Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns S&W K frame grips, what's your favorite for a 19?

The 1955 Target Model's grips would be hard to beat.

Well sorry, but I really dislike the factory "target stocks", they're horrible for ergonomics; look great, but feel horrible. Especially the later ones with the "speedloader cut". The early one's were actually very good as they were designed by Walter Roper. But as time went by, they became fatter and fatter at the bottom, the coke bottle shape went away, and the space behind the trigger got farther and farther back, until they were left with an ergonomic abomination that resembled the original grips only in a two dimensional magazine ad. The later guns with the Hogue grips are ergonomically vastly superior for those who like to shoot vs. just wipe down and salivate over their gun.

Well, the whole thing is an intellectual exercise now, as I have already sold off the gun. My daughter was very disppointed that I didn't bring home a 9mm, which is what I told her I was setting out to do. So I found a Beretta 92 and made a swap, and ended up with some cash in my pocket. Coupled that cash with a little more I made at the gun show, and I now have a late model commerical Mauser HSc in .32 ACP. This too will be for the kids as they really love the .32 ACP cartridge. I'll do my best to pick up a .380 barrel so it can do double duty as a defense gun.

general:
what do i have to do to be named in your will?

Herrett's Shooting Star work well on my 4" M19.

Pachmayer rubber grips on my 6" M19.

Roper thumb rest on the K-38, diamond targets on the K22.

The eagle grips look like they will work too!

Never liked any kind of "target" grips. Much prefer the minimal Magna style.....but in Stag or Ivory!!!

Hello Kevin
I feel compelled to make a couple of corrections here to your response on Factory S&W Target stock's...You are Partially right here in Mentioning the Gagne name as being a Player in the Birth of the S&W Target stocks But Actually it was "Albert Gagne" the Son of Matheis Gage, who was responsible for the Birth of the Coke Profile Target stock's that first appeared on the Pre-29's in 1956 time span. Albert went to work for S&W upon his Father's retirement from making custom Shooting stock's for Walter Roper. Albert served his apprenticeship in stock making under his Father Matheis Gagne's watchful eye in the small Two Car Garage they worked out of in Upper New England supplying Walter Roper with their custom shooting stock's for retails sales. Later on when he went to work for S&W Albert actually shot on the S&W Target shooting Team , and he worked first hand as a design developer in the stock making department. He used his Father's idea of a More less Pronounced gentle Palm swell in those Coke Profile stocks and they had a wider coverage of checkering then we saw used later.



The First Factory S&W Target stock's showed up on the K-Frame revolver's. I suspect due to the stronger demand for them on the K-22's and K-32's & K-38's used in Competition shooting events, and they showed up in January 1950 @ $5.00 a Pair { these were the two Piece grips with a steel plate that was set against the revolvers grip frame sides, and are Very Rare} Regular K Frame target grips without the steel plate's were offered in 1952, while the N frame target stock's came out in January 1955 @ $7.00 a Pair and the Select wood target stocks both K & N frames offered in 1956 being made from select Walnut, American Rosewood and a New wood used now at S&W Being A Brazilian Rosewood called Gancalo-Alves which ranged in color from a very Light blonde color wood to a Purple color darker looking wood like shown on my K-Frame .32 H&R Magnum revolver earlier in this thread.



