S&W N Frame - Gripping Questions

R

Ryder

New member
Got a 29-2 N frame S&W last week and want to put new grips on it. Trying to figure out the difference between "Square" and "Round" grips.

Will either fit my pistol or is this a situation where the round grip won't fit a square frame?

If this is a frame thing as opposed to a grip style thing how can I tell if mine is a round or square style frame?

I notice the frame shows most of the way along the back of the butt on mine yet on some others I've vnoticed that slot only extends halfway to the end of the butt.

Thanks!
 
Probably the biggest share of them are square butt. You can tell if the rear grip strap comes to an acute angle with the bottom of the grip. The round butt is more skinny.
 
A square butt grip will fit a round butt frame, but the fit may be kind of sloppy. Depends on the grip.

A round butt grip will not fit a square butt frame. Way too much grip left over.

If your gun is older than 2 or 3 years, it's going to be a square butt. S&W is currently making only round butt frames -- the square butts have been dropped from production.

Interestingly, that brings the company full circle. When the Hand Ejectors were first introduced, they were all round butts frames. Square butt frames were introduced in the early 1900s.
 
If your gun is older than 2 or 3 years, it's going to be a square butt.
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Disagree Mike. Some round butt short barrel 29s made before that.

Ryder.....tis the shape of the grip frame that determines whether round or square butt. NOT the shape of the grips themselves. Square butt backstrap has a gentle arc and forms a nearly right angle with the bottom of the grip frame. Round butt has considerably more arc and tucks in gently to meet the bottom of the grip frame.

Sam
 
"Some round butt short barrel 29s made before that."

Horton special order?

But you do realize, of course, that there is nothing to recommend a Smith & Wesson revolver of ANY vintage, for any reason, what-so-ever -- old, new, ancient, blue, that they're all cut from the same substandard, agreement-laden cloth?

Just thought you'd like to know...
 
Mike

Horton.....yep.

I do think you stuck your tongue THROUGH you cheek:D

Tween the two of us, we have amassed a LOT of quality S&Ws.

Haven't kept any recent ones tho.

Sam
 
Speaking of quality S&Ws (obviously, this shows my level of bias, again), my 24-3?

Shoots like a FREAKING CHAMP with the 200-gr. Blazers.

6 shots, 25 yards, all touching. That happened 3 out of 6 times.
 
My .44 Magnum 3" RB was from about 1984, IIRC. Quite a while ago already. Don't think it was Horton. Came in a reg Smith box.

Not real practical as it was about as big as any N frame and it seemed like you lost a lot of oomph compared to the 6.5 or 8 3/8" the .44 was designed for. Still the RB with smooth grips looked c-o-o-l.;)
 
Yeah.....you do lose a lot of the Mag's whump with a 3" barrel but there is still a LOT left. Usually more than any lesser cartridge with 6" barrel.

Somebody put up chrono results of .44 mag with NO barrel. Results were fairly heavy bullet sitll around 1100 fps.

Gotta get me a beater Dan Wesson for that and other insane reasons.

Sam
 
Thank you

I put a square butt grip on order.

My first pistol 30 years back was a Model 19 which I lost (never would have sold it). I'm a little larger now and the Mod 29 seems built to scale.

There isn't much else out there in the way of short bbl'd 44mags. I actually was considering trimming the bbl off my Super Redhawk!! :barf:
 
ROUND OR SQUARE FRAME

Call S&W's toll-free number and with the serial number of your revolver they can tell you if the piece has a round or square butt.Then you will know for sure. Their number to call is:
1-800-331-0852.
 
By the bye, it's possible to have a Smith & Wesson square butt grip frame cut down to round butt shape and dimensions for $50 to $100. My personal preference is for the round butt. I didn't care for the look and feel of it at first, but it seems to fit my medium to slightly small hand better.
 
If the revolver is a 29-2, it is a square butt.... ;) Round butt 29's didn't appear till the early 90's, and many of them had square butt conversion grips.

The round butt frames give you the option of "having it your way". :D
 
Mike, Sam, Wheelgun and the others, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

WE have a problem.

If you folks keep talking about how neat the older Smiths are, pretty soon, somebody will listen.

AND THEN what will happen? All them no good pieces of hog slop made by a commie company that made a pact with the devil will dry up.

THEN what are we going to do????
 
But you do realize, of course, that there is nothing to recommend a Smith & Wesson revolver of ANY vintage, for any reason, what-so-ever -- old, new, ancient, blue, that they're all cut from the same substandard, agreement-laden cloth?
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Taking it to the childish level?

That's nice.
 
Mike Irwin,

I have no problem with Smith products. New, old, or cut from what ever cloth. Political correctness at play here too, if you know what I mean.
 
Mannlicher,

I GENERALLY don't have problems with Smith products, except for the fact that their quality has been slipping since the middle 1990s...

I have a LOT of problems with Smith's politics of the past few years.

And no, I don't know what you mean by PC at play, unless you mean the PC that every gun owner should exercise in attempting to protect his/her rights against assaults from the government and their minions in private industry. Obviously, then, I don't think every one is PC enough.

But that's my bombastic anti-S&W bias showing through again.

So much so that I went out and purchased my 12th Smith & Wesson revolver this afternoon -- my 5th S&W .357 Mag., to boot.
 
But that's my bombastic anti-S&W bias showing through again.
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Mike, coming right out and saying it, doesn't make it any more obvious than it has been. Nor is it a "smokescreen".

Mannlicher, ignore the bias.

But...it IS a fact that the "older" Smiths are of almost legendary quality. The new ownership is fighting to regain that status.
 
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