability for me.

YMMV.

Good luck to you.

JPJ

Here are a set of Jordan Troopers on a Model 19-3. I found them in a $10 bargain box at an LGS a couple of years ago so they weren't made to fit my hand. There were some chips in the varnish from ejecting cases but a little steel wool and some TruOil fixed that quickly.
I do have pretty big hands, and years ago had Herretts make a set of Jordan Troopers to fit my tracing for an N Frame. They were too big for me on an N Frame and I'm kind of surprised that Herretts doesn't caution buyers about that. However, I really like them on a K Frame and the covered backstrap does a lot to tame recoil in the magnum calibers.

Thanks for all the replies. I love the way those Jordan grips look on a Smith revolver. Grip size as never been to much of an issue for me- my Glock 20 fits me well. I just really have come to find with revolvers the closed back works better, not only with Magnum recoil but with general pointing. For years I have used the closed back Pachs, but I have noticed not only do rubber grips look and feel ugly, they seem to be hard on the blue steel.

When I joined the PD, I bought "Jordan" Troopers for my Model 10 heavy barrel duty gun. I liked the feel of them and they looked professional. When we went to the Model 66 the stocks were put on that duty gun. I still have a 66 with those stocks on it, and the gun rests in a dresser drawer by the bed.

I have several pair of the Troopers now and some of them are on my N frames. They are big, so I usually take them to a belt sander and sand down the circumference/profile to fit my hand better, and then re-oil them.

They do help a lot with recoil for me.

I have a few pair Herretts made as "open back Troopers" for N-frames. I think they are a little beefier than their Ropers, but can't swear to that. I found a set of standard Troopers that are great on my 586.

Troopers on the left, thumb rest targets on the right and 3 sets of shooting masters.
To me the main difference is lack of a "support for the base of your trigger finger?" The troopers are made for a high grip, the sm's not so much. You really want to try them all if you can. My favorites are the troopers but this set has been refinished a few times and sanded on some, they seem to fit me much better now.
All the revolvers pictured are 629-1's.
Hopefully this will help you out.

Thanks, CWH44300. That picture of the stocks from behind has confirmed my preference to order the Jordan model. While the Shooting Masters look good, they look too rounded for my taste. I shoot with a high grip and like some heft to grab on to. Like I said, those old plastic Jordan Pachmayr were great just very cheaply made. I also never understood the reason for the speedloader cut out on the right side, never made any sense to me.

Glad to help,
I found a pic of the other side,
Let us know how your new stocks work.

Thanks again for the advice guys. I sent in my order last week for the Herrett's Bill Jordan Troopers. I know custom stocks take a while to make, but I cannot wait for them to come in. After years of messing around with comfortable but ugly Pachmayrs and ill-fitting mass produced wood grips, I am excited to get my first pair of Herrett's.

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Here's my 686 wearing Jordan Troopers and my 629 wearing SMs