Shooting large bore revolvers: Rubber or wood?

Considerable experimentation and experience have proved to me that what several others have posted above is correct: it is fit
that counts, not material. If there is any advantage at all to using one material over another, it is very small.

As it happens, for my size of hand most of the best grips are made of
 
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All mine wear wood except my S&W 360PD. That little 13oz 357 may be the hardest hitting recoil of them all; which is the only reason it has full wrap around rubber.

I don't just think wood is prettier, I think rubber is ugly. It makes a gun look cheesy and cheap. If I need to, I wear the Walmart weight lifter gloves for shooting all day for several days in a row.

I just don't want to shoot ugly guns. I don't care how practical it is.


Prescut
 
Years ago I would shoot full house .44 Magnums with factory wood grips and not think much of it. Times change. X frame Hogue rubbers on my 629 make life much more pleasant for my aging hands.

Stu
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I have a personal distaste for the .44 Magnum, probably acquired during the time I owned a Lew Horton 3" M629. Anyway, I did fire six rounds through it with the original wood grips, laughed, and said I would never do that again, and proceeded to switch to the Pachmayrs that I acquired with that gun. MUCH BETTER!!!! Still, I never could warm up to that piece except when I loaded it with .44 Specials so I happily "sold" it to pay off a poker debt many moons ago.

Which brings me to my favorite .44 Magnum story.

On the revolver stage of the Texas concealed handgun instructor's exam, I guess it was 1999 or 2000, the young man next to me pulled out a nice looking 4" barreled .44 Magnum. Wooden, checkered stocks. And the 50 rounds he was prepared to shoot through it were in a factory original box of .44 Magnum cartridges. I was shocked. I asked him if he didn't have .44 Specials for the test. He told me he didn't need them, he'd be fine.

Young. Dumb. Central Texas law enforcement officer. Proud as a peacock! Tougher than nails; probably eats nails for breakfast.

"Good luck", says I!

He did pass the test. But at the end of the test his hands were blistered, bloodied, and quickly bandaged. He looked at me and I laughed and said, "Tolyaso!". He acknowledged that he would never do that again.

So, if you're going to shoot big bore handguns, rubber stocks are the answer.

I will note that in the posts above there are some interesting wooden stocks that might be a good answer, too, but they appear to specialized, customized stocks. With no experience using them I cannot judge. I would be happy to try, however, one round only, until I was sure. NOT the factory combat stocks. Those I know about! :rolleyes:
 
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I chose to go with both. If shooting my light "Cowboy" loads and for show and tell, I have the Altamont redwood grips on my Model 625-9 "Mountain Gun" in .45 Colt. When I'm going to be shooting the stiffer "defense" loads, I go with the original rubber grips.

S&W Model 625 "Mountain Gun" .45 Colt
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Thanks for looking at my "Mountain Gun."

God bless,
Birdgun
 
I bought the same Talo edition 3" 629-6 and found out the hard way the the pretty Altamonts were thumb shredders. It took forever for it to heal cause even though I changed over to rubber Hogues it would bust back open a week later when I went to the range again. A fellow shooter recommended wrapping it with masking tape while shooting and that was the ticket until it finally healed.
Now it's rubbers at the range while throwing lead. :cool:
 
People who actually work with a gun don't have to ask this question. They have rubber or some type of composite grip that will provide traction for wet or bloody hands. You just can't control a handgun with slippery grips in a pressure situation. Pressure situations sometimes happen outdoors in wet weather. At the very least, believe me when I tell you this, when you have to actually present your gun in a defensive situation, your hands will be sweating. My work guns have ugly, sticky, rubber grips. My BBQ, range, safe queens have nicely figured wood grips.
 
cmj8591 said:
People who actually work with a gun don't have to ask this question. They have rubber or some type of composite grip that will provide traction for wet or bloody hands. You just can't control a handgun with slippery grips in a pressure situation. Pressure situations sometimes happen outdoors in wet weather. At the very least, believe me when I tell you this, when you have to actually present your gun in a defensive situation, your hands will be sweating. My work guns have ugly, sticky, rubber grips. My BBQ, range, safe queens have nicely figured wood grips.
Click to expand...



Great points. As you've seen my entire revolver collection that I actually shoot (357 to 500) have rubbers.


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I wouldn't even think of going to a wood grip on a big bore magnum. Myself the other choice is if you like the wood look, and who doesn't, then I would suggest shooting the 44 spl instead of the magnum.

Unless you are around bear or large animal areas that could be a problem then I see no reason to be using the 44 magnum as my usual round of ammo. A 44 spl is capable of being a very good defensive carry round and it is much more fun with less punishment target shooting.

If you want the 44 magnum for a defensive round they carry it and practice occasionally to keep accuracy and familiarity. But for fun target and range shooting use the 44 spl. and keep the wood. I can shoot a box of a hundred with my Bull Dog 44 spl with rubber grips and not have any hand or wrist punishment.

