Eagle Heritage Grips......

[Gearhead Jim]

The last time I fired a K-frame with original Target Grips was many years ago. What I remember most is that they were too big, like holding a basketball with one hand. To me, they also looked too big, like the grips were bigger than the gun should have. I have a 66-6 bought used with the rubber Uncle Mike's round-to-square conversion grips, ugly as sin but quite comfortable.

Last year I indulged my taste for blued steel by buying a nice 18-3 and new 19-9 ("Classic").

The 18-3 had Magnas, I added a Pachmayr grip adapter and they felt good but, to my eye, looked "bubba" instead of "classic cop".
The 19-9 came with the current version of factory Target grips, apparently made by Altamont. They looked ok but were not comfortable.

Altamont also makes a rendition of the classic "Cokes" but they've been unavailable for many months.

So I finally bought two sets of the Eagle Heritage grips in walnut, round-to-square for the 19-9 and square for the 18-3. They are also a target Coke design and look much like what came on the 19-9 but feel better. Here's my comments-

Uncle Mike's rubber: Very comfortable. Very Ugly. Very had to find- discontinued. Finger grips that I can live with but prefer not.

New factory S&W (Altamont?): Perfect workmanship and fit to gun, look good.
But- Checkering not very grippy. Shiny finish feels slippery and looks plastic. Not comfortable for me- too thin at top and too thick at the bottom. Worst of all, the wood right behind the trigger guard has no "hook" shape but just angles upward, so recoil forces my hand too high and middle finger too far forward.

Eagle Heritage: A modest but real Coke shape feels good. Thicker at the top and thinner at the bottom than factory, feels good. Being slightly smaller in thickness and front-to-back also feels better. The slight downward hook in the wood behind the trigger guard is comfortable and keeps my hand in position during recoil. Sharp checkering and a matte finish make for a good hold. About 3/16" shorter in length, which feels ok for me and looks slightly better to my eye.
But- Workmanship and fit to gun not as good, can shift slightly on the gun. No cutout for speed loader (they mention that on website). The border on the 19-9 checkering is nice and thin but on the 18-3 it's like the hog trough that someone complained about on older Target grips. Finish has a slightly "needs one more coat" look on both sets, they claim the wood has no stain or varnish, just wood wax. The 19 grips have some visible grain/color and look nice on a "vintage" gun. The 18 grips have no visible grain/color on the left side and are a uniform dark brown that's not pretty, right side has some barely noticeable differences.

Overall, the Eagle grips are better for me than the current factory Target grips. Worth $200+ per gun? That's up to you, and how you feel about whatever grips are currently on your gun. The Altamont Coke Bottle Target grips might be cheaper (no price on the website). Better or worse? Can't tell without a set to handle.

The top gun is the stainless 66 with the S&W factory (Altamont?) Target grips that came on the 19-9.
The middle gun is the new 19-9 with the Eagle Heritage grips.
The bottom gun is the 18-3 also with the Eagle Heritage grips.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

Here's a pic from the rear of the grips. You can see how the Eagle grips have a Coke shape, the S&W/Altamont are simply tapered from top to bottom which for me is too narrow at the top and too wide at the bottom.
YMMV.

 

[WR Moore]

I just got the pair of N frame SB Heritage smooth walnut grips I ordered. Haven't fit them to the gun yet, but they feel good. Front strap is more vertical than factory stocks, which is good. But............at the top, each panel is 0.040 in thinner than a pair of factory targets. I'd kinda like to have that extra meat, but we'll see how it feels when I shoot it. Not real sure I'd like these on my model 29.

Fitment took some futzing with the internal pieces just behind the trigger guard. A less tight fit to the frame in that area wouldn't have hurt anything. Needed a wee trim (couple of thousandths) to get both halves to be smooth on the outside at the front, will call them to find out what finish they used so I can match color. No big deal.

Good figure on the stocks, very good fit to the hand.

Additional information on finish: the wood used can affect what they use as a finish, as can time. My recent (just made) walnut stocks are finished with linseed oil and then polished. They could have used a few more coats of oil, but I'm doing that myself. Still worth the money.

I also passed on that they needed a bit more internal relief on the wood behind the trigger guard.