4.2" 686 - help me pick a set of grips!

Claven2

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So far, I have three grip sets on-hand and a 4th en-route. I actually am hopeful the 4th set will be THE set, but we shall see.

So which stocks would you guys suggest I stick with?

Candidate 1, OEM grips. These have a VERY thin rubber at the backstrap, most of the rest of the grip is hard plastic with a cosmetic rubber overmould. These stocks are NOT hogue, they are a S&W design. Better than 629 grips, but not by a whole lot IMHO. Size-wise though, they are really quite good.

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Candidate 2, vintage OEM round butt grips. These actually feel really nice in-hand, but will be too small for prolonged .357 MAG shooting I suspect. They DO have that hot vintage-chic look about them though ;) Kinda reminds me of an Early Model 27, but in stainless and full underlug.

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Candidate 3, Hogue un-checkered rosewood laminate mono-grip with a single finger groove. Nicely made stock that is all one piece, but being conversion grips, they don't feel as nice in the web of the hand as they would if the revolver were a square butt variant. Also, whenever I hold these grips, I feel like hte gun should be an N frame - they feel just a hair too big in-hand for the size of the revolver in my view. I have about average size hands, if I had large hands they would feel a bit better, I think.

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Candidate 4, natural rosewood grips with a lot of colour figure. Although they have OEM medallions in them (cool!) these are actually aftermarket grips I got from an e-bay seller in Thailand. They look cool though and I'm really hoping they will feel nice in the hand as well (?) The grip strap is exposed on these grips, but the finger grooves extend beyond the front of the grip frame.

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Lol - 3 and 4 are the only wood grips with finger grooves that I listed!

Honestly, the OEM grips are very workable. I may put them back on. Still undecided. If I could get an exact copy of the OEM grips, but in wood with medallions, I would go that route.
 
When 4 comes in, I'll post pics of them on the gun to help with visualization ;)

I'd also like to see pics of what ppl are putting on their round butt 686's.
 
I have a set of Ahrends Tactical conversion without finger groves ordered, however they will be over two months till I get them so it'll be a while for a pic.
 
Would love to see those Ahrends when they get here. I also like NILLS grips, but can't justify $300 for a set ;)

As for the hogue rubbers, I think they would not be much of an improvement over the stock grip, unless I found a S&W branded set perhaps? They look a LOT better than pachmayr grips, but I'm still not a fan of putting goodyears on my revolvers, no matter how practical.
 
When 4 comes in, I'll post pics of them on the gun to help with visualization ;)

I'd also like to see pics of what ppl are putting on their round butt 686's.

Lots of pictures on their site. I ordered from them a few times and nice doing business with. The ebony is really nice, like most of their stuff.
w.....eaglegrips
 
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