Pistol grips that work and grips that don't: Pretty wood vs. ugly rubber

There are grips that work and grips that don't. Just cause a set of grips looks good has no bearing whatsover on whether they actually work, that is feel good in the hand when you do what you're supposed to do with a handgun, shoot it.

Exhibit 1: Smith & Wesson 29-3 .44 Magnum. Came with a beautiful set of factory walnut checkered target grips.

The beauty lasted until I touched off the first round of .44 Magnum. Ouch! The checkering dug into my palm and the steel frame bit the web of my hand. Off came the factory grips and a set of square-butt Pachmayr Decelerator took out the bite completely. Not as pretty, but a lot more comfortable.

Not having any need for the factory grips, I donated them to the cause at the gun shop when we got a S&W 29 that had a set of hand-carved factory grips courtesy of the previous owner. Factory target grips sell S&W revolvers, anything else, including custom-carved factory grips, detract from sale value.

So I traded grips and brought the hand-carved ones home for a try. They had been slimmed down to finger-groove grips on the front and smoothed down from the aggressive checkering. Look a bit weird but they passed the big test. I shot them last Saturday with some full-house .44 Specials and they felt great. Haven't tried .44 Magnums yet, but so far so good.

Exhibit 2: My Charter Southpaw .38 Special came with a set of factory rubber grips. Shot fine. But I had this set of Charter wood grips I bought just because I saw them on the Charter site and they looked good.

So I tried them on the Charter Southpaw last Saturday same time I shot the S&W 29. Fail.

The knuckle of my middle finger took a beating. I might need that finger for obscene gestures, so off came the wood grips and back on go the rubber grips.

Just cause it looks good is no good reason to have grips that don't shoot good. But now I have no idea what I'll do with the Charter wood grips.

Wait, I got an idea. Charter makes .22 revolvers. They even have a convertible .22LR/.22 Magnum in a 4" barrel target model. I bet those wood grips would look good and shoot good on a .22 Charter, whataya bet? I predict there's a Charter .22 somewhere in my future. But not right now until I can get though my S&W Nightguard obsession phase.

A trio of fancy S&W .38s with Magnaports and/or Wood

Shameless Commercial Plugs: I must confess to loving steel and wood, particularly when nicely fashioned into deadly firearms.

Such is the case of three Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolvers we recently added to the offerings at the gun shop where I work, all of which I have posted on gunbroker.com.

The first of these distributor-exclusive beauties is a very nice set of checkered, hand-filling wood grips added to the classic S&W 642 Stainless, Hammerless J-Frame.

Then there's a pair of Magnaported Smiths. I have to confess I have zero experience in shooting handguns or long guns with ported barrels, but the design is well-proven in battle as well in home-defense and competition shooting. Holes in the end of the barrel port some of the exhaust gases up, reducing recoil and helping to stay on target or get back on target quickly.

First is another S&W 642 variation with smooth wood grips, Magnaported barrel and nicely contrasted black-matte cylinder for a two-tone look.

Then there's a S&W 442 variation, same hammerless design as the 642 but in black matte finish instead of stainless. This offering has a contrasting stainless-finish cylinder to create a two-tone look in reverse, as well as a fine-looking pair of smooth wood grips.

Shooting S&W Airweight .38 snubbies with +P ammo can be a bit brisk and even painful after a few rounds. Magnaporting the barrels sounds like a terrific idea to me.

Maybe one day soon, I'll have the money to bring one or all of these beauties home.