So I recently bought another Blackhawk. After watching for a long time, I found a Buckeye Blackhawk .38-40 / 10mm for what I thought was a reasonable price.
It was a used gun, and came with some aftermarket grips. They appear to be Hogue Fancy Hardwood grips. They looked ok but still kind of biggish. They don’t feel too bad, but I can’t reach the hammer as easily as with the standard plow handle grips. But looking at it, it seems like it should do a bit better than the plow grip for the heavier recoiling loads. The grip fills in directly behind the trigger guard, which tends to thump my knuckle with warm loads. And while it will still roll in the hand some, it will maybe roll a bit less.
Of course, neither .38-40 or 10mm will produce enough recoil in a heavy revolver to really need a different grip. So I swapped grips with my BH in .45 Colt and loaded some 300 gr. XTPs with a near-max load of Lil Gun. I find hot 300s can be uncomfortable, as they cause the gun to rotate so hard that the frame bites into the base of my thumb.
I found these loads not uncomfortable at all to shoot. The feel was maybe a little more like shooting a Ruger Bisley than a standard plow handle grip.
So if you find the plow handle to be objectionable, these may be a less expensive solution than swapping guns or swapping out for a Bisley grip frame.
My only issue now is that I think the Hogue grips don’t look as good on the short-barreled gun. Maybe I’ll have to buy a 5-1/2 or 6-1/2” .45 to put them on... just because.
It was a used gun, and came with some aftermarket grips. They appear to be Hogue Fancy Hardwood grips. They looked ok but still kind of biggish. They don’t feel too bad, but I can’t reach the hammer as easily as with the standard plow handle grips. But looking at it, it seems like it should do a bit better than the plow grip for the heavier recoiling loads. The grip fills in directly behind the trigger guard, which tends to thump my knuckle with warm loads. And while it will still roll in the hand some, it will maybe roll a bit less.
Of course, neither .38-40 or 10mm will produce enough recoil in a heavy revolver to really need a different grip. So I swapped grips with my BH in .45 Colt and loaded some 300 gr. XTPs with a near-max load of Lil Gun. I find hot 300s can be uncomfortable, as they cause the gun to rotate so hard that the frame bites into the base of my thumb.
I found these loads not uncomfortable at all to shoot. The feel was maybe a little more like shooting a Ruger Bisley than a standard plow handle grip.
So if you find the plow handle to be objectionable, these may be a less expensive solution than swapping guns or swapping out for a Bisley grip frame.
My only issue now is that I think the Hogue grips don’t look as good on the short-barreled gun. Maybe I’ll have to buy a 5-1/2 or 6-1/2” .45 to put them on... just because.
