Petrol & Powder
Well-Known Member
I’ve always considered the S&W Round Butt style grip frame to be a bit of a compromise between ease of concealment verses a good shooting grip. It has long been a compromise I was willing to make in some applications. I’ve used several different approaches to find something that works for me, such as: Boot Grips, Tyler T-grip Adaptors, and various other grips. For holster carry with a K-frame, I liked the authentic S&W Combat Grip. That was a smooth wood, round butt, factory option.
If you’ve priced those original S&W Combat Grips recently, you know that is a scary path to go down. So, I tried some alternatives. I had a Tyler T-grip for an RB K-frame, that sort of worked. Then I tried a newer Combat grip. That was not true to the original pattern S&W grip and proved to be disappointing. I had an old Pachmayr Compact Professional grip and tried that. Almost right but not quite. I finally just cried “Uncle” and purchased a new Pachmayr “Gripper” style. Just as ugly as ever but it seems to be the Goldilocks “just right” in terms of fit. I wish it had the open backstrap (known as the Gripper Professional) but those appear to be available in the square butt styles only.
I cannot recall if there was ever a Pachmayr "Gripper Professional (open back strap Gripper style) for the ROUND Butt grip frame. Does anyone know?
If you’ve priced those original S&W Combat Grips recently, you know that is a scary path to go down. So, I tried some alternatives. I had a Tyler T-grip for an RB K-frame, that sort of worked. Then I tried a newer Combat grip. That was not true to the original pattern S&W grip and proved to be disappointing. I had an old Pachmayr Compact Professional grip and tried that. Almost right but not quite. I finally just cried “Uncle” and purchased a new Pachmayr “Gripper” style. Just as ugly as ever but it seems to be the Goldilocks “just right” in terms of fit. I wish it had the open backstrap (known as the Gripper Professional) but those appear to be available in the square butt styles only.
I cannot recall if there was ever a Pachmayr "Gripper Professional (open back strap Gripper style) for the ROUND Butt grip frame. Does anyone know?