S&W grips

[Racepres]

Of all the things that can happen to Me!!! I got a Nice set of Herretts grips for S&W, K Frame... But... Of course... mine is a Square butt, these are for Round!!!

Anyone want to Trade???

Thanks

[AzRednek]

Any chance you have the original S&W K-frame wood grips?? For S&W grips, do an eBay advanced search and limit it to Thailand. There’s a grip maker there that makes some very good grips. Possibly he makes Herritt clones. If not send him a message asking him for what you need.  Prices are decent but check out postage before committing. I’ve ordered several S&W clones from him and haven’t been disappointed. If you can’t find a trade put them on EBay. eBay won’t allow you to ask for a trade. Keep the word “trade” out of the details and mention what you’re looking for might pass.

[Racepres]

Good plan on the ebay thing.. Yes I have the original Numbered to the Gun, M&P Magma Grips... but... the way my luck goes..next thing ya know I will screw them up...they are very nice indeed, and since I plan on shooting this piece... I will simply Replace the originals... In Case Murphy comes around.... Again!!!!

 

Thanks for the ebay tip...

[Dr.Hess]

Hey Az,

   On a model 29-3, "square" bottom, not round, anyway, the factory grips are too big for my hands and the recoil is pretty stout on the wrist.  Is there a decent rubber grip?  I've seen mention of Pachmayr, but what I see is that they either fit or they don't, and don't in a bad way.

[AzRednek]

I like the JM or Jerry  Miculek grips on the square butts especially for D/A shooting. The grips in the photo are Siamese clones  identical  except  there is no JM stamp.  For cushioning rubber grips I prefer Hogue over Pachmeyer for shooting the boomers. Guess it depend a lot on one’s hand size. However being a persnickety old man you just can’t deny the beauty of the older S&W target grips. Being that the  genuine S&W target grips now sell used for 100+ I’ve purchased a few of the clones from Thailand via eBay. A few years ago I got the manufacture to cut a round butt grip I liked to square butt.  They weren’t exactly as  he had pictured but close enough I was satisfied.

[AzRednek]

Th so called football cut out is a PIA to use with a speed loader. If you intend to use a speed loader get the grips without it. Not my photo, stole it from eBay.

[Dr.Hess]

This:

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1003889449?pid=249368

looks like the grip for a 29-3 square butt.  The Hogue grips seem to be better rated these days than the Pachmayre ones.

[AzRednek]

The Houges can be a real PIA to install on a S&W testing your patience but well worth the trouble. I have a set on a Ruger S/A boomer about 15 years old. They still remain soft and cushiony and best of all with S/A Rugers is my pinky finger stays on the grips.

A few years ago had a Rossi 357. The grips had attractive wood panels on the side inside a plastic frame. What felt like silicone rubber over the back strap. The Rossi factory grips with Rossi medallion looked like Pachmeyers really sucked up the felt recoil and were very comfortable to shoot with my hot 357 hand loads. The Rossi revolver I bought from J&G was from a bankrupt California security guard company. I don’t recall the numbers, they were dirt cheap but I had to pay I think an additional 5 bucks for the fancy grips. 

[Dr.Hess]

I think I'll give those Hogue grips a try. 

I was in the Walmart parking lot once, walking back to the car.  This guy in his 60's was walking towards the store.  He was printing so bad, it was funny.  He had to be carrying a 6"-ish Model 29 in a shoulder holster under his shirt.  I felt like asking him if he was expecting a bear attack.

While on the wheel gun subject, on a nickle plated 29-3, it has an adjustable rear sight, but near as I can tell it only adjusts for windage.  2 screws hold the whole rear sight to the frame.  The thing shoots low, like maybe 3-4" low at 30 yards.  Near as I can tell, the front sight appears rather permanent, and with the finish and all, I don't want to go filing on it.  Are there other sight inserts for the rear?  One with a more shallow notch?

 

 

 

 

[Dr.Hess]

To answer my question, yes, they sell different sized rear site blades.  You have to replace the screw too, as it is breakaway.

[Racepres]

Sorry Doc...I am Not all up on that kind of stuff...not enough to answer questions about one I dont Have!!!

[Dr.Hess]

Historically, I'm not much into revolvers, so this is all new to me.  I ordered the Hogue grip and two blade inserts, one taller than the other, which is taller than what is in there.  One of them should work.  Midway was in stock.  Brownells was out.

