Just a rear view mirror reflection on S&W grips

[loc n load]

A shooting partner of mine who is in his 80's remarked a couple of weeks ago that he had some S&W stocks/grips that had come off from combat magnums back in the 70's and he was going to give them away.
He was shocked and not quite believing me when I told him he could sell them for $100 plus depending on the condition and wood. He was even more shocked when he learned that the box full of S A T's and unopened bags of cleaning rods, mops and brushes were going for $25 and up.
He turned all of them over to his SIL who has been selling the stuff onEbay for what I told them they would bring. They were both shocked at what they went for and how fast they went.

 

[AJ]

A shooting partner of mine who is in his 80's remarked a couple of weeks ago that he had some S&W stocks/grips that had come off from combat magnums back in the 70's and he was going to give them away.
He was shocked and not quite believing me when I told him he could sell them for $100 plus depending on the condition and wood. He was even more shocked when he learned that the box full of S A T's and unopened bags of cleaning rods, mops and brushes were going for $25 and up.
He turned all of them over to his SIL who has been selling the stuff onEbay for what I told them they would bring. They were both shocked at what they went for and how fast they went.

I have two rooms of "stuff" that is gun related. Have been trying to educate my Daughter and the Grandkids that not to sell it at a yard sale or to the local gun shop for pennies. Sell it on ebay or gunbroker or the like.

 

[StrawHat]

I have two rooms of "stuff" that is gun related. Have been trying to educate my Daughter and the Grandkids that not to sell it at a yard sale or to the local gun shop for pennies. Sell it on ebay or gunbroker or the like.

Better plan, do it yourself and give the envelope of cash to whomever you want.

Otherwise, probably going to be sold cheap.

Kevin

 

[AJ]

Better plan, do it yourself and give the envelope of cash to whomever you want.

Otherwise, probably going to be sold cheap.

Kevin

May do just that.

AJ

 

[loc n load]

I have started thinning my gun related "stuff" out. I sold three shoe boxes of "take off" Smith grips several years ago, my wife was flabbergasted. She admitted that she would have just tossed those boxes in the trash.

 

[AveragEd]

I always liked Smith & Wesson checkered target stocks and never changed them out for anything else. Today, I collect them and am amazed how their values rise and fall. The only "handgun" on which I ever changed grips prior to even leaving the gun shop was a T/C Contender Super 14. The shop owner told me I wouldn't like shooting it with the wood grip and forend so I took his word for it and bought the Pachmayr set.

Ed

 

[raljr1]

I like wood stocks and almost all of my smiths have them. I have never put a pair of rubber grips on my Smiths.

 

[jcelect]

Grips! ?

Way back when on the original Smith & Wesson forum on Yahoo Groups, I sold 2 sets of Combat N frame grips for $90.00. I thought I made a killing! Doubled my money! And then I got educated!
jcelect

 

[AJ]

Way back when on the original Smith & Wesson forum on Yahoo Groups, I sold 2 sets of Combat N frame grips for $90.00. I thought I made a killing! Doubled my money! And then I got educated!
jcelect

A couple of years ago a friend gave me a set of K frame combats for one of my revolvers. I was informed at the time that they were worth about $250. Tried to pay him for them and he said no. What are they worth nowadays?

 

[oink]

I always put rubber grips on my revolvers which were all used for duty or BU/OD. For duty use the wood grips just get all beat up. The rubbers just work better in diverse weather conditions. However, when I initially got my new 60 no dash I didn't get rubber right away. I don't remember why. Probably too fat for the guns purpose. I did get speedloaders for it but the grips weren't designed for it. A file and sandpaper fixed that.

 

[raljr1]

Picked these up at a show in Jacksonville a month or so ago for $80 for the pair. One K one N frame

Robert

 

[yeklop]

I remember those days. Many customers bought gun and rubber at the same time. Swapped 'em out right then and there, then just left them for the dealer to do whatever he wanted. Most every gun shop had a big box of factory stocks for sale dirt cheap.
This is also the reason you find many old revolvers without factory grips, but some aftermarket junk. I miss those days.

The odd one still does.

 

[CH4]

Yep, remember buying my first duty gun in 1984, a 4" 686 with combats, which were quickly replaced with Pachmayr Grippers. It was the first of many. Still scratching my head.

