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View Poll Results: Which kind of grip shape do you prefer?

Voters
218. You may not vote on this poll
  • Round Butt

    66 30.28%
  • Square Butt

    65 29.82%
  • Either one is fine.

    53 24.31%
  • I prefer a particular shape on a particular frame.

    28 12.84%
  • All S&W's feel awkward.

    6 2.75%
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Thread: Round Butt Vs. Square Butt S&W's

  1. #21
    Boolit Master
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    ARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!. The lew horton model 24 with the 3" bbl is around a $800 dollar gun. And yes I have one. Love the RB. However you can get RB to SB grips if the RB doesn't perform. Check out the S&W forum Last m24 3"bb LH went for $800. The post may or may not be still up. They ask 800 and they get it. "N" frames rule. Frank

  2. #22
    In Remembrance


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    Square butt without any doubt.Robert

  3. #23
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by MasS&W View Post
    I have rather large hands, I find the big frame revolvers fit me better in round butt. Square butt .44s flip skyward way too quickly for my comfort.
    I agree!
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  4. #24
    Boolit Buddy
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shuz View Post
    I agree!
    That being said, nobody can argue what looks better. Square Butt.

  5. #25
    Boolit Master ColColt's Avatar
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    I have a model 66-4 with a round butt and a 15-3 with the square butt...doesn't matter to me. They both feel right with good grips on either however, I prefer the stock magna grips on the model 15.
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  6. #26
    Boolit Master
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    Apologies to anyone who likes them.....but,


    the square butt design has got to be the most stupid shape ever conceived - for something to be gripped by the human hand. Lousy ergonomics......just lousy. The round butt design is better, not perfect......but better.

  7. #27
    Boolit Master
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    I thought I liked the round butt on "N" frames. Then I modified my revolver and used it. Took me a couple of years, okay maybe a decade, of carrying before I admitted I prefer the square butt on my "N" frames. Now, as to grips, I prefer the wood grips as sold by S&W. Lots of wood there and enough so I can take a rasp and shape it the way it needs to be to fit my hand. I usually end up with about half of the wood removed.
    Last edited by StrawHat; 06-07-2012 at 10:00 AM.
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  8. #28
    Boolit Grand Master leftiye's Avatar
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    The first time I got aholt on a round butt N frame S&W I asked my friend who was there with me "Why did they ever make the square butt frames?" My guess is that it is "tradition" and that S&W was just too stodgy to change. We'll have to agree to feel differently about S&W grips Strawhat, Ah cain't stand any of S&W's factory wood. Homemade jobs with the flare on the back of the butt ground off. Pity Pachmayr doesn't make a true round butt decelerator for the N frame. That would be my choice. Their decelerator/grippers for the round butt look just like the ones for the square frame revolters (which ain't really bad).
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  9. #29
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by GOPHER SLAYER View Post
    Groo, the S&W 625 my friend bought also has a stub for a grip frame. The grips feel good to me but then, I have rather small hands. My friend bought a set of rubber grips for the pistol before he left the store. Nothing takes out the sting of stiff recoil like rubber.
    I have never seen that variant. I always thought Ruger had the right idea with this and now Smith is apparently coming around.

  10. #30
    Boolit Buddy armed_partisan's Avatar
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    I can't believe that most people seem to prefer round butt. Nothing fits my hand better than a square butt N frame with Magna stocks. Nothing. Semi or Revo. I HATE round to square grips worse than I hate either design by itself. I even designed a new grip on CAD/CAM software and printed it out, then tried to get a couple companies to make it, because nobody makes a TRUE round to square design, just big, goofy, finger groove and space filling designs with palm swells... ugh! I hate 'em.
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  11. #31
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    Yes, I have both and I prefer the round butt. I have larger, short fingered hands. They fit me better. My M28 wears huge maple grips that I really need to reduce in size, it's a bear to shoot well because they are so large. My M-24 Lew Horton feels far better to me with it's round butt. If I had oversize hands and long fingers I might feel differently.

    To each their own. I'll tell ya this much, I never, ever liked the SA grips that everyone raves about. The Colt's and Rugers and built exactly backwards IMO.

  12. #32
    Boolit Master pdawg_shooter's Avatar
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    I have Hogue monogrips on all mine. Never could understand why the factory made their grips the biggest where your hand is the smallest.
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  13. #33
    Boolit Master
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    How about a picture? Some round, some square. Thanks. I'm a visual guy.

  14. #34
    Boolit Grand Master

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    I like my J-Frames with round butts, K & L with square butts. Damn few square butt J-Frames or round butt big frames when I was buying my S&W's so can't say for sure I'd make the same choice today.
    Quite fond of a Uberti 45 Colt Bird's Head, just bought a BP frame Cattleman so this should be interesting. I think our hands will accomodate anything our eyes will tolerate.
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  15. #35
    Boolit Buddy
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    I think that an aspect we may be overlooking is that round butts are FAR easier to conceal, without that big pointy butt sticking out of the back of our shirts.

  16. #36
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by dualsport View Post
    How about a picture? Some round, some square. Thanks. I'm a visual guy.
    Here is a shot of four different grips that fit the S&W N frame.




    In this photo, the grips on the left are ones I make from the square grips that come from the factory.



    As you can see, they take up a lot less profile and fit my hand better. I do not have a photo from the rear but they are thicker towards my thumb and thinner by the pinkie. I have whittled these grips for K, L, and N frame revolvers. They are very comfortable to use and, in my mind, much better than factory.
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  17. #37
    Boolit Master
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    "I think our hands will accomodate anything our eyes will tolerate". TxGunNut, that is one of the best, most succinct statements I have read for quite some time. I love it....and it's more than likely correct!!!

    When I voted, I voted either one. After reading the posts and recalling the days long ago when I shot a lot of big bore S & W handguns I believe I need to change my vote to round butt. I particularly don't like the factory Magna grips for shooting but they sure look impressive. I do like the Hogues on my 696.
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  18. #38
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by MasS&W View Post
    I think that an aspect we may be overlooking is that round butts are FAR easier to conceal, without that big pointy butt sticking out of the back of our shirts.
    For concealment round butts are best but I have other uses for my S&W's as well. I used Pachmayr Grippers for duty and comp use on SB K & L frames to good effect for years, still prefer them for serious target work. They are pretty concealable with the right shirt and holster, almost as good as a RB gun. My only cc S&W revolvers these days are a 60 and a 37 (both RB's) and they pocket carry quite well, doubt SB versions would work very well for that.
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  19. #39
    Boolit Grand Master

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    "I think our hands will accomodate anything our eyes will tolerate". TxGunNut, that is one of the best, most succinct statements I have read for quite some time. I love it....and it's more than likely correct!!!-sharps4590

    Thanks. To clarify/elaborate our hands will adapt to a myriad of reasonable grip shapes. Feel, pointabilty and recoil are always partly subjective. I mistakenly fired some "Ruger Only!" loads in a Bird's Head Uberti and it handled them quite well even tho I fired them one-handed. If we like the pistol/revolver and the grips it's wearing our hands (and minds) will make them work.
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    Some of my favorite recipes start out with a handful of depleted counterbalance devices.

  20. #40
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Thanks, Jerry. Was hoping this would become an illustrated thread.
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check