N Frame grips

[Mike in SC]

I am putting together a "N" SB frame 2" snubbie and looking for suggestions on wood grips. My hands are small to medium-sized, so S&W OEM style Target grips are large on me. I am very familiar w/ Hogue's rubber finger grooves but I am also interested in Ahrend's.

I am considering,

1- Hogue smooth Kingwood finger grooves

2- Ahrends retro combat SB w/ grooves in Cordia wood.

3- Ahrends SB finger groove in Cordia wood.

Any input?

Mike

 

[nebmike]

I really like the Hogue single-finger-groove 'compact' verson that I put on my new 627. I decided to reshape and refinish them just because the ridge on the finger groove didnt quite fit me right.

I've got small hands also, and while I really like their rubber Monogrip with the three finger grooves, none of the wood versions I've ever held actualy felt like it fit me the same (probably just because of the hard vs soft), so thats why I went with the single finger model.

 

[WHO CARES]

I find the factory grips a little on the large size as well and have settled on the Ahrends Tactical with the finger grooves for my longer barreled guns and the same grip without the finger grooves for my shorter (4") barreled guns. I find that the finger grooves tend to make you grip the gun the same each time and they say that promotes more accurate shooting! Ahrends are quick delivery and priced resonably too!

Ward

 

[J.P.60]

I have a S&W Night Guard .45acp snub and have just ordered a set of Ahrends Retro Banana stocks in Cordia. For my S&W 22-4 Thunder Ranch .45acp, I have ordered the Square Butt Smooth combat grips. They are coming to me without any finish material (Tung Oil, etc.) and then going to WV for carving. I love Ahrends wood grips and highly recommend them. Personally, however, I do not like finger grooves as "generic" groove patterns do not work for me. I have long thin fingers and I'm told that those with "fat" fingers also don't get a good fit.

 

[Gunhacker]

On my 3" Lew Horton's I finally settled in with Hogue checkered finger groove wood grips. I didn't like the angular edges that Ahrend grips tend to have on the front/rear leading edges of their grips. I modified the Ahrends that came with my 629 by rounding off the edges and deeping the finger grooves, but that's just too much work to do each time I go with Ahrend. No knock on their quality, it's just the nature of the beast of being mass produced by a CNC machine.

I do have a set of the Ahrend retro combats on a round butt K-frame M19 snubbie, and I like those particular grips over the S&W combat grips.

I also found that smooth grips on a short barrel N-Frame, especially in a magnum caliber (one of my LH's is a .41 Mag) doesn't cut it too well when trying to keep a firm grip on the thing during recoil when your hand gets the least bit sweaty.

As long as you're putting the gun together as a project, have you given any thought to also making the grip frame into a round butt?

That would also help make the grip profile smaller.

 

[Mike in SC]

N frame grips

No, I don't want to modify the butt frame because I prefer the SB config. I thought that I was set on Finger grooves but i am starting to think about the hogue w/ top only or no grooves. Wish that I could actually try actual examples because it gets expensive via the mail.

 

[jonbondave]

I put Eagle classics on my 57-1. I really like them alot.

 

[northslope]

Here are a couple of pics of the Ahrends retro combats you mentioned:

...you might also check out the Nill square-butt combat grips; they look a little funny on a gun with a 4" barrel or shorter, but they are damn comfortable to shoot!

--Neill

 

[Mike in SC]

Grips

Thanks for responding w/ valuable input. Lots to consider.

 

[ol timer]

Here is a set of one-off N-frame square butt Ahrends in customer supplied lacewood. I recently found a set of factory presentation stocks so if you twist my arm, I'd consider parting with them. As new, never fired or carried.

 

[mkk41]

Ya might say I'm partial to Hogues!

 

[DFrame]

I put a set of Ahrends Thunder ranch style stocks on my model 21 and never looked back. They are superb.

 

[Mike in SC]

Grips

I'm leaning toward smooth Hogues in Kingwood w/o finger grooves. The grooves are never where I want them.

 

[samwood]

You might want to consider Spegel grips. They fit my small hands better than anything else on a SQ NFrame. The standard boot grips are like these but fit flush with the bottom of the frame.