 

[rogerwnuss]

Don't understand the comments by some about the nasty rubber grips being better for recoil.....the wide cross section of the k and n frame targets divided the recoil over a larger area, making it more comfortable to shoot. My girlfriend in the late 70s preferred to shoot a friend's 4" m29 with his stout handloads over my 1911. All due to the wide target grips on the Smith

 

[StrawHat]

Don't understand the comments by some about the nasty rubber grips being better for recoil.....the wide cross section of the k and n frame targets divided the recoil over a larger area, making it more comfortable to shoot. My girlfriend in the late 70s preferred to shoot a friend's 4" m29 with his stout handloads over my 1911. All due to the wide target grips on the Smith

Roger,

Some think the rubber "cushions" the recoil. My objection to rubber grips was they could not be snugged to the frame to prevent shifting while firing. On my competition revolvers, I would get two separate but overlapping groups. Enough dispersion to keep me out of the top tier. Once I understood the problem, I switched back to wood!

Kevin

 

[eclayton]

I remember those days well; I dumped a lot of magnas over the years and never missed them a bit, except when I consider how much I could sell them for today on eBay. My only S&W revolver that I don't enjoy shooting is a Model 10 that still wears its magnas for sentimental reasons. More recently, I acquired a LNIB Ruger Security Six with beautiful walnut factory target grips. They looked so pretty that I took them to the range. I shot it once and remembered how much I dislike shooting a .357 revolver with wooden grips. I ordered Pachmayrs the next day with no regrets.

 

[AZretired]

Back in '78 I was issued a brand new M19 while in the Academy and I hated the stock target grips. So after graduation I bought a set of Pachmayr Presentation grips which I still have. Eventually I was able to trade in the 19 to the Armorer for a M 28 that I added a Tyler T to. When I moved on to another department I was issued a 686 that I added Pachmayr Grippers to and bought Presentations for my new 65-1. Been retired since 2006 but I still have all the Pachs as well as several sets of Magnas and targets. I never threw away anything!

 

[lppd4]

Common practice in my early days of law Enforcement. Had a brand new 66-2 and a 60. Took them home went to a local retailer and bought pachmayr grips for both of them. Luckily I put my factory grips in the Pachmayr box and held onto them for years. Unluckily I decided I don't need these old grips anymore, because I was very involved in 1911's at the time. Sold a few sets on the 1911 forum for a lot less than they were worth I'm sure. Since then I have checked with friends to see if they had their Original S&W grips. Many did and were willing to part with them. I offered to pay them and they turned the money down. Got 4 or 5 nice sets of grips that way. I now have extras in case somebody wants to unload that old S&W wearing pachmayr grips.

 

[mikeruns]

I do remember when gun stores and pawn shops had a box of assorted s&w and colt revolver grips for cheap and I do have several different s&w stocks in bags of other gun accessories...
It's funny I remember seeing the s&w round butt banana grips and finger groove combat grips for cheap too, sometimes in unopened plastic/cardboard packs and never cared to buy them even when seen cheap because they are not attractive to me then or now, just not to my liking at all but, they are the bee's knees to so many folks these days at a premium lol! To each his own.
Back in 1987, I bought my 1st new s&w, a 4" 686 with target stocks for a then new cost of $287 after boot camp graduation. I loved the grip of the k/L frame targets and shot it very well with that setup....my good friend was with me at a gun store browsing and it was my b-day, so he sneakily with good intentions, bought a pair of hogue finger grip very rubbery grips for my 686 thinking I would be super happy, I graciously put them on and they felt good shooting with them but, I soon swapped them out and he noticed right away and I told him I just liked to swap them back and forth, trying not to bruise his feelings of good intention or show lack of gratuitude but I just never warmed up to them and have always loved the classic look of the factory targets and of course the great grip...many years later, I have purchased a new 29 mtn gun that came with two sets of stocks, a crummy pair of digital cnc cut pair in wood with a crummily placed set of logos, and a set of hogues with s&w logos embossed or stamped in them-barf, I bought a couple different sets to fill my needs but the new gun stocks leave a lot to be desired! Cheers for vintage s&w stocks though!

 

[rogerwnuss]

Roger,

Some think the rubber "cushions" the recoil. My objection to rubber grips was they could not be snugged to the frame to prevent shifting while firing. On my competition revolvers, I would get two separate but overlapping groups. Enough dispersion to keep me out of the top tier. Once I understood the problem, I switched back to wood!

Kevin

Kevin, yeah. I don't understand it. If folks want to make the argument that rubber is eaaier to grip with sweaty hands, that's an argument we could have but I don't for one moment buy the idea that narrow assed rubber grips soften recoil. if anything they make it worse because they focus it on a narrow strip in one's palm plus they ugly as Eleanor Roosevelt