Getting A Better Grip - overview of types of gun grips

For many years at Competitive revolver shooting, as well as carrying sixguns on police patrol and for personal protection on my own time, I have found Pachmayr grips fit my hand better than anything else. They give me a good hold, absorb the recoil, and I won pistol matches with them. They worked for me. They still do, for that matter.

I shot lots of guns with Hogue grips, made of a similar "rubbery" compound. after they came out. They just didn't "feel" as good as the Pachmayrs. But in the early 1990s, I discovered I scored better when I was shooting the same gun with Hogues on it. First, there was a personal best at Second Chance with a Hogue-gripped S&W Model 625 customized by Al Greco that put me in second place. Then I started seeing the same thing happen at other shoots.

I switched. My competition revolvers now wear Hogues. Between summer '98 and winter '99 I took both national and state champion titles with the Hogue grips on my Greco Custom S&W .45 revolver.

I didn't foreswear my previous favorite. Most of my competition revolvers now wear Hogue grips, but my .44 Magnums and my short-barrel .357 carry revolvers still sport Pachmayrs. For the matches, it's a "what lets you shoot best" thing, and for carry it's a "what soaks up the recoil of a lightweight Mountain Gun with full power .44 Mag. thing.

There's room for both. It's a matter of tailoring the tool to the task, and a matter of seeing what works best for you and for your identified needs.

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COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group