The evolution of the stocks configuration's through time is Odd in itself. In the beginning after the Two Piece stocks disappeared due to Higher production cost's involved in the making of the Two piece steel plate they used with them, we saw the first set of Target stocks with flat sided Panels and a diamond center show up after that. These stocks were Non-Relieved like the set shown on one of my Trio of Target Masterpiece revolvers shown earlier in my response. The checkering of this style stock did not extend to the sides as far as the later ones that came on the-N-frame guns in 1956 that we have adopted the name Coke profile to. The earlier stock's also had a Longer Tongue to them where the wood met the trigger guard with a downward cant to them meeting the trigger guard in a Lower Position, which carried over in later made stocks. in about 1955 time span we saw the Oval shaped relief show up on the stocks and some call this the Football relief. When the famous Coke profile stocks showed up for the-N-frame revolvers in late 1955 in their development, we saw some changes take place as the checkering on the panels of them was far wider extending to the edges of the stocks more than previous ones. We also saw a new Gentle Palm swell added to them, much less in profile than the Original Roper designed stocks but new the less it was there and the bottom heel of those stocks had a more oval shape to it, then the previous stocks made, with the tongue of them still on a downward cant meeting the trigger guard of the revolver in a Low position and these new stocks in design had the Oval shaped relief in them as well. One odd feature that showed up only on the-N-Frame First year Palm swell style stocks was a double strike of the center factory diamond as shown on my 1955 Model of 1950,. 357 Magnum Nickel example and below in my close up picture of them off the gun. This only lasted there for one year being 1956 their first year offered as it disappeared in 1957 time span. Stocks of this Nature with this Odd feature will bring a premium over the Non Double stamped diamond stocks for the discriminating collector of the first year Pre-29's to make them period correct.





The K-Frame stocks had the slight Palm swell like the Larger-N-frame stock's had, but they lacked the broad coverage of checkering we saw on the larger-n-frame stocks as their checkering did not extend to the edge of the panels as the larger-n-Frame stocks did. Some will argue this fact, but shown below is a rear view of a set of K-Sq, stock's with this Palm swell and I have Four Pairs of them on my revolvers. They also had a more oval shape to them than the previous ones made and the Tongue was still their meeting the trigger guard in it's Lower canted Position similar to the Larger-N-frame stocks. The Palm swell remained in both sizes of stock's until around 1965 time span as well as the Tongue meeting the trigger guard and the center diamond they all had.



In the K-Frame stock evolution we saw the small Oval shaped relief now placed into the stocks about 1953-1955 time span and in 1956 They Too got the Palm swell added to their design as the Larger-N-frame stocks had, but lacked the broad coverage of checkering that the larger frame stocks had. Both frames of stocks remained the same until about 1965. This is when we saw the Palm swell of Both frames disappear. Once the Palm swell was gone, The checkering of the larger-N-frame stocks went to Less line's per inch and less coverage as they had in the early beginning of them prior to the Oval shaped relief showing up on them, and the Tongue that extended on a downward Cant meeting the trigger guard started to disappear getting shorter and Fatter not going as far down on the trigger guard for both frames as you mentioned in your response.







In 1968 we saw the center diamond Disappear now with the stock panels being flat in nature the checkering had even less lines per inch and was very sharp and course in nature. The tongue section of both stocks shrunk even more now, and was very thick in material and now was even higher on the trigger guard. The shape of the bottom of the stocks was more square due to the flatter panels and the front strap area was more square lacking that graceful oval shape that they had before. In 1976 MR. Roy Jinks who was the head of the S&W service department then, designed the Speed Loader cut out. This design was Prompted by Law enforcement to allow them a clear unobstructed way of inserting speed loaders into the revolver's as the previous Oval shape the stocks had would not allow an easy Inserting of the speed loaders. In The 1980 time span we saw both frames coming out of the factory now with this half Moon crescent design to allow the use of speed loaders and the finish of both frames changed to a now new Urethane clear coat finish as previous stocks had a Lacquer style clear finish. The wood finishing was not as smooth as the earlier stocks and looked rough in nature.