[Racepres]

That is good news really... as I use Midway 3 times more than Brownells...

I have been doing more  Milsurp Rifles for the last 15 or more years... But, Started with Handguns of various descriptions..

Still my first love.. from RG to TC... and that is a Wide Berth!!!!!

[Racepres]

FWIW

Found a Small size Pachmayr presentation for the M&P, Fits Nice looks classy... I like it...

Off to shoot some more "puny 38's"

[AzRednek]

Doc my 29-2 and other N-frames all have windage and elevation rear sights. Sounds like you have an oddball of some sort. Maybe I’ve just missed it but I don’t recall ever seeing S&W rear sights without an elevation adjustment. If I can find my S&W book I’ll see if it has anything on the -3. Sparked my curiosity is your 29-3 pinned and recessed??

[AzRednek]

Found my book. Long one short, a few years ago I was reading it in my backyard. I was distracted for some reason left the book outside and didn’t remember it until the next day. My dog got ahold of it and it’s now in three pieces.

Anyhow I couldn’t find much on the 29-3. Going from -2 to -3 was when S&W eliminated the pinned and recessed. It also mentioned the length of the cylinder was changed in the transition. I think it was 1988 but I’ll double check. I read something about some -3s made with 5” barrels. Doc is yours marked Classic Hunter or Lou Horton? I couldn’t find anything about the sights. Anything is possible if S&W was looking to cut labor costs with the -3 by eliminating pinned and recessed might have gone cheapskate on the rear sight.

About 2-3 years ago I met a shooter at the range with a model 29 but I don’t recall the dash number. It was a bare bones model and not pinned or recessed. Plain Jane wood service grips, no Ts and the bluing and finish was poorly done. I recall while looking down the sights pointed down range the sight picture was different. I just can’t recall what it was but the entire rear sight assembly look different. I’ll read some more and see if I can find anything specific about sights. 
 

We began dickering as he offered to trade his with a 6” barrel for my 4” 29-2 after I mentioned wanting a 6 or 8 3/8” 44.  I declined, offered him 400 for his willing to go 450 in my mind but he started at no less than 650. I countered with a straight across for my 4” Model 28-2 but he wanted an additional 150 so we never cut a deal. Gave him my number but never heard from him. I eventually got me a 6” 44 but it’s a nickel plated 24-6 chambered in 44 Special.

[Dr.Hess]

Yeah, the -3 has no pin.  That's a problem because the barrels will unscrew from the torque of the big bullets going down range.  I didn't notice it when I bought it, but the barrel had done just that.  I should have looked closer.  The rear sight was adjusted way to the side to compensate for the front sight being off center.  Apparently, if you send them to S&W to get them fixed, they will just put some loctite on and screw it back together.  So, I made a revolver action wrench and a barrel vice block, and drew up and 3D printed some spacers to fit on the side of the action to distribute the force more evenly (probably not necessary, but it gave me a warm fuzzy feeling,) unscrewed the barrel, cleaned everything up, put some blue loctite on (just in case it had to come apart again,) put it back together.  Works now, and the rear sight is back to about the center.

The 2 new sights came in yesterday, with the Hogue grip.  I think the .160 sight is the one I'm going to try first.

This one has a 6" barrel. Here's the blocks I drew up in CAD and printed on my 3D printer:

 

[AzRednek]

Dam you’re good Doc. A few years ago I took a Ruger Redhawk to gunsmith to have the barrel recrowned. I had to pony up some xtra bucks when the smith’s side kick said they’d have to remove the barrel to do it right. First trip to the range I discovered the barrel was not clocked right. They fixed it no charge but I had to argue with the side kick claiming my front blade was the problem. I’ve shot it plenty since but mostly with 44 Specials. I fear it may move again with a steady diet of Magnums. I got the Redhawk in a multi gun trade. It previously had an amateurish crowning and barrel shortening. Just curious Doc, did you use any special tools to clock the barrel or did you eyeball it?
 

I’ve only once removed a revolver barrel from a Brazilian Model 1917. I borrowed the wood blocks from my uniform customer. Not caring about the badly rusted and pitted barrel I used a pipe wrench to remove it. I chickened out and left the installation up to my customer fearing I’d somehow botch it up. He was thrilled that I found him a new barrel I likely sold for only cost plus 10%. 

