My first wheel gun needs spruced up

[Biggredchev]

My lovely Fiancé bought me my first wheel gun for my birthday yesterday. Its a SW 686 and id like to spruce it up a bit with some nice wood grips. Preferably cherry wood. Anyone know where to buy a quality set? The plastic grip does the job but in my opinion a nice wheel gun needs wood grips.

 

[1nderbeard]

I'd probably go with Hogue. They make nice wood grips in addition to their more famous rubber products.

Also - nice piece!

 

[Whip_McCord]

Depends what you are using the 686 for. I shoot a lot of revolvers, including many 686s in various forms. Many have Hogue grips with several Big Butt grips for going prone. Big Butt grips give a good grip even if you do not shoot prone. Hogue makes great grips in several styles. I was going to mention Ahrends grips (I have a few), but just noticed they are not making grips anymore. Kim Ahrends passed away from cancer and they ceased production on 2/22/2020. There are several other places that make nice wood grips for S&W revolvers.

Figure out what type of grip you want; rounded back, squared off back, Big Butt... Take a look at what Hogue has and go from there. They also have many woods to choose from. I'm not sure what type of woods mine have, that was second next to the shape/style of the grip. Here are a few types of grips I have and why I use that type.

• Rounded back: Action sports - steel challenge, ICORE, carry gun (which yours is probably not)
• Squared off back: Precision shooting - Bullseye
• Big Butt: Matches w/ prone shooting - Bianchi Cup, PPC

 

[JHB]

Never seen a set of grips made from Cherry but I think they would look nice.
A few links
https://www.altamontco.com/
https://www.culinagrips.com/
https://www.eaglegrips.com/
https://badgercustomgrips.com/https://texasgrips.com/

 

[gregkl]

A set of factory grips would be nice though they are not cherry.

If you are not tied to cherry, you have quite a few options. JHB's recommendations would be all you really need unless you are into hours of internet searching.

And Whip would be a good source to bounce ideas off since he is very familiar with revolvers!

I have been considering a set for a J-Frame I have and looked at Altamount and Eagle Grips. As I type this, not to thread drift, but Whip do you have any recommendations for a set of grips for my J-Frame? Might be carried OWB and/or tossed in a pocket occasionally.

 

[gmcttr]

Cherry is great for furniture but is very plain grained for small items like grips.

 

[Whip_McCord]

A set of factory grips would be nice though they are not cherry.

If you are not tied to cherry, you have quite a few options. JHB's recommendations would be all you really need unless you are into hours of internet searching.

And Whip would be a good source to bounce ideas off since he is very familiar with revolvers!

I have been considering a set for a J-Frame I have and looked at Altamount and Eagle Grips. As I type this, not to thread drift, but Whip do you have any recommendations for a set of grips for my J-Frame? Might be carried OWB and/or tossed in a pocket occasionally.

Sorry, I don't have wood on my J-frames. I do have a nice Crimson Trace laser grip on one that works great. I won it at a Friends of NRA dinner years ago. My other J-frames have rubber Hogue grips. Wood would like nice, though.

BTW, I have a couple sets of Altamont grips too. They make very nice grips.

 

[jinks]

I have been considering a set for a J-Frame I have and looked at Altamount and Eagle Grips. As I type this, not to thread drift, but Whip do you have any recommendations for a set of grips for my J-Frame? Might be carried OWB and/or tossed in a pocket occasionally.

These are made in HUNGARY and take a few months to ship.

https://www.marschalgrips.com/grip-models/sw.html#j-rd

 

[DoggyDaddy]

These are made in HUNGARY and take a few months to ship.

https://www.marschalgrips.com/grip-models/sw.html#j-rd

Thanks for posting that. That's who I was going to suggest but for the life of me I couldn't remember their name!

 

[Biggredchev]

Thanks guys, i emailed badgercustoms to see what kind of hardwood they had in stock right now. Im not set on cherry, just something along those lines.

The gun is will be a safe/range queen. I dont plan to use it in competition or self defense but it might go with me deer hunting as my backup but thats about it.

 

[Trapper Jim]

My lovely Fiancé bought me my first wheel gun for my birthday yesterday. Its a SW 686 and id like to spruce it up a bit with some nice wood grips. Preferably cherry wood. Anyone know where to buy a quality set? The plastic grip does the job but in my opinion a nice wheel gun needs wood grips.

Congrats. If you are ever up this way (Tipton) shoot me a pm. We can go out to my private range and you can try many different exotic wood grips on your gun. You bring the screwdriver. We can put em on and you can actually shoot to see what style you like.

 

[Biggredchev]

Thanks for the offer, ill definitely keep that in mind. I dont think ill be down that way anytime soon though unfortunately.

 

[DoggyDaddy]

Thanks guys, i emailed badgercustoms to see what kind of hardwood they had in stock right now. Im not set on cherry, just something along those lines.

The gun is will be a safe/range queen. I dont plan to use it in competition or self defense but it might go with me deer hunting as my backup but thats about it.

I've always been partial to the look of Rosewood and it would be more common to find than cherry I think.