In the Mid to late 1980's time span we saw the Birth of the Combat style stocks. These came in both frame sizes and were also available now for the square Butt revolvers in both frames as well as the round butt revolvers. These stocks had finger grooves cut into them and were long in shape for the square butt revolver's but were rounded off on the bottom for the round butt revolver's including the smaller J-Frame guns. The early combat style stocks were more round in nature on their panels then the later issued ones of which we saw another change to a more flat sided panel take place. These were the last of the wood stocks to come out of the S&W factory as in the early 1990's we saw the stock department close down. For s short time there after, there was a spring off company started in the stock making Business called The Ace Grips Corporation it had some Pervious S&W stock room employees working there and those stocks were made of laminate wood often of Odd colors one coming to mind was a green looking color. These stocks can be identified by the clover Leaf on the rear of the Panels that is stamped in Black ink. This company was bought out and dissolved and the new stock maker for S&W was Now the Altomont Grip Corporation. They too made just laminate stocks for S&W until we saw all wood stocks cease out of the factory when they switched over to just Rubber grip on their revolver's made by Houge endorsed with The S&W emblem on the panels. When S&W started making the new classic line of revolver's they resorted to The Altomont Grip corp. again for their stock needs and they now make the wood offerings we see on those guns. I have studied the birth and development of S&W Stock's now for about 25 Years and I hope this information was of some use, or Interest to you. I Prefer the Older Vintage Diamond center Target stocks of early design on all of my guns of which I show some more examples of them below as they were developed. Regards, The general






The Early -N-Frame Non-Relieved Target stocks, with Less checkering coverage and flat Panel's. Circa 1955










Second Variation Coke Profile double strike diamond stocks Circa 1956 with Palm swell and more checkering coverage than earler versions, now with Oval relief in them











Combat style finger groove target stocks in-N-Sq,. Frame configuration round panel style





















First Variation K-Sq, Non Relieved flat sided Target stocks Circa 1952.









Second Variation K-Sq. Target stocks with Double diamond strike and Palm swell. These stock's had the Oval shaped bottom that the -N-Frame stocks had but lacked the amount of checkering that the -N-Frame stocks had





[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/hammerdown-7/PICT0005a.jpg[/img]





Rear view of Same stocks as above clearly shows the Palm swell they had like the Larger-N-frame Panels from 1956 time span.







[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/hammerdown-7/PICT0001b.jpg[/img]




Later K-Sq, Frame flat sided Panel's in Select Wood being Ganacalo-Alves wood Circa 1967 time span.



[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/hammerdown-7/DSCF5931-1.jpg[/img]





The Last of the diamond series we saw in these K-Sq. stock's. Notice the flater Panels, now with the rounded oval shaped bottom gone due to their flat panel design but they still have the medium length Longer Tongue on them Circa 1967 time span





[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/hammerdown-7/Grips043.jpg[/img]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/hammerdown-7/Grips044.jpg[/img]






Later K-Sq. Smooth Target stocks with Flat sided panels made in Rare Rosewood these have the Toungue shorter than previous ones and are Circa 1970 time span




[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/hammerdown-7/PICT0008-1.jpg[/img]














K-Sq, Frame Combat style Stock's Circa 1990 time span





[img]http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/15004DSCF6200.JPG[/img]

[img]http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/15004DSCF6198.JPG[/img]



The Altomont Grip Corp. conversion style stocks in Rosewood Laminate shown on a Rond Butt-N-frame revolver. These stock's are made to makie a Round Butt revolver look like a square butt revolver





[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/hammerdown-7/DSCF0689.jpg[/img]




Rear view of Walter Roper custom shooting stocks on my 1936 K-22 Outdoorsman revolver. Note the very Pronounced Palm swell and bell shaped bottom of them, which we saw later used on the S&W Factory Target stocks of 1956 time span.




[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v258/hammerdown-7/DSCF6982.jpg[/img]

The amount of information that some of you guys possess is breathtaking!

Fanatic

noun

1. A person whose enthusiasm or zeal for something is extreme or beyond the normal limits.
2. A person devoted to a hobby or particular pastime.

Lots of fanatics here at 24HCF.

JEff

Wow General, very well done.

Hello Kevin
For you pal, the Skies the limit. I know you are well versed in S&W trivia like most other's on this forum but I thought I might add something that you were not aware of or heard in the past. That is what these gun forums should be right is sharing information and be helpful to other members ? Regards, Thegeneral.