I want to be able to control my revolver without feeling it smack me in the palm. I thought I could handle hunting loads in my 629 3" Deluxe but wood grips gave me a beat down. After two cylinders of 240 grains I had to take a break. I also want to be able to use hot Buffalo Bore 44 Magnum cartridges. This wood has to go.

I had to switch to Hogue Rubber grips.



How many of you prefer rubber over wood in your large bore revolvers?

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I tried rubber. The small comfort factor can't help me get over the fact that it is ugly so my vanity says wood. Common sense says rubber.

Wood that fits my hand is preferable to rubber.

Rubber is preferable to wood that does not fit me.

Fortunately the old Factory Combat stocks are just right for me. Unfortunately they are getting harder to find and much more expensive as the years progress.

Fortunately (again) if I order Hogues with no finger grooves they also fit me just right.
I often order the contrasting butt cap and white line spacer, but that is mostly for the looks.

I use the Hogue's on my N-frames, really help with comfort, and control factors. Not the greatest pic, but here are two my big bores. Just make sure you take them off during a regular cleaning, as dirt and contaminants will collect underneath these.

I consider myself fortunate....while most rubber grips with the finger groves do not fit many....they do fit me like they were molded to my hand. With that said....I sure do have a preference to beautiful wood.
So....my deep blue M19...M17...and M29...wear wood....

leaving my M686...M617...M629....wearing houge rubber...

best balance I can get...

For me, the wood ones are fine if they have some width at the top where the frame is nearly vertical. This spreads out the recoil and makes a wide rounded area for the web of the hand.
The ones that are fairly thin at the top or don't match the frame well have a thinner and sharper corner profile which translates into a more painful recoil impulse.

Responded to this on glocktalk.com. Don

If they're really beating on you, try the X frame Hogue grips for the big revolvers. They provide cushion at the back too.

Love the look of wood but nothing but rubber on my S&W 500 Magnum.

For me, a good fit in the hand is more important than grip material. If a gun fits well in the hand recoil is mitigated well enough I don't have to look at ugly grips

As I've said many times in the past.. I love the looks of ivory ,, wood,, bone ,, etc.. But my shooting' guns have ugly rubber grips.

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I love the look of wood, but not the feel when shooting .44 magnums. My 3" TALO 629 wears Pachmayr Diamond Pros now.

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I have found that great wood works. But I cannot be so arrogant as to say that it works better than the rubbers. truth only.

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The human hand comes in a multitude of configurations. The way that hand holds the revolver is also unique. Handgun grips are extremely personal and will only fit your hand optimally thru trial and error (particulary with DA revolvers). What works for one person may or may not work for you.

I can’t remember all the different grips I’ve tried over the last 50 plus years. In addition to all of the various rubber pachmayr and hogue models, I’ve had custom Herrett Jordan troupers made to a drawing from my hand, and grips that I meticulously hand shaped/reshaped. For handguns with minimal or moderate recoil, you may not notice the difference (this includes some intrepid souls whose recoil tolerance is not human).

For heavy recoiling revolvers grip selection will make the difference between reasonable comfort or outright pain.

Personally, I can’t do wood or any grip with an open backstrap – they just hammer the bone at the base of my thumb.

For the last decade plus, I’ve found the Hogue S&W 500 X Frame grip (the one with the covered backstrap) provides comfort with heavy loads. Most recently I’ve comfortably shot over 800 rnd thru the new 2 ¾” S&W M69 (mostly 240/265gr over 23.0gr H110).

Just my personal experience of course.

Bottom line is that it may take some trial and error to find grips that work for you. Of course, you’ll probably end up with a box full of grips to go along with that box full of holsters that didn’t quite work.

FWIW,

Paul

Thanks, Paul.

My other revolvers have the same grip.




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Wood is fine except Altamont. They are too thin to effectively distribute recoil force.

If I am going to look at it, wood is very pleasing, if I am going to shoot it my wrist/hands prefer rubber. A bit of arthritis is creeping into these "mature " hands/wrist, making rubber grips far.more practical.

On my carry guns it's the pachmayer rubber presentation grips.(revolvers) I can grip them so tight I sink my fingers into the rubber.

On my carry 1911 I prefer the rubber full wraparound grips.

I did have Herret grips made to my hand for my snubbie police service six. They fit my hand perfect.

Everything else has good looking wood grips on it. The s&w combat grips fit nice too.

Unwritten rule: Wood for EDC & rubber that covers the backstrap for extended range sessions.