[Dr.Hess]

I mostly eyeballed it.  Near as I can figger, this is about a 1979 gun, and if you'll recall 1979, it was a very bad year for anything American Made.  I did some measuring from the flat part on top, the part on the bottom of the barrel that the ejector rod goes into, etc., and none of it was really clocking properly.  I made 2 runs at it.  The first one had it all perfect by the flat parts, but the bottom part wasn't right and the sight wasn't right, so I put it all back in the tooling and bumped it a bit looser and I think it's good now.  Shoots good windage wise, but vertical is too low. If it loosens up, I'll put it back to the right place, mark it proper, take it apart, put red loctite on it (real permanent,) then put it back to the mark.  Didn't get a chance to mess with it today. 

 

For the barrel vice, I have a barrel vice for Mauser work, but of course the blocks wouldn't work with the revolver barrel.  I measured it up, found a piece of scrap oak from a pallet, cut it, drilled some holes, ground, Dremmel and wound up with a block cut in half that would grab the barrel and the lower part.  I put the barrel in the blocks, then the blocks in my bench vice clamped tight, then my home made action wrench on the pieces I printed on the frame and gave it a good twist.  Came off. So I didn't have to use my barrel vice, just the bench vice, which is good because where I have to mount the barrel vice doesn't give me a whole lot of room to work with.  Much easier with the barrel pointed down in my bench vice, and that was plenty of grip, given the rather rectangular nature of the revolver barrel and extension.  Oh, for the action wrench, I found a youtoobe gunsmith that made his own.  I did some screen captures and guestimated the dimensions, went to the steel supply place, bought a bar of steel, cut it, drilled, tapped, glued some inner tube on and now I have a revolver action wrench.  I also 3d printed some sleeves for the bolts so they won't mar the receiver.  Here's what it all looks like:

• 

 

I had a Ruger Blackhawk 45 convertible.  It came from the factory with the barrel not clocked right.  I eventually sent it back complaining about that and the light primer hits.  They fixed the barrel clocking and left the light primer hits alone.  I had a local gunsmith fix that and never had another problem with it.

 

 

[AzRednek]

Doc when I got my Blackhawk Convertible as a gift. I was really into bullet casting. Before even shooting it I slugged the cylinder bore size. It was all over, not any two in the same cylinder the same size. I was really disappointed with the shot to shot accuracy. Shooting FMJs in the ACP cylinder being the best but still mediocre. My hard cast with gas checks in the 45 Colt cylinder was pathetic. 
 

A few months later at the NRA Convention in Phoenix I cornered a Ruger rep in the display area. I was hoping to get prepaid postage return labels to avoid the FFL or over priced overnight fees and hassles. In an apologetic tone he told me all Ruger would do is test fire it with jacketed factory ammo. Telling me it would be returned claiming it met their specs. I later had all the cylinder mouths reamed to .452 then had the forcing cone elongated to eliminate a tight spot under the strap. It was a night vs day improvement. With the then sturdy hands I had I could shoot clusters at shorter ranges out to about 20 yds. Adding Hogue rubbers helped considerably with my shooting as I could get all my fingers on the grip. I hand loaded some of the so called Ruger Only powder charges with  heavy cast bullets. Glad I had the Houges as it kicked like a 44 Mag. The Ruger Only hand loads also worked well in my 45 cal Rossi lever action. 

[Dr.Hess]

I've never shot it with the 45LC cylinder.  Just never had any 45LC ammo to run through it, and shooting almost exclusively my own handloads in virtually everything, no 45LC brass, dies, etc., so it never happened.  Going to a taper crimp helped tremendously in loading.  I used to use that gun in a quick draw cowboy holster when hunting mice at some property we had in central Texas.  You would just walk up on them in the field, they would jump up and run.  Quick draw and no more mouse.  Rather exploded them.  It was the best rig for that kind of hunting.  Much better than an AR15, as it was usually close range and with the AR, you couldn't really aim that close because of the height of the sights over the barrel, so you would have to walk the rounds in on the mouse.

 

I put the Hogue grip on yesterday.  It was pretty easy, actually.  No fitting or fiddling needed.  Did the .160 sight blade too.  It was late so I didn't get a chance to shoot it.