If anyone ever doubts the recoil absorbing effect from rubber or other synthetic grip material...

Just pull open an older much used set of Pachmayr grips and take note of the stress marks left in the rubber from the grip frame moving against the rubber during recoil. I have a 625-3 that came with Grippers. I never thought much of the recoil with it. Then I changed them out for some Presentation grips. I prefer the shape in the hand and left them on for a while. But I'm a wood grips snob and am in love with Ahrends grips and put them on almost all my S&W's... BUT... while they do have an amazing fit in my hand, they don't absorb ANY of the recoil. They fit so well that it's not that much of a change, but solid wood or nylon grips have to fit your hand just right so as to not focus the brunt of the recoil into one spot more so than the rest of your hand. The Hogue X frame grips are a little big in my hand since they not only wrap around that whole grip frame, they also have that softer insert inside to bounce that grip frame off and eat some recoil. I fully agree they work, but they are a hand full. I haven't tried a Gripper Decelerator yet with the even softer rubber compound but I would think they would work pretty well.