S&W's New Synthetic Grips?

[Calliope]

I think the Pachmayr Grippers are the least ugly of the rubber finger groove grips, at least that's what I tell myself every time I take my gun to the range.

 

[off road]

if the grip covers the backstrap -- guys and gals with smaller hands (me included) have a harder time pointing the gun and pulling the trigger in a controlled double action.

I have the same problem myself. The DA trigger pull on my NG is the absolute worst I have ever had in any gun I have ever owned (no time yet to get it worked on). Add to that, that the reach to the trigger is made a bit to long by the extra rubber over the backstrap.

For now, I am very practiced at cocking the hammer with my off hand, so it's not a serious issue for now. The SA trigger is sweet, but this is a bear country defense gun, so a slick double action trigger pull is my ultimate goal. You can bet that I won't be giving up the Pachmayr Compaqs for anything else, though.

 

[Flip]

Had a shooter with a set on a new 642, in a class I taught last week. Found out that they wouldn't allow the use of his HKS speedloaders...

 

[spearcrow]

Can't attest to the functionality of the new ones, but I like the look of them better than the older ones. The old ones were a really flat black color with deep finger grooves, and I like the new finish and look. Might hate them if I ever tried em, but I am not a rubber guy either.

 

[chief1911]

It looks like the new grip has less rubber behind the trigger guard. Might help getting a higher grip. I think I would like that.

 

[TSQUARED]

I would bet it's an economy move by S&W. I recently purchsed a 627 PC in 38 Super which had the most awful wooden stocks imaginable, cerytainly not the Hogue grips furnished on the previous run. I'll bet they are Chinese imports.

 

[tdan]

Those new grips look like an Ahrends design grip in rubber. This is not the first time that Smith has gone this route. Remember the Spegel designed Uncle Mike's grips?! Looks like Hogue may have lost out to a lower bid. The Hogue rubber combats fit my medium sized hand fairly well. Better yet are the Hogue wood grips with the top groove only. I get a higher/better grip on the gun with those. I'll keep an eye out for these newer rubber grips in my local shop, as to how they fit me.

 

[leftnose]

My 686 has the Hogues and I can't stand them. Like others, the groves don't line up with my fingers. As with others, I have big hands and hold high with thumbs forward.

I've held the new grips but haven't shot them. For me, they're better than the Hogues but not perfect. For my stainless guns, I don't really care what the grips look like. The whole gun is a tool for me. My blued guns, on the other hand, get nice wood grips.

If I could find a grip just like a Hogue but without any grooves, I'd be in heaven. Can someone point me in the direction of something like this?

 

[team sidewinder]

I love these new grips on my 629-6 and would have put rubber grips on if it had wood grips anyway which saved me some $$$. This is my bear defense gun also and I want to be able to get a good grip on the gun in a hurry even if my hands are wet from sweat/rain/or blood running down my arm from a bear bite. My hands are small and even with the covered backstrap I have a good trigger reach which is the best of both worlds for me. If I were to really nit-pick these grips the only thing I don't like is the rubber grip does kind of hang up on your clothing/sleeve when you swing your arm while walking. I toyed with the idea of getting the rubber 500 X-frame grips but after info gathered here I think they might be too big for me. These factory grips with covered backstrap which helps tame recoil, good trigger reach, the material and size just work well for me. If it were for looks I would go with wood grips but it isn't for the " Look " I have this gun for.

 

[stantheman86]

I have noticed them, a pic of a new 64-8 from a local gun dealer shows the gun with these new grips instead of the Uncle Mikes.

I like the Uncle Mikes, I hope they don't stop making them for the K-frame RB.

It seems S&W wants to "standardize" grips for more cost efficiency, i.e. not have to deal with Uncle Mikes for the K frames, Hogues for the L frames, etc. Now, since the K-L-X frame share the same RB grip frame, S&W can just use the same grip for all of them. The N's will probably just have a similiar grip. I wouldn't be surprised if, in coming years, the N frame grip is changed to a K frame RB size.

 

[Jitterbug]

I bought my new 629-6 last summer during the transition from the Houge to the new style, mine has the new style and before firing it, I thought I'd replace them with the Houges since I get a much better DA grip and trigger reach with them.

After running 600+ rounds, and half of them being heavy loads, I'm now sticking with the new style for the time being.

Covering the backstrap makes trigger reach in DA more of a challenge for my small hands but I've learned to adapt, and I appreciate the recoil absorption of the new style with heavy loads.

In SA mode it's not an issue.

So for now the new style with a heavy load is a win for me.

 

[mag318]

My 632 came with the new grips which I quickly replaced with a set of Uncle Mikes boot grips.

 

[TAROMAN]

Anybody want to sell theirs?

I want one of the new style (N-RB) for my 625-3.
Anybody have a set they want to get rid of?
PM me...

 

[cjtraining]

Both are truely butt ugly, IMHO. Of the two, I like the newer one best.

 

[Packard]

I wonder if it has anything to do with the durometer of the rubber (hardness/softness). If they are using a softer rubber then perhaps the finger ridges were too weak. I've never found that the finger indents do that much for me.

The new one seems to undercut the trigger guard a bit more putting your hand higher relative to the bore axis.

The cost of these grips is directly related to the weight of the rubber. So unless the new grips weigh a lot less, then I would think that they made the change for other reasons.

Someone could query S & W directly at their site and find out their take on this.

As for ugly. I had a 629 with a round butt and 2-1/2" barrel back in the 1980s. The beautiful wood grips caused a bone bruise on the ball of my thumb that took 6 months to heal. The "ugly" rubber grips did not. So sometimes "ugly" is beautiful.

 

[stantheman86]

I can tolerate rubber grips on a stainless revolver.

But, it almost seems like S&W is just putting the cheapest grips they can find on the guns and leaving it to the owner to change them out if they want. Which is fine with me, there are SO many options out there for S&W grips, it doesn't really matter.

A Pachmayr Presentation grip fits just fine on a K and L RB grip frame....

 

[Jhawk412]

Had a shooter with a set on a new 642, in a class I taught last week. Found out that they wouldn't allow the use of his HKS speedloaders...

I had the same problem on a new 642 J-frame. I tried Safariland and HKS speedloaders on it and neither would work with the factory grips. I have since put a LG-405 CrimsonTrace laser on the little gun and the speedloaders work fine.

 

[MoPoPo]

I did not like the new style grips from the get-go/ I put a set of hogue bantams on my 442 and they feel much better. The safariland speedloader that I use works fine also.

 

[retrotrout]

Can someone give me the size of the Allen wrench that will handle the screw in those rubber S&W grips? I've ordered new wood grips for my 642, but none of my keys fits. (My collection isn't that big, but I don't want to damage the screw)

 

[team sidewinder]

retrotrout. The hex size is 3/32nds.

I would also add to my previous post is that my love for the new S&W synthetic grips is that besides fitting my hand well the reduced finger grooves are just right as some grips finger grooves are too deep and just don't fit my that well. As much as I would like to get some new/different grips for my 629 I just don't think any other grips are going to fit me better than these factory grips.