Redhawk Round Butt Grips vs. Square Grips

Has anyone tried the Hogue grips square butt grips on a round butt frame?

If they fit tight, then reshaping shouldn't be an issue. The internal fit is my concern.

https://www.hogueinc.com/store/products/redhawk-rose-laminate/3860

I have not tried that swap although I own several RH's and some of each grip design.
Try it and if they don't fit you have a good excuse to buy another RH to use them on.

I was saving for the Toklat when the .45Auto/.45Colt came out. And so glad they did I just love the .45ACP in a revolver. And I can load the .45 LC for bear if I want to.

The other Ruger on my list at this time is LCR in 9mm.

So no 2nd Redhawk for me right now

They fit perfectly except on the lower backstrap, where it curves inward & leaves empty space between the two wood sides.
Denis

I guess I'm going to start looking for a used set.

Buy one from somewhere that allows returns. As stated, it will fit fine, but with a indentation at the bottom.

Just trying it in static mode isn't good enough though, you really need to shoot with a grip to see what it's like on a powerful revolver.

I have a Kodiak Backpacker with the rounded frame. The back corner at the top of the left panel bites my thumb just below the joint (which is the case with all the Redhawks I have tried with stock wood).

For the time being I am using a Pachmayer Gripper Decelerator grip which works really well for firing lots of hot rounds for me.

I am hoping some grips start showing up that are tailored for the round butt that are more comfortable yet retain the compact profile and good looks.

In working with the new .45 Convertible Red I had to put those Hogues on the gun to finish testing with hot .45 Colt loads from Buffalo Bore.

They made heavy recoil much more tolerable.
Denis

DPris said:

In working with the new .45 Convertible Red I had to put those Hogues on the gun to finish testing with hot .45 Colt loads from Buffalo Bore.

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Going through some stuff I found some .45LC reloads of mine they were tagged Nosler 250gr - 24.3gr w296, only had 10 left and they were a handful.

I shot them yesterday and they are the Stoutest load I have shot in the Redhawk so far. And I'm not sure what I was thinking when I loaded them, I guess Grizzly or Hogzilla stoppers.

I ordered a set of Hogue laminated since I will mainly be shooting mild to moderated loads 98% of the time.
I will either fit the grips to the frame or fill the gap. IF the grips do not fit, will pick up a Tyler T-grip and go from there.

Lets begin by saying that I really like my RH convertible. I have never shot any handgun that can make a .45 ACP feel like a .38 target load.......After shooting a couple of boxes of "regular" of both Colt and ACP thru mine, I finally had the chance to run a few hot loads thru the RH. Lemme just say, I got a quick lesson in the difference between mild and wild... :shock: ... My experience with large bore magnums is limited to a SRH (SS, 7.5", scoped) in .44 magnum that I got maybe 15 years ago in a trade. After about two years of lugging that beast around the woods I ended up trading it off for a brand new Mini-14. During the time I had that gun it was fed factory ammo only. I was pretty much unaware of ammunition like the Garrett Hammerheads that I bought with the intention of using in this "little" revolver.....as well as my Rossi M92.
So, off to the range I go......Well sir, that first round was an attention getter.......and the second was an actual warning .............that I did not heed. It was the third round that drew blood. Right hand, just outside the web of the thumb.....and I left a blood trail all the way to the first aid box. And yes, I stopped on the way home and bought a pair of gloves. So, if and when someone markets grips designed to tame this "little" gun, you will find me standing in that line. :wink:

p.s. of the two shown, I shot the "lighter" rounds....... :shock:

I have the round-butt .44 Mag Kodiak, it will never come close to a Garrett round.
Those I save for the full-gripped 4-inch Reds.
Denis

I guess I'll share my RedHawk .45 Colt/.45ACP here.

I ordered it in June 2016, and received it in July. I took it with me on a trip to Arizona to visit a very good friend, who also happens to own and love many Ruger handguns. I knew he would appreciate it! The first thing I noticed upon taking the gun out of the box was that the rear sight blade was broken. :-/ It clearly had been broken before it was put in the box, because the broken piece was no where to be found, and the box was undamaged.

Shortly after I arrived in AZ, he suggested I "dry fire the hell out of it", so I did. After a lot of dry firing (I wasn't counting), I started to encounter some problems. First, the trigger was "dragging" on return, eventually it got to the point that I had to push it forward. My friend took it apart and polished some parts, and reassembled. It worked fine for a while, then the problems returned. Lather, rinse, repeat about 4 times. Eventually it got to the point that the gun would "lock up"; the trigger wouldn't go all the way to the rear, nor the cylinder fully rotate. Opening the cylinder would "unlock" it, but the problem persisted. It would lock up after no more than 50 trigger pulls, and sometimes much more quickly. My friend even took some of the parts out of his gun and installed them in mine, but the problems persisted. Mind you it had not yet even been fired.

