Hello gang,
Unfortunately, no targets were harmed in the production of this posting.
That will have to be another day, work kept me late, it was raining, and I had some trouble fitting some of these grips. Soon, I promise!
The first set I tried on were the S&W replacement curved hard plastic grips. I could not for the life of me get the mainspring pin to back in the hole with these grips.
I tried everything I could think of, but no go!
Here is a picture of the original flat hard plastic grips on the left, and the new curved replacement grips on the right. Maybe one of you experts can spot something I missed!?!
I guess I'll have to send those back!
I hate it when you wait for something cool to come in the mail, and get ****!
Next I tried on the Hogue rubber grips. The fit was perfect, and these are quite a bit "fatter" than the original grips, but seem like they are going to very comfortable. (Especially when the 'hot' ammo from Double Tap get here - I hope Mike loaded mine with the right bullets!)
Oddly, it felt like I could get a higher grip with these than with the OEM grips, which I wouldn't think would be true, but it felt that way. Someday I'll have go back and forth to really check that.
Then I tried the Hogue checkered Rosewood grips. Wow, these looked great and felt awesome!
The checkering is nice and crisp and it felt like I had a fantastic grip on the gun, even more secure than with the rubber grips.
They felt like they were the same size and shape as the rubber ones, quite 'hand filling'. But the weather in my kitchen wasn't sweaty hot and humid, nor was it freezing cold and wet, so time will tell what grip I leave on this hunting weapon, but I really, really like these checkered rosewood grips.
One possible issue, I had a problem with the screw holes in these wood grips not lining up exactly with the threaded mainspring holder that you have to use with the Hogue grips. I eventually got the screws to tighten to at least flush with the grips, but there is "side load" on the wood near the holes due to the misalignment and I don't like that. I hope it won't cause the grips to crack later, under the force of recoil.
Anyhow, that's all for tonight. I'll try to take them shooting tomorrow after work, and let you all know how it goes. I hope I can shoot at my preferred 'pit' I would hate to get the beautiful rosewood grips muddy!
Thanks for reading!
- Thomas