Rethinking revolver grips

[Malamute]

Finger grooves are great if and only if they fit your hand. The finger grooves on the former Michaels of Oregon grips fit my hands quite well, and Pachmayr finger grooves are not a bad fit. Some guns come with finger grooves that are too big for my fingers, making it more difficult for me to get higher on the grip. Someone with big or small hands would probably dislike what I like.

I do find that filling in at least some of the space behind the trigger guard helps, one point on which I agree with Jordan's thoughts on grips.

I agree on filling in the space behind the trigger guard. The service grips arent comfortable to me for that reason. Grip adapters help, but a well shaped set of targets feels best to my hand. I cant remember how many times Ive had service grips on one of my N frames over the years, liking the way they looked, but not liking how they felt when shooting.

[entropy]

Ive really come to like the pebbled neoprene grips on my GP100. It would be nice if they could be reproduced in perhps G10 or Micarta. Unfortunately, Im not sure if they would still possss the same qualities when made out of a less forgiving material. All of the "Jerry Mikulek" style grips seem to agree with me much more than the traditional "target" or "combat" grips. And yes...finger grooves are like sooo 80's!

[BillSWPA]

I could be wrong, but isn't Jerry Miculek tall? The grips sold under his name have an exposed backstrap. If a taller person of his skill prefers an exposed blackstrap, that tells us something.


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[OlongJohnson]

For me, it indicates the importance of equipment fitting our bodies. I don't jump to the conclusion that my ideal grip fit is an open back strap any more than I conclude that I should wear his sizes in shoes, pants, shirt or hat, or his glasses prescription, if I want to shoot more like he does.

Glove size correlates well to shoe size, height not nearly as well. I once had a female friend who was 5'10" and her foot was about as long as my hand. And there are a lot of differences in length, thickness and taper of fingers, too. I have another friend who is only about two inches shorter than me, but his fingers are smaller and much slimmer. So sometimes I ask him to help me reach something when working on cars in the same place at the same time.

I googled, "how tall is Jerry Miculek" and found no results. I did find a video where he stands next to Phil Robertson, who is 6'2" and appears to be 4-5 inches taller. I've read that Hickok45 is a former NBA player and is about 6'7", in case that's what someone was thinking.

Miculek mentions that he has big hands, but if you watch his "how to shoot a revolver" video and freeze it to study his grip, you might notice that he has proportionately short and tapered thumbs. It almost appears that all his distal phalanges are proportionally shorter and the fleshy tips of the fingers more tapered (especially flatter) than mine. The metacarpal of his thumb seems to be more offset away from his palm and wrist, too. (Might have something to do with those 2 million rounds fired, might have always been that way.)

I've noticed that short and tapered fingers is a common characteristic of top rock climbers. For a given muscle pull force on the tendon, it tends to increase the force at the finger tip, so jamming fingers into little cracks and hanging onto 1/4" wide ledges is just easier. It may be that for a given muscle pull on the tendon, Jerry is able to apply more force with the pad of his finger on the trigger, where someone with different geometry will get different results.

I think the "where to put your finger on the trigger" debate depends heavily on how your hand fits on the gun. If putting your finger in someone else's "correct" position requires your finger and hand to be distorted into an unnatural shape where movements are not natural and leverage is less good, that may not be your "correct" position. Miculek makes that general idea clear in his video, where he demonstrates three different grips to best fit three different size revolvers.

[entropy]

This reminds me of the "Man Hands" Sienfeld episode. Lol

My point on the Mikulek comment was that his grips look much closer to the pictured Fitz grips, or the pebbled S&W neoprene than they do a set of targets.

[psalms144.1]

I could be wrong, but isn't Jerry Miculek tall? The grips sold under his name have an exposed backstrap. If a taller person of his skill prefers an exposed blackstrap, that tells us something.

I'm 6'1", and I don't recall Jerry being as tall as me, or even close. Of course, this was from a brief meeting at the SHOT Show several years back, so I might be misremembering.

I do remember his handshake was like grabbing a brick - none of the macho man "crusher" handshake shit, his hands were just STRONG.

[SamAdams]

Interesting thread, especially with guys mentioning their hand size & what works/doesn't work for them. I wear 2XL size gloves and my favorite N frame stocks are Herretts Jordan Troopers. Wood with covered backstrap. I have them on a S&W 329PD.

[Wyoming Shooter]

Here is a photo of VZ 320 grips modified to remove the finger grooves. My knife maker friend Kevin Casey used a belt grinder to do the work. It's now easier for me to get that first and final grip on the gun while in the holster. The gun is also more comfortable to shoot. Best, ELN.

[JonInWA]

Here is a photo of VZ 320 grips modified to remove the finger grooves. My knife maker friend Kevin Casey used a belt grinder to do the work. It's now easier for me to get that first and final grip on the gun while in the holster. The gun is also more comfortable to shoot. Best, ELN.

That's some nicely executed work your friend did on those grips-both from an effectiveness and aesthetic standpoint.

Best, Jon

[That Guy]

Here is a photo of VZ 320 grips modified to remove the finger grooves.

That's the way those should come from the maker! Really great looking grips.

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