I’m liking large grips over smaller ones as the arthritis progresses. That’s why I been leaning more on the bigger frames. But I don’t carry except in a holster or a backpack so that’s a big difference. Will say the.32-20’s have seen a lot more use this year. Those grips and almost no recoil make them a pleasure to have.
I know what you mean, regarding larger grips. I stopped shooting Glock G19 pistols, after my October 2017 “qual,” at the police range. For some now-disremembered reason, I shot the qual with my pair of smaller G19 Glocks, first, rather than my 1911 or G17 pistols, which I actually carried more often. Well, those 80 rounds, fired right-handed, soon made my right thumb, hand, and wrist swell, discolor, and hurt. I returned two weeks later, after the swelling was down, and qual’ed with the 1911, and G17. Thankfully, there were no ill effects. (Edited to add: I did, however, decide to retire, in early 2018. There were other factors; not just shooting-related. 34 years was enough.)
Applying my amateur-but-serious kinesiology, I soon determined that my personal solution was to shoot handguns with grips that reach all the way to firmly contact the “heel bone” of my right hand. The G19 Glock’s grip is just too short, to make this contact. Some say that an “old man gun” is a compact gun. I say otherwise!
A low bore axis is also desirable, as I had learned, at age 50, in 2011, when my then-duty pistol, a quite-high-bore-axis SIG P229R, had started vexing me, with the energetic, then-mandated .40 S&W duty ammo. Being able to transition to 9mm and .45 ACP duty pistols, in 2015, and then resume using the all-steel, low-bore-axis 1911, on duty, in 2016, was wonderful.
Notably, the factory grip on the SP101 does make contact with the heel bone of my right hand. Now I know, more completely, why my second SP101, in 2002, put my J-Frame .38 Specials out of business. It was not just that the edge of the frame directly contacted the base knuckle of my right thumb, but the grip did not reach the heel of my right hand. (2002 is when I started routinely carrying two SP101 revolvers, during personal time.)