Just purchased a 396 Night Guard to complete my trifecta of lightweight, .44 Spl, L-frames. This one has the current S&W rubber grips on it. On the later production did S&W switch from the Pachmayr Compacs to their proprietary rubber grips?



Thanks in advance for any input.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

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Nice pizza metal.

Nice! I wanted one of these things years ago and thought they were expensive THEN.....have you seen them now?? If you can even find

The 315 and 396 with finger groove grips were bought in 2010 and 2011 respectively and the 386 XL Hunter with straight grips was bought in 2013. The XL Hunter is the same gun as the short barreled 386 Night Guard but with a longer barrel and different front sight. Don't know why or when the different grips were used.

Attached Images

	M 315 and 396 Night Guards.jpg (117.0 KB, 95 views)
	M 386XL Hunter L stamp.jpg (125.4 KB, 77 views)

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Wow that is an awesome group of guns. i would love any number of those, or all.... I have never seen that 386 hunter before. Are those all scandium frames like the r8?

The only two grips I ever saw factory on a NG were were the Hogue and the Pachs.

Yes, they are. The 315 is a K frame and the other two are L frames. Here's a good article by Shooting Times that covers the whole Night Guard series. That XL Hunter is a joy to shoot and the sight system on all of them is awesome.
S&W Unleashes The Night Guards

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Now I have to keep my eyes peeled for one of those 386. such a nice looking piece. Rarely see any variety of nightguards on gunbroker anymore though

Wished I bought one when I could have.

Gun Broker has one out of Dallas for $1400. I don't want one that bad.

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Smith, and Wesson, and Me.

I've only seen the NGs come with Pachmayr Compacts on them.

My Compacts didn't line up right on my 396NG's backstrap so I put a set of factory grips, off another revolver, on for awhile.

Now it has Pachmayr Diamond Pros.

Have you checked your throats? These models tend to run on the tight side. Mine were .4285" so I opened them up with a Manson Reamer.

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With Pachmayr Compacts
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My compact 44 Trifecta
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I guess my trifecta would be a 296, a 396 and a 696. I need to take a picture

I still need the 696. I have the 296 Ti the 396 Mtn Lite and now the 396 NG.

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Holy cow I need that 386 hunter in my life. I have been doing some auction searching and they are mythical unicorns at this point....wow. is that gun cut for moon clips?

If you find two of those 396 NGs, buy em both and I'll take one off your hands.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

Attached Images

	696-1.jpg (216.1 KB, 27 views)
	S&W 396.jpg (127.2 KB, 27 views)
	296.jpg (63.5 KB, 28 views)

My search on this forum has found a 386 NG that also came with the S&W proprietary grips. I'd contact the poster but he hasn't posted since 2018.

I have a feeling that late production 396 NG probably got these grips. I'm going to leave them on it. My other two lightweight L-frames have their OE grips - an Uncle Mikes and a Hogue Bantam.

Anyone know production figures on the Night Guards? This one has a DCL serial prefix.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

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Hearsay...A member of another forum said he called S&W and they told him only 576 model 315 .38 Special K frame Night Guards were made. No info on other model production numbers.

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I had my eye on the 386 Hunter. I saw a test in a magazine that said they could not zero it. I still wanted it but just missed it


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mine is DCP27xx & was made in Aug-2008.

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