Ive always liked the dished spot at the top of the grip frame on Smiths, they keep the hand indexed the same all the time and keep the gun from rolling back when shooting magnum loads DA in the 29s.
The biggest problems Ive had with revolver grips has been the blocky feel that many factory grips have. The Smith target grips from the 50s to 70s
in good examples were like night and day to me. I started filing on grips to try to duplicate the shape and feel, and is what Ive used the most. Nearly all aftermarket grips, including ones often well liked by many other folks, feel way too thin at the top rear, giving very narrow area to deal with recoil, which didnt feel good, and feels awkward to me. Guess it may be largely a matter of what youre used to after finding something you like at some point.
Several people have felt the grips Ive hacked up and commented about how different they felt from "normal" factory targets, some have said they were the best feeling grips theyve felt. I was just trying to copy the best feeling older ones Ive had on various guns. Oval-ish shaped, and not too thin at the top rear or too chunky behind the trigger guard and down the front strap.
I file the grips back to the red lines on front and back, file them back some where the arrows are and on smooth targets cut the bottom off about 5/16". Smooths give more room to shape them the way you want, the checkering often makes it hard to get the oval shape pulled far enough toward the center. The grips Lost River has on many of his Smiths look pretty similar to what mine end up like, but I'm not sure how wide his are at the top. think wider is more comfortable for taking recoil, but not being blocky at the back helps a lot with the feel.