Another thing to consider when it comes to using magnums for self defense.
I went to the 44 spl because the 357 was to dang loud and I didn't want to possibly lose 50% or more of my hearing in a defensive situation. The 44 magnum will probably have the same hearing damage as the 357 and much more than the 9mm. Shoot a 9mm or a 357 magnum or a 44 magnum once without hearing protection and I bet you will not want to do it again. They say you will not notice the big bang theory during a shooting but I bet you will notice you having to say to the cop "WHAT did you say".

I recently screwed up and shot a 9mm without hearing protection. It has been two weeks since then and I bet I have lost at least 25%, if not more, hearing in my left ear. I am left handed and it was a 4" semi auto. I will not screw up like that again. And no I don't want to be shooting magnum rounds for sure. I have had some hearing come back but I don't know if it will ever come back to what hearing I had in that ear.

Bottom line is do whatever trips your trigger with the most enjoyment.
 
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Some who have replied show me their 357s. I have no problem with wood on a 357. It's 44 and above that.


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The Hogue rubber grips for the S&W 500 Magnum will fit the round butt N frames and the round butt L frames. They provide rubber behind the back strap. The Hogue rubber grips initially sold for the L and N frames had no rubber behind the back strap. Long live the 500 Magnum grips.

My personal philosophy is that form should follow function. If it is a shooter it deserves rubber, if it is for show it deserves wood.
 
CDR_Glock said:
I want to be able to control my revolver without feeling it smack me in the palm. I thought I could handle hunting loads in my 629 3" Deluxe but wood grips gave me a beat down. After two cylinders of 240 grains I had to take a break. I also want to be able to use hot Buffalo Bore 44 Magnum cartridges. This wood has to go.

I had to switch to Hogue Rubber grips.[emoji23]

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How many of you prefer rubber over wood in your large bore revolvers?

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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
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I have the exact same gun that you do and I can tell you that after about 50 rounds the inside of my thumb was shredded and bleeding form those Altamont grips. Nothing but rubber for me, on that little monster at least, from now on.;)
 
75Vette said:
I bought the same Talo edition 3" 629-6 and found out the hard way the the pretty Altamonts were thumb shredders. It took forever for it to heal cause even though I changed over to rubber Hogues it would bust back open a week later when I went to the range again. A fellow shooter recommended wrapping it with masking tape while shooting and that was the ticket until it finally healed.
Now it's rubbers at the range while throwing lead. :cool:
Click to expand...

I keep gauze tape with me. If it's warm enough to make my hands sweat and thus soften, I thoroughly wrap that first that knuckle in tape. Sounds strange but sometimes I have to get my brass empty to try a new loads, and going home with loaded ammo simply isn't constructive. I need more brass.....
 
I like a rubber grip on a full-throttle .44 Mag, but for .45 ACP, .44 Special or below, wood is just fine, and looks mo'betta' IMHO.
I've never fired any of the monsters (Casull, .460, .475, .500, etc.) Had a .35 Rem. Contender briefly - it got traded right soon for a .30-30.

Larry
 
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All of the revolvers I have came with either Pachmayrs or Hogues on them, and neither one of them fit my hand. Pachmayrs are actually bad enough I can't shoot accurately with them. Too skinny and long for my hands.

Ahrends targets work pretty good, but I'm thinking about getting a set of Herretts made.

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Just have regular targets on my 28. Might try some Coke replicas on it.

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I had the same problems with my 3" 629. The only good thing about having the -2E with underlug barrel and unfluted cylinder is the extra weight for recoil. Plus mine is magna-ported.

Still, wood stings the bjeezus out of my hands. I have the Ahrends RB combat grips on it. Just glad I didn't pay factory combat money for originals. I find the rubber Pachs it came with much more comfortable for shooting, but they induce rusting as I already had to clean surface freckling once.

Of course, just load up 44spl or light loads in magnum brass and that will make it a more enjoyable range toy. I haven't done this yet but plan on it. Full power magnums are for hiking and camping.
 
This old 3 screw Blackhawk bellows out a .41 magnum round that rolls the gun up in the air and thumps the hooey out of my knuckle, when wearing the factory wood grips. Boy do they look nice on there, but with full power .41 magnum loads, it plain ole hurts my hand.

Rather than sell it, or leave it in the safe, I gave in and bought a set of Hogue rubber grips for it. It's like shooting a different gun altogether. They are too ugly for me to photograph on the gun, I mean butt ugly, but they are allowing me to continue shoot and hunt with it. So I'll keep them on the gun, unless the camera is coming out. :eek:
 

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Wood works better for me

My 29-10 came with checkered Altamonts. Way too thin and angular to be comfortable, for me. These S&W Presentation grips fill my hand much better. With the longer barrel and grips that fit, I've put 100 rounds of 240gr at 1200fps down range, in one session. My 57 year-old right hand was tired, but not sore.
The 629-6 came with a rubber Hogue mono grip. It was comfortable, at first. Then, my thumb started to scream. The rubber leaves the back strap more exposed. I also feel that the rubber "gives" and lets the metal pound my palm.
Both the factory Presentation grips and the Hogue pau ferro wood monogrip sit "proud" to the metal. This helps spread out the impact. I wasn't able to shoot the Altamonts or the rubber mono for more than a couple of cylinders.
 

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