How to ID round butt vs Sq. butt *&*

[BobR]

OK,
I will admit it....I am revolver ignorant...but I do have a J frame model 37, (.38 Airweight).

I am getting ready to order some grips for it but I am at a loss between the round butt and square butt. Can someone tell me or post a picture of the difference so I can figure out what I have here.

Someimes it is the little things in life that trip us up!

thanks.

 

[James K]

You are not ignorant at all, because there is a problem. J-frames were made in two type of butts, one is round, the other square. If you look at the gun from the side, and starting at the top back of the grip, the round butt comes down and then curves in toward the front, leaving a short area at the bottom. The square butt continues back, flaring out and then comes to the front at an acute angle with a longer area at the bottom.

But there is a third type of grip, which S&W used. That involves putting a "square butt" grip on a "round butt" gun, with the gap being filled by part of the wood grip itself. In other words, part way down the back strap (the back of the grip) the steel or alloy becomes wood. The grip looks and feels like a square butt, but the actual gun is a round butt.

Jim