Tallball
Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2014
- Messages
- 7,822
I wanted a 3-inch j-frame revolver for a while. Ran across a stainless 3" Taurus Model 85, very clean, $399 plus whatever. Bought it for a retirement gift to myself. Cool range toy, good practice for snubs as I rehab my messed-up hand, might carry it on my belt one day.
I put inappropriate grips on it. All of my carry and practice snubs have rubber boot grips, so I put boot grips on the 3", too. Bad choice. The 3" barrel makes it kind of front-heavy anyway, and the full lug doesn't help with that at all. Add boot grips and you have a poorly balanced revolver indeed.
I found out a few things when I took it to the range: it goes bang every time, it was very poorly balanced, it shoots a couple of inches to the right (two shooters, various ammo), and the trigger is pretty good. Also, boot grips are a poor choice for someone with XXL gloves trying to rehab a messed-up hand.
I looked around for bigger grips. I found some New Old Stock "banana grips" that looked like they would be a much better fit for that particular revolver. They're probably the largest j-frame grips I've seen in person. They were for an older version of the M85, and I had to modify them (poorly), but they're a snug fit and not going anywhere.
The revolver feels totally different now. The balance is very good. It points well naturally. I can get all three fingers on the grip. It's easy to control during dry fire. Looking forward to shooting it on Saturday morning.
What are your favorite grips for small snubs?
Have you every completely changed the feeling of a handgun just by changing the grips?
Do you have pictures of really good grips that some of us might not be familiar with?
Jump on in.
View media item 4567
I put inappropriate grips on it. All of my carry and practice snubs have rubber boot grips, so I put boot grips on the 3", too. Bad choice. The 3" barrel makes it kind of front-heavy anyway, and the full lug doesn't help with that at all. Add boot grips and you have a poorly balanced revolver indeed.
I found out a few things when I took it to the range: it goes bang every time, it was very poorly balanced, it shoots a couple of inches to the right (two shooters, various ammo), and the trigger is pretty good. Also, boot grips are a poor choice for someone with XXL gloves trying to rehab a messed-up hand.
I looked around for bigger grips. I found some New Old Stock "banana grips" that looked like they would be a much better fit for that particular revolver. They're probably the largest j-frame grips I've seen in person. They were for an older version of the M85, and I had to modify them (poorly), but they're a snug fit and not going anywhere.
The revolver feels totally different now. The balance is very good. It points well naturally. I can get all three fingers on the grip. It's easy to control during dry fire. Looking forward to shooting it on Saturday morning.
What are your favorite grips for small snubs?
Have you every completely changed the feeling of a handgun just by changing the grips?
Do you have pictures of really good grips that some of us might not be familiar with?
Jump on in.
View media item 4567