Ahrends Round Combat vs Hogue Mono

[Sevenshooter]

Hi. I'm wondering about putting a set of Ahrends Retro Round Butt Combat grips on a 629-4 6.5" Classic.

Right now I have the wooden Hogue round to square Monogrip, which feels good in the hand, but has a big gap on the backstrap where the frame bends for the round butt. I can't adj. it out, as I have three other Monogrips which fit very well.

I like the look of the Ahrends, but look like I'd be giving up a good bit of "palm" gripping area going with the round butt grip.
Can somebody let me know if the grip is as good on both style grips or is one a "better" grip feel than the other.

I know this is probably a Ford vs Chevy type of thing with people having their favorites, but I am not slighting either gripmaker, both are fine looking grips, I'm thinking the round butt Ahrends would contour to the round butt frame on my 629 better than the Hogue. I'm only concerned about the grip area and some full house handloads that may occasionally go down the pipe.
Thanks for any help!!

 

[Wayne M]

Almost sounds as if you've got a set of standard square butt Hogue woods, I'd think the round to square conversion would look like the rubbers with the space filled in. Anyway, I like the rubber for actually shooting; any wood I'd buy would be for looking only, put 'em on after the range trip's done.

 

[madmikeb]

The first thing I do when I get a new Smith is install a set of Hogue smooth exotic wood grips. When Smith started manufacturing all revolvers with round butts I was unsure about whether to go with the conversion grips or the round butt grips so I tried an experiment. I would grip the gun with the barrel pointed at the ground, close my eyes and bring the gun up to shooting height. When I opened my eyes with the round butt grips the sights would be lined up and right on the money. With the square butt grips or the grips that convert the round butt to square butt the front sight would always be high and I would have to bring the end of the barrel down in order to align the sights. One drawback to the round butt grips though is that felt recoil seems to be higher with the round butts.

 

[Sevenshooter]

Thanks

The first thing I do when I get a new Smith is install a set of Hogue smooth exotic wood grips. When Smith started manufacturing all revolvers with round butts I was unsure about whether to go with the conversion grips or the round butt grips so I tried an experiment. I would grip the gun with the barrel pointed at the ground, close my eyes and bring the gun up to shooting height. When I opened my eyes with the round butt grips the sights would be lined up and right on the money. With the square butt grips or the grips that convert the round butt to square butt the front sight would always be high and I would have to bring the end of the barrel down in order to align the sights. One drawback to the round butt grips though is that felt recoil seems to be higher with the round butts.

Thats good stuff.

Thanks for posting... I don't mind recoil, I was just wondering about the way the gun felt holding the grip. Looks like the round butt grip doesn't have as much there to "fill" the bottom part of the palm of my hand.

I'm gonna have to find somebody who has one I guess and feel the difference before I order the round butt grip.

 

[madmikeb]

For me a smooth Hogue with fingergrooves is like grabbing a ball clay, they fit my hand really well and feel great!

 

[2hawk]

Just my .02:

I like Hogue for the way they look, and they way they feel in the hand. But I don't like them as much as my Ahrends for actually allowing me to control the gun in recoil. I'm using the fg combats, so the grips you're looking at would be a little different.

People's hands and the way they grip are different enough from person to person that it is really hard to get anything more than an idea of what to expect when asking about grips. The best thing to do is try them yourself, that's the only way to really know.

BTW, you might notice that in the classifieds for accessories, there is always a thriving market for grips. It's not for nothing some guys call them "shoes".

 

[WPWarhawk]

I snagged a set of Ahreand combats off EBAY, they were listed as K/L frame grips but are actually N frames, which works for me!

Here are the Ahrends installed on my 29-10 3"

With a set of non finger grooved Hogues that I previously had on this gun.

You can see that the Hogues are a bit longer

This view shows the length difference a little better

It's not quite as big a difference as these last two pics seem to imply, the angle of the grips isn't the same.

In these pics you can see what I don't like about the Ahrends, too many sharp edges. A little sandpaper and a refinish and they would be near perfect for the 3 inch N frame.

 

[pogo2]

Use Ahrends on 629

I've had the round butt Ahrends finger groove grips on my 629 Classic for a couple of years and like them very much. They seem to spread the recoil well when firing the gun. The finger grooves lock my hand onto the grips well without the use of checkering.