357-RevolverGuy
Member
Thought I'd share a few thoughts on the Altamont K/L Checkered Boot Grips I recently ordered. I never realized how hard it would be to find good grips for the round butt 686 (3" barrel) and now having gone through 7 different grip setups, this one can be added to my list of disappointments.
I decided to order them in Silver/Black with the S&W medallions. Total was $67 with shipping. When I put them on they looked great. The fit was perfect. They give my 686 a very classic and yet modern look. When I inspected and ran my fingers over them I was pleased with how they appeared. I was pretty happy at first.
Now what I'm going to describe as best as I can with the pictures below is what I consider to be a horrible design flaw on these grips. I'm convinced that whoever was responsible for designing the initial shape overlooked a lot of important details.
These grips look great and will conceal well, but I would warn anyone to be careful about using them for self defense purposes. As your fingers get a hold of the boot grips you will realize that your pinky finger will not have room to properly get a good hold, and when you do comfortably get a hold you will realize that in order to do so you have to grip it at a lower (backstrap) profile.
I don't even have large hands. I consider myself to have small/medium hands and had a lot of trouble finding the sweet spot on these grips. Decided to test them out for a few days and after countless hours practice with unholstering I found that it took extra seconds to properly grip when compared to other grips I have tried. I also found the finish on these laminate grips are slippery. A few times (while unholstering quickly) I found myself almost dropping the revolver due to the design.
There is also an area of the grip where the thumb rests in which they are designed to curve outward and protrude a little. This is also another design flaw. I found that I had to look down at my palms almost every time in order to make sure I was properly holding these grips correctly. I couldn't imagine being under stress and dealing with that.
After taking to the range this weekend, I finally realized the only way I was able to shoot my 686 with a good enough grip (so that it didn't flinch or fly out of my palm) was to squeeze all my fingers into that area that only has 2 grooves. This allowed me to properly get a higher profile and choke up on the back of the revolver (which gave me better control), but at the cost of dealing with the most uncomfortable hold.
My advice is if anyone is interested in getting these grips, use them for display purposes or personal range time only. I was hoping I could use them for every day carry, since I conceal carry this revolver and this set does conceal well enough. But after practice I would feel concerned about being put in a situation where I would have to unholster quickly and not have the right hold.
I'm going to go back to what I had before which were walnut magnas with silver Tyler-T grip adapter.
Hope this report helps in case you were looking at a pair. Not to say Altamont doesn't make good grips. I had a set of Targets I got from them which I really liked, and also ordered some grips they have for the GP100 which were good. Just can't recommend these boots for conceal carry.
I decided to order them in Silver/Black with the S&W medallions. Total was $67 with shipping. When I put them on they looked great. The fit was perfect. They give my 686 a very classic and yet modern look. When I inspected and ran my fingers over them I was pleased with how they appeared. I was pretty happy at first.
Now what I'm going to describe as best as I can with the pictures below is what I consider to be a horrible design flaw on these grips. I'm convinced that whoever was responsible for designing the initial shape overlooked a lot of important details.
These grips look great and will conceal well, but I would warn anyone to be careful about using them for self defense purposes. As your fingers get a hold of the boot grips you will realize that your pinky finger will not have room to properly get a good hold, and when you do comfortably get a hold you will realize that in order to do so you have to grip it at a lower (backstrap) profile.
I don't even have large hands. I consider myself to have small/medium hands and had a lot of trouble finding the sweet spot on these grips. Decided to test them out for a few days and after countless hours practice with unholstering I found that it took extra seconds to properly grip when compared to other grips I have tried. I also found the finish on these laminate grips are slippery. A few times (while unholstering quickly) I found myself almost dropping the revolver due to the design.
There is also an area of the grip where the thumb rests in which they are designed to curve outward and protrude a little. This is also another design flaw. I found that I had to look down at my palms almost every time in order to make sure I was properly holding these grips correctly. I couldn't imagine being under stress and dealing with that.
After taking to the range this weekend, I finally realized the only way I was able to shoot my 686 with a good enough grip (so that it didn't flinch or fly out of my palm) was to squeeze all my fingers into that area that only has 2 grooves. This allowed me to properly get a higher profile and choke up on the back of the revolver (which gave me better control), but at the cost of dealing with the most uncomfortable hold.
My advice is if anyone is interested in getting these grips, use them for display purposes or personal range time only. I was hoping I could use them for every day carry, since I conceal carry this revolver and this set does conceal well enough. But after practice I would feel concerned about being put in a situation where I would have to unholster quickly and not have the right hold.
I'm going to go back to what I had before which were walnut magnas with silver Tyler-T grip adapter.
Hope this report helps in case you were looking at a pair. Not to say Altamont doesn't make good grips. I had a set of Targets I got from them which I really liked, and also ordered some grips they have for the GP100 which were good. Just can't recommend these boots for conceal carry.
