So, I did a thing, and could use some advice re: square-butt grips

[Half Moon]

Congrats!

We have a pre-17 five screw. It's the single most accurate handgun we own. For a K frame I'll echo the Magnas for a grip. These are open on the front and back strap and generally fit my medium large hand pretty well as opposed to the target styles grips on yours. On a round butt I find a grip adaptor very nice with magnas, but can take or leave the adaptor on a square butt. For comparison, here's a pic of magna's on our K-22:



On the 4" S&W .22's I'm not sure they're rare but they do tend to be pricy. Here's a GunBroker search for them:

https://www.gunbroker.com/Revolvers/...ength=4%20inch

Hope you have fun with yours. Should be a great buy!

[Wheeler]

Everything made after ~1997 is round butt (unless I guess special ordered or built on old frames). Round-to-square conversion stocks were standard after that but underneath they're all round. There are 10-shot 617s made between 1997 and 2002 that are 10 shot, round butt and pre-lock like OP is talking about.

Here's one that's been polished but the last pic shows the grips removed: https://www.gunbroker.com/item/875580944

Here's one that might go for less, closer to just a thousand but isn't photographed well: https://www.gunbroker.com/item/875994257



Yeah, I wonder if OP is just equating the huge factory stocks with "square butt" in general.

Thanks for the clarification and correction.

[MolonLabe416]

These Ropers are thinner and are very nice. I have them on several N Frame Smiths.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/875242885

[Duelist]

You want to end up with a drawer full of grips? Because this is how you end up with a drawer full of grips.



Top: 1930 M&P. Got this one from a pile of model 10 trade-ins of various ages and conditions. This one was marked with, as near as I could tell, my Dad’s former department, so I bought it. Wish I’d gotten a couple of the newer ones, too. Ah, well. It came from the store with a set of grippers (IIRC - they were Pachmayrs, anyway) as pictured next to it. It has worn round bottom Magnas with a T-grip, and I found a pair of period correct walnuts at a gun show that cost almost as much as the gun did. This has been a loaner to family members who needed “something” but had absolutely nothing, or only had a crappy .22 H&R that sometimes worked.

Middle: 15-4. Came with the Magnas (originals numbered to the gun) and T-grip pictured with it. Now wearing Herrett Ropers. They work pretty well, but this particular gun has a slight dimensional difference in the placement of the alignment pin that no other Kframe I’ve seen has, and as a result, some grips are very difficult to put on or take off, including the original grips and the Altamont laminate on the bottom gun. The Herretts work well, though.

Bottom: M18 no dash. This is the 4” .22 Kframe OP was looking for.
Came wearing the Pachmayr Presentation grip pictured next to it. This is a very accurate gun, but isn’t as much fun to shoot as I thought it would be because the chambers tend to coke up pretty quickly, making volume shooting less fun or possible due to difficulty ejecting empties. I’ve heard that this isn’t uncommon with K22s, but the only other one I’ve fired never did that, so I don’t know.

Anyway. Here are a pile of square butt Kframe grips (or stocks, if you prefer). Everyone who makes grips, or ever made them, makes/made Kframe grips, and it’s pretty easy to accumulate a variety that can suit general purpose use in through custom bullseye or rapid fire grips.

If someone with a real collection of these, like Darryl or Stephanie, happens to show theirs, you’ll see a real variety.

[Stephanie B]

I have 17-3 that I bought for a little less than you paid for yours. OTOH, it was five years ago.



It came with magna stocks, serialed to the gun. I added a BK grip adapter, but I still didn't like the feel of it for target shooting (I was shooting it in Bullseye). So I went with a set of Goodyears, more better.

I put a little white dot of nail polish on the front sight to aid me in focusing in on it.

[okie john]

QUESTIONS:

Thoughts on stocks? The square-butt is just so large--it seems to really limit options compared to round-butt.