So I called Ruger and arranged for a return. They emailed me a shipping label and I shipped it back. They sent it back to me a few weeks later. There was no written indication of the work done, but clearly the rear sight blade had been replaced, and I believe they replaced the entire trigger assembly. This one seems to fit the frame better (the line where they meet is much less noticeable than it had been previously).

So I finally got to shoot it! Ouch! Much like Yetiman, the top left corner of the wooden grip just drives into the 2nd joint of my thumb, and it hurts like hell. Mind you, I've shot the same ammo through my BlackHawk .45 Colt/.45 ACP without issue.

Yetiman said:

I have a Kodiak Backpacker with the rounded frame. The back corner at the top of the left panel bites my thumb just below the joint (which is the case with all the Redhawks I have tried with stock wood).

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So, I decided to order a Tyler T-Grip. The idea was that the T-Grip would fill the space behind the trigger guard, pushing my hand further down the grip, so the grip wouldn't drive into my thumb. What a bad idea.... It took about two months for the T-Grip to show up. When it finally did, even though they list specifically for a RedHawk, it didn't fit. After about 2 hours with a Dremel, and it finally fits reasonably well. Unfortunately, it doesn't make much of a difference, if any. It still hurt to shoot it. $30 plus shipping wasted.

At this point, I was pretty desperate. I really want to like this gun! I did a lot of looking online for grips that would fit it and reduce/eliminate my problem. I couldn't find any grips that were made for it, and everything I read said that grips for "regular RedHawks" wouldn't fit it. I decided to buy a set & take my chances! I found a used set of Pachmyer Presentation grips on Ebay I was able to buy for about half of what I paid for the T-Grip, so the risk was minimal. I bought them and gave them to myself for a Christmas present.

They installed without a problem, and have pretty much eliminated my problem with the RedHawk. While there is certainly some recoil (I wouldn't say it's equal to or less than a .38 Special), it is MUCH more manageable than it was, and it also certainly doesn't hurt.

You may be asking why the Presentation grip specifically, here is my thinking. First of all, it eliminates the hard wood corner that caused the problem in the first place (duh). Secondly, it completely envelopes the entire grip, so you won't see that the grip frame doesn't meet the grip (leaves an unfilled gap where the grip is rounded). And finally, I had a set of "gripper" type grips on a .357 mag, and while they certainly helped, it was still uncomfortable when the steel grip frame pounded into the palm of my hand. This grip eliminates that as well. The ammo I'm shooting right now is basic .45 Colt and .45 ACP, so that probably wouldn't be an issue right now, but I may want to shoot some more powerful ammo later.

As an aside: I also bought a set of 3 reduced power main springs from Wolf, 12, 13 and 14-lbs. I have tried the 13 and 14-lb versions, and they both produced some failures to fire. So, I reinstalled the factory spring. If anyone wants them at a bargain price, send me a PM!

The Pachmayr Presentation grips are what I use on my Redhawk. They work well with the heavy loads. Some people use the Uncle Mikes grips as well but they are getting hard to find.

If you are getting FTF with the Wolff springs, try using the 14 lb spring AND a small piece of the 12 lb spring. This combination gives me a 10 lb DA and 4.75 lb SA trigger pull, measured on my Lyman Digital Trigger Pull Gauge. I used a Dremel to cut off a piece of the 12 lb spring.

If you reload, use Federal primers. Avoid CCI primers unless you like to fire in SA mode the whole time.

One more tip - hammer and trigger shims will help smooth things out.

I'm very happy with my old style square grips I shaped to round grip. They are fatter and give me a better grip. Real wood looks better imo. Buy them used and shape go ur liking.

I am satisfied with the Tyler T-Grip on mine. After hearing a lot of horror stories about extensive wait times for T-Grips, my turnaround time was ten days. May be a matter of what they have in stock.

you could always fill the void with a little bedding compound and get a good tight fit you wouldn't have to worry over.

Maybe if Ruger keeps putting out more guns like the 357 8 shot with the round grip we will start seeing some nice grips. I would like a Pachmayer grip that moves my hand down the grip frame and tucks the little finger a little under the bottom frame like they do for S&W round buts.

samxxix said:

I'm very happy with my old style square grips I shaped to round grip. They are fatter and give me a better grip. Real wood looks better imo. Buy them used and shape go ur liking.

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Aren't the square butt grips around, 1/8" to 3/16" longer than the round butt grips?