Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Favorite grips for N-frame 44 Mag

I recently picked up a S&W N-frame 44 Mag and have actually been shooting it more than I thought I would. I'm not big on handgun recoil but it isn't nearly as harsh as I'd remembered. IIRC, that's probably because the last 44 Mag I remember shooting was running some hot handloads!

The gun is a round-butt model and came with the Hogue mono-grip (square-butt conversion). I actually like this grip very much and am guessing that the soft rubber helps out with the recoil but I've been drooling over all the various wood and laminated round-butt and square-butt conversion combat grips and would love to dress up the gun with a new set.

I know nothing handles recoil like my Ruger Bisley Blackhawk but moving that direction would be a plus! That being said, what are the pros/cons of the wood or laminates compared to the factory Hogue grips and would a round-butt combat grip help or hurt performance/shootablility (not worried about quick draws btw) compared to the square-butt conversion options?

Here's what's on the gun now:


And here are some examples of what I'm looking at:

If the backstrap on the Hogue rubber grip is open, I don't find a lot of perceived recoil difference between rubber and wood.

As to shootability, you just have to find what fits your hand and shooting style best. It also depends if you are mainly going to shoot the gun DA or SA...

Bob

The Xframe rubber grip covers the back strap and seems to work pretty well. Otherwise, for me, any grip that has the open backstrap doesn't do well handling recoil. So I prefer the stock target grips, although the checkering is usually too rough, or aftermarket like Ahrends or similar that cover the back strap.

YMMV of course.

I like ones such as the bottom ones that turn round butts into square ones. The only thing I don't like about the posted ones are the finger grooves. I can do without that. Personally, I would find some in the material that you like in the bottom grips...if you like finger grooves. If it were me, I'd go with some like that without finger grooves and in good old American walnut. I like the way the soft rubber grips on my Mountain Gun feel so good that I've never changed them. I don't like the way they look, but you can't beat performance.

Hogue now makes the MonoGrip without finger grooves; it is quite comfortable. While wood and laminate grips looks nice, they will be less comfortable than a rubber grip. It's a trade off.

On my hunting handguns I prefer a round butt on my Smiths.
Don't love the looks of wood on stainless, don't hate black on stainless.

Get yourself a set of X-Frame Hogue Grips. They cover the entire back strap. For shooting, they are my hands down favorite. For looks, that's another matter.

I've been looking for a set of orange or yellow X-Frame Hogue tamer grips for a couple years. One day a set will turn up!

My preferred for a RB N-Frame, Ahrend's retro-banana. I do not like finger groove grips.

Magna.

Liquid hot magna.




Dave

Great pic! What's the scoop on that knife?

Winston with caribou, #69 if I recall correctly.
Mucho like this one.

Very fond of the 629 also.

Round butt?

Square ass.

I like the Hogue's without the finger grooves. This is a round butt 625-3.

Did they make the camo Pachmayer's in a round butt for the N-frame?




Travis

For me, fancy wood grips are for Bar-B-Que guns, and I have one...snub nose nickeled model 25 with fancy wood and shiny bronze Tyler T adapter. But, on my carry guns, I always remove the wood and install good cushy rubber for comfort. Been using rubber grips on my carry guns since the early 70's. As you age, the hands don't stand up to getting slapped by heavy loads. Personally, I don't care what the grips look like because I prefer comfort, but that's just me.

Right now, my short barrel S&W model 629 Performance Center revolver is wearing Pachmayr Diamond Pro grips. Very comfortable with 250 grain Keith style SWC heavy magnums. I put a set of the X-frame grips on my S&W model 69. Very pleasant to shoot. My Ruger GP100 Match Champion, S&W 640 Pro Series and M&P 340 all wear Pachmayr Diamond Pro grips. The J-Frames are doable with 158-180 grain magnums with these grips. Not fun, but definitely doable. The Diamond Pro grips slightly improve the grip angle on the Ruger GP100 and improve handling...for me. I used to put the classic Pachmayr Presentation grips on all my N-Frames, but am now slowly changing them out for Diamond Pros. They just fit my hand like a glove without being bulky.

I don't think so, just square.

X Frame Hogue Tamer grips on a 629 MG