You're not dealing with square-butt stocks, you're dealing with target stocks that happen to be on a square-butt frame. They have far too much lumber in them for modern shooting techniques but they're a pretty good place to start for one-handed bullseye courses of fire. As others have pointed out, there are a boatload of options for getting just the right setup for your hand. 30 years ago I'd buy beat-up target stocks in gunshops for $15-20, then get after them with a rasp and get a perfect fit. Now that even beat-up target grips are absurdly expensive, I use Magnas with a grip adapter.

I have medium to medium-largish hands. I recently put these on my LEO trade-in 64, and I love them.

VZ probably makes something similar for a square-butt frame, but you have other options. First, keep an eye peeled for Ahrends, which I think is out of business. I find them problematic on anything that kicks harder than a 38 Special but they're ideal on a 22 LR, plus they're gorgeous. Second, keep an eye on parts boxes in gun stores. A lot of them have old grips that nobody understands any more. For pennies on the dollar, you could end up with a set of Herrett's or other custom grips that cost over $100 decades ago and are still superb pieces of gear.

Finally, the dozen or so Model 17's that I've owned all tended to prefer one make/load of ammo over all others, so buy a box of everything you can find and test them all at 25 and 50 yards. Don't be surprised if that's cheapo American Eagle or CCI Mini Mags. This revolver will show you just how good a shot you really can be, so don't be afraid to push it out beyond 100 yards.

Also don't be surprised if the Model 17 rapidly becomes not just your favorite handgun, but your favorite firearm.


Okie John

[dogcaller]

Congrats!

We have a pre-17 five screw. It's the single most accurate handgun we own. For a K frame I'll echo the Magnas for a grip. These are open on the front and back strap and generally fit my medium large hand pretty well as opposed to the target styles grips on yours. On a round butt I find a grip adaptor very nice with magnas, but can take or leave the adaptor on a square butt. For comparison, here's a pic of magna's on our K-22:



On the 4" S&W .22's I'm not sure they're rare but they do tend to be pricy. Here's a GunBroker search for them:

https://www.gunbroker.com/Revolvers/...ength=4%20inch

Hope you have fun with yours. Should be a great buy!

Thanks for the info! Those 4" models seem to have starting prices several hundreds more than what I paid for mine--and I likely wouldn't spend $1k on one, but I do appreciate you for pointing these out to me. I did see one for $700--we'll see, but not anytime soon.

[dogcaller]

Lots of good info here, thanks everyone! Sounds like a box of stocks may need to sit next to my holster box...

I'm guessing Magnas might be relatively easy to find. I've never cared for the look--they seem a bit skimpy, but mainly I'm thinking about about RBs. Will keep an eye out. On this beautiful blue finish, it seems that wood or wood-look is the way to go, aesthetically. Would love to see pics of wood or interesting stocks on your blue Smiths, if anyone is willing.

[okie john]

The 4" round-butt stainless K-frame 22 is like the girlfriend that a teenage kid assembles in his mind as being perfect in every possible way. Then you get to know a few things about how the world works and you realize that far more exotic, umm, options, are available.

This is one of them.

[QUOTE=Half Moon;1095389]



Okie John

[dogcaller]

You want to end up with a drawer full of grips? Because this is how you end up with a drawer full of grips.




Bottom: M18 no dash. This is the 4” .22 Kframe OP was looking for.
Came wearing the Pachmayr Presentation grip pictured next to it. This is a very accurate gun, but isn’t as much fun to shoot as I thought it would be because the chambers tend to coke up pretty quickly, making volume shooting less fun or possible due to difficulty ejecting empties. I’ve heard that this isn’t uncommon with K22s, but the only other one I’ve fired never did that, so I don’t know.

Exactly right, LOL! Mine appears to be barely used--hardly a cylinder ring--I'm looking forward to finding/choosing stocks and putting many rounds through it. Hoping the trigger pull reduces a bit with use. It does have a nice and very firm primer strike.