__________________
Old Cop
LEO (Ret.)

Rubber grips make managing heavy recoil mush easier. I've tried Hogue which are nice but still sting in .357 and in .44.

I switched to Pachmeyer Signature Grips and the sting is gone.

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I prefer at least 5 inches of barrel. Having said that, It depends on the shooter and the wood, but rubber wins in big recoil contests most of the time. I like 44 mags in the 12-1400 fps range-so I can use either, depending on the revolver.

With the big bores, wood is for pictures - rubber is for shooting (IMO).

Thanks for starting this thread, I have Hogue mono grips on my M29. Hate the look, love the shooting.

X frame grips fit N frames? I'm ordering a set. Thanks for the tip.

Yes, as long as they're round butt. I haven't tried them on square butt grip frames, but I doubt they would fit them.

A grip that properly fits your hand is a must for magnum loads, the material shouldn't make a difference. My 629 came with the hogue rubber monogrip and that's what works for me. I see no reason to spend money on wood.

But does anyone know where I can get some pretty wood tires for my truck? I'm so embarrassed to drive my truck around town with those ugly rubbers on it.

I shoot anywhere from 25-50 rounds. I do realize the Snubby is spicier but it shouldn't pound my hand like this.

I have Snubbies in 357 and 454 Casull that have rubber that are comfortable, and have the same grips.




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No doubt the general consensus prefers wood as do I but when it comes to heavy recoil like with the full bore 329 and 500 magnums, the Hogue Tamer grips do make shooting bearable.

I've grown to prefer G10 grips on all my revolvers. VZ usually. These are VZ 320s in black cherry on my L-Comp.

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Rubber is good for recoil. Wood is good for looking purdy.

On a side note. X frame grips will even fit on an L frame. A trick Pizza Bob mentioned. My hands were too big for a rubbered L frame, so i had an x frame grip and used it. It fills the gap perfectly as it adds rubber along the backstrap; to fill my ape-like hands! Lol.

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Considerable experimentation and experience have proved to me that what several others have posted above is correct: it is fit
that counts, not material. If there is any advantage at all to using one material over another, it is very small.

As it happens, for my size of hand most of the best grips are made of

All mine wear wood except my S&W 360PD. That little 13oz 357 may be the hardest hitting recoil of them all; which is the only reason it has full wrap around rubber.

I don't just think wood is prettier, I think rubber is ugly. It makes a gun look cheesy and cheap. If I need to, I wear the Walmart weight lifter gloves for shooting all day for several days in a row.

I just don't want to shoot ugly guns. I don't care how practical it is.


Prescut

Rubber for the range and carry.
Wood for the BBQ and the safe.

__________________
Fred
S&WCA 3238

Years ago I would shoot full house .44 Magnums with factory wood grips and not think much of it. Times change. X frame Hogue rubbers on my 629 make life much more pleasant for my aging hands.

Stu

I have a personal distaste for the .44 Magnum, probably acquired during the time I owned a Lew Horton 3" M629. Anyway, I did fire six rounds through it with the original wood grips, laughed, and said I would never do that again, and proceeded to switch to the Pachmayrs that I acquired with that gun. MUCH BETTER!!!! Still, I never could warm up to that piece except when I loaded it with .44 Specials so I happily "sold" it to pay off a poker debt many moons ago.

Which brings me to my favorite .44 Magnum story.

On the revolver stage of the Texas concealed handgun instructor's exam, I guess it was 1999 or 2000, the young man next to me pulled out a nice looking 4" barreled .44 Magnum. Wooden, checkered stocks. And the 50 rounds he was prepared to shoot through it were in a factory original box of .44 Magnum cartridges. I was shocked. I asked him if he didn't have .44 Specials for the test. He told me he didn't need them, he'd be fine.

Young. Dumb. Central Texas law enforcement officer. Proud as a peacock! Tougher than nails; probably eats nails for breakfast.

"Good luck", says I!

He did pass the test. But at the end of the test his hands were blistered, bloodied, and quickly bandaged. He looked at me and I laughed and said, "Tolyaso!". He acknowledged that he would never do that again.

So, if you're going to shoot big bore handguns, rubber stocks are the answer.

I will note that in the posts above there are some interesting wooden stocks that might be a good answer, too, but they appear to specialized, customized stocks. With no experience using them I cannot judge. I would be happy to try, however, one round only, until I was sure. NOT the factory combat stocks. Those I know about!

