Bearcat grips

Just acquired a new used blue Bearcat. The grip panels don't fit the frame super well, leaving the back strap of the frame exposed along each edge. I can live with the appearance of them, but the bottom of the grip frame at the back edge is kinda sharp and pokey. Not really comfy. I am considering ordering another set of grip panels from Shopruger.com, and wonder if the experience of those here on the board is that there is enough variance in the size of the panels to maybe make it worth trying as a way to cover the exposed corners of the grip frame. If this was a stainless Bearcat I would fearlessly dehorn the offending area, but I'm hesitant to do that and use cold blue to try to cover evidence of the butchery. Any advice?

Maybe a set of slightly oversize unfinished custom grips that I could sand to fit would do the trick. It doesn't appear that many people offer custom Bearcat grips, though.

Two sets later from Ruger and the fits still is not correct. The two sets sent me were the laminated variety. I never bought a set of the ones on ShopRuger.com. They may fit better. Since this is an ongoing problem you would do think they could make a small change in the manufacture specs and build some that actually fit.

Ok, that's good to know. I think I'm just going to round the sharp corners a bit and use some cold blue instead of throwing good money after bad replacing grips.

Before you modify the gun,, contact Zane at Lone Star Custom Grips. He's a member here (lscg) and I think he does grips for bearcats.

Sadly,,, due to the specs of frames sent to the outsourced grip makers,, obvious differences in fit happen.

Not sure if you are looking for aftermarket grips or not, but Sack Peterson also makes some nice American Stag grips. I have a pair and they fit very nice. I love stag on stainless. I think they look better on the Bearcat than other guns.

I also see where Eagle makes some aftermarket grips, they are about $100 for a set.

I will not defend Ruger with differences in tolerances. It is common for recent guns to have grossly undersized grips. Comparing the newer plywood grips to the older Rosewood, walnut, or even faux-ivory grips, these new grips are definitely smaller, and would not fit any of my Ruger revolvers. But it is what it is. The undersized grips are the new normal, and your choices are, live with it and make excuses, replace the grips with older grips that fit better, or trim the grip frame. That's easy with stainless, but requires some extra work if you're doing this to a blued grip frame. I'm not comfortable cold-bluing the grip frame on an otherwise nicely blued gun.

Usually, I go to my stash of older grips, and find these older grips fit like they should. I have also trimmed down the grip frame on a couple recent acquisitions.

It seems to me that it would be fairly simple for Ruger to make the grips a tiny bit bigger to eliminate this apparently common problem. I guess they just don't really care to. I just took a file and some 320 grit "wet or dry paper" to radius the sharp corners and back edge of the bottom of the grip frame to dehorn it. It really didn't require the removal of very much material. This is a "using" gun and not a collector gun, and the work I did is basically finishing the shaping of the frame, which Ruger really should have taken care of before bluing it.

arfmel said:

It seems to me that it would be fairly simple for Ruger to make the grips a tiny bit bigger to eliminate this apparently common problem. I guess they just don't really care to. I just took a file and some 320 grit "wet or dry paper" to the sharp corners and back edge of the bottom of the grip frame to dehorn it. It really didn't require the removal of very much material. This is a "using" gun and not a collector gun, and the work I did is basically finishing the shaping of the frame, which Ruger really should have taken care of before bluing it.

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Yep, there's that. If you're comfortable with the way it turns out, then that's all that matters.

I also understand there is sometimes a fine line between what some folks would see as a minor cosmetic defect as opposed to being a more serious imperfection. This poor fitting grip, in a soft shooting revolver such as a .357 might be just cosmetic. This same grip, in a .44 magnum, could be quite uncomfortable.

Man. I thought mine were bad. Those are terrible. I guess Ruger doesn't have anybody looking at guns they ship.

arfmel said:

Man. I thought mine were bad. Those are terrible. I guess Ruger doesn't have anybody looking at guns they ship.

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They don't have to. This poor workmanship is heavily accepted and defended. There's many folks, even on this forum with a completely different point of view, saying it's unfair to expect too much from a mass produced gun. Really.

It is what it is. :mrgreen:

I took this very question to the management folks at Ruger while at SHOT a few years ago. I was told,, DIRECTLY,, that they are aware of the issues,, and are working to try & fix it. But,, it was due to the fact that when they sub out the grip making,, to companies that make them now,, (not when Lett was making them,) they send computer specs of the grip shapes,,and grips are made off that. And when a company makes tens of thousands of them,,, before the complaints come in,, they can't fix things quickly. Ruger doesn't make the grips in house nor do they pay close attention to how a set fits the frame. As long as they assemble,, they go out the door.

contender said:

I took this very question to the management folks at Ruger while at SHOT a few years ago. I was told,, DIRECTLY,, that they are aware of the issues,, and are working to try & fix it. But,, it was due to the fact that when they sub out the grip making,, to companies that make them now,, (not when Lett was making them,) they send computer specs of the grip shapes,,and grips are made off that. And when a company makes tens of thousands of them,,, before the complaints come in,, they can't fix things quickly. Ruger doesn't make the grips in house nor do they pay close attention to how a set fits the frame. As long as they assemble,, they go out the door.

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I know Ruger does not make these grips. But I also don't think Ruger should have to wait for complaints to come from the customers before they attempt a remedy. Anybody on the production line could have blown the whistle much earlier. And if they were looking at a remedy two years ago, but my most recent Blackhawk still had these ill fitting grips, they aren't looking very hard for this said remedy.

Bottom line... I don't expect a change. I'll continue to buy what I believe are very decent guns for the money, but I'll also continue to stockpile the older grips that fit so much better. :mrgreen:

Quoting myself, "it is what it is".

On the earlier posts the grips I spoke of, if they were positioned with the index pin then there was a gap between the rounded part of the grip and the frame large enough that I could read news print through it. I ended up enlarging the index pin hole so they fit a little better.