Did you ever fire your SBH with factory grips? For me, if you only replaced the Pachmayrs with factory grips you would have the best SA grip frame and grips for firing standard .44 magnum loads. A SBH slips down in my hand and rolls till its muzzle points almost straight up. Allowing the normal roll in recoil I feel no discomfort and am unaware of whether the trigger guard has the dragoon shape or the round Hunter grip frame trigger guard shape. I find a SBH more comfortable than any grip on a .44 magnum N frame. I used to be exceptionally good at firing tiny groups two handed off hand this way. Of course I didn’t give a hoot about fast repeat shots. The friction from your Pachymar's soft rubber and checkering obstructs a plow handle's normal roll in your hand.
About 1961 Ruger admitted their .44 magnums hurt too much an enlarged the BH grip frame into the SBH grip frame. Ruger extended the top horizontal part of the grip frame moving your hand back away from the trigger guard. Your Pachymars reposition your fingers back close to the trigger guard. Ruger also lengthened the bottom of the grip frame changing the BH’s two finger grip into a 3 finger grip. Firing a standard BH most people curl their little finger under the grip frame so it isn’t dangling out by itself. I read cowboys’ posts writing that they use the curled little finger to block their BH from rolling in their hand so they can shoot their powder puff loads fast. That sounds logical, but I don’t speed shoot with SAs. I prefer a Hunter grip frame with factory grips on BHs.
Colt’s Bisley grip frame and hammer were designed for rapid fire with powder puff loads in matches similar to NRA Conventional Pistol (Bullseye) matches. I’ve not owned a Bisley. A friend let me try his Bisley BH with .45 Colt cowboy loads and it did seem to be a good set up for firing them fast because it didn‘t roll in my hand. John Taffin writes Ruger’s Bisley is more comfortable firing magnums that a SBH. I can’t comment on that from experience, but I can suggest you try out your SBH as Bill Ruger intended it before dumping money into a Bisley. It may turn out that like a lot of experienced SA shooters, you prefer the SBH you already own.
About 1961 Ruger admitted their .44 magnums hurt too much an enlarged the BH grip frame into the SBH grip frame. Ruger extended the top horizontal part of the grip frame moving your hand back away from the trigger guard. Your Pachymars reposition your fingers back close to the trigger guard. Ruger also lengthened the bottom of the grip frame changing the BH’s two finger grip into a 3 finger grip. Firing a standard BH most people curl their little finger under the grip frame so it isn’t dangling out by itself. I read cowboys’ posts writing that they use the curled little finger to block their BH from rolling in their hand so they can shoot their powder puff loads fast. That sounds logical, but I don’t speed shoot with SAs. I prefer a Hunter grip frame with factory grips on BHs.
Colt’s Bisley grip frame and hammer were designed for rapid fire with powder puff loads in matches similar to NRA Conventional Pistol (Bullseye) matches. I’ve not owned a Bisley. A friend let me try his Bisley BH with .45 Colt cowboy loads and it did seem to be a good set up for firing them fast because it didn‘t roll in my hand. John Taffin writes Ruger’s Bisley is more comfortable firing magnums that a SBH. I can’t comment on that from experience, but I can suggest you try out your SBH as Bill Ruger intended it before dumping money into a Bisley. It may turn out that like a lot of experienced SA shooters, you prefer the SBH you already own.