I chose to go with both. If shooting my light "Cowboy" loads and for show and tell, I have the Altamont redwood grips on my Model 625-9 "Mountain Gun" in .45 Colt. When I'm going to be shooting the stiffer "defense" loads, I go with the original rubber grips.

S&W Model 625 "Mountain Gun" .45 Colt




Thanks for looking at my "Mountain Gun."

God bless,
Birdgun

Mr Harry, what brand and wood are your great looking stocks?

I bought the same Talo edition 3" 629-6 and found out the hard way the the pretty Altamonts were thumb shredders. It took forever for it to heal cause even though I changed over to rubber Hogues it would bust back open a week later when I went to the range again. A fellow shooter recommended wrapping it with masking tape while shooting and that was the ticket until it finally healed.
Now it's rubbers at the range while throwing lead.

__________________
Don't You Ever Wash That Thing

People who actually work with a gun don't have to ask this question. They have rubber or some type of composite grip that will provide traction for wet or bloody hands. You just can't control a handgun with slippery grips in a pressure situation. Pressure situations sometimes happen outdoors in wet weather. At the very least, believe me when I tell you this, when you have to actually present your gun in a defensive situation, your hands will be sweating. My work guns have ugly, sticky, rubber grips. My BBQ, range, safe queens have nicely figured wood grips.

P II .l...p.ip I .k


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Great points. As you've seen my entire revolver collection that I actually shoot (357 to 500) have rubbers.


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I wouldn't even think of going to a wood grip on a big bore magnum. Myself the other choice is if you like the wood look, and who doesn't, then I would suggest shooting the 44 spl instead of the magnum.

Unless you are around bear or large animal areas that could be a problem then I see no reason to be using the 44 magnum as my usual round of ammo. A 44 spl is capable of being a very good defensive carry round and it is much more fun with less punishment target shooting.

If you want the 44 magnum for a defensive round they carry it and practice occasionally to keep accuracy and familiarity. But for fun target and range shooting use the 44 spl. and keep the wood. I can shoot a box of a hundred with my Bull Dog 44 spl with rubber grips and not have any hand or wrist punishment.

Another thing to consider when it comes to using magnums for self defense.
I went to the 44 spl because the 357 was to dang loud and I didn't want to possibly lose 50% or more of my hearing in a defensive situation. The 44 magnum will probably have the same hearing damage as the 357 and much more than the 9mm. Shoot a 9mm or a 357 magnum or a 44 magnum once without hearing protection and I bet you will not want to do it again. They say you will not notice the big bang theory during a shooting but I bet you will notice you having to say to the cop "WHAT did you say".

I recently screwed up and shot a 9mm without hearing protection. It has been two weeks since then and I bet I have lost at least 25%, if not more, hearing in my left ear. I am left handed and it was a 4" semi auto. I will not screw up like that again. And no I don't want to be shooting magnum rounds for sure. I have had some hearing come back but I don't know if it will ever come back to what hearing I had in that ear.

Bottom line is do whatever trips your trigger with the most enjoyment.

Wood is pretty but I bought my guns to shoot not look at. Hogue rubber finger grooves all the way

Some who have replied show me their 357s. I have no problem with wood on a 357. It's 44 and above that.


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The Hogue rubber grips for the S&W 500 Magnum will fit the round butt N frames and the round butt L frames. They provide rubber behind the back strap. The Hogue rubber grips initially sold for the L and N frames had no rubber behind the back strap. Long live the 500 Magnum grips.

My personal philosophy is that form should follow function. If it is a shooter it deserves rubber, if it is for show it deserves wood.

I have the exact same gun that you do and I can tell you that after about 50 rounds the inside of my thumb was shredded and bleeding form those Altamont grips. Nothing but rubber for me, on that little monster at least, from now on.

__________________
"I gots to know"

I keep gauze tape with me. If it's warm enough to make my hands sweat and thus soften, I thoroughly wrap that first that knuckle in tape. Sounds strange but sometimes I have to get my brass empty to try a new loads, and going home with loaded ammo simply isn't constructive. I need more brass.....

I like a rubber grip on a full-throttle .44 Mag, but for .45 ACP, .44 Special or below, wood is just fine, and looks mo'betta' IMHO.
I've never fired any of the monsters (Casull, .460, .475, .500, etc.) Had a .35 Rem. Contender briefly - it got traded right soon for a .30-30.

Larry

I share the same philosophy...

Wood........Except for a 629 mtn gun.........

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S&W Accumulator