View Single Post
Old August 9, 2009, 09:55 PM   #7
CraigC
Junior member
 
Join Date: November 28, 2001
Location: West Tennessee
Posts: 4,300
Quote:
The best explanation of grip sizes, that I have found, is on the ajax grip web site.
It's bad when a gripmaker doesn't know which of their grips fits what. Ajax has both incorrect and missing information. The best reference for Ruger grip frames is Bill Hamm's article on Gunblast. Look it up in their archives.

#1 and #4 are one and the same. The steel XR3 guns require a recess cut in the grips for the locking mechanism because the grip frame is thinner than usual. The lock stands proud out of the grip frame. The new XR3-RED guns with the internal lock have a thicker grip frame and thus, do not require the recess. So all XR3-RED pattern guns' grips are interchangeable, to a degree because of individual variations, from 1962 to present. I don't know why they've got it as 1962-2004.

2. Ruger has never used a 4½" length and the Super has never been built with a 6½" barrel, except for a handful of early Supers shipped with flat-top barrels. The proper barrel lengths are 4 5/8" and 5½".

3. There's no if's and's or but's. All New Vaqueros and 50th anniversary Blackhawks come equipped with the steel XR3 grip frame and internal lock. Plus the new .44Spl Blackhawk. They still can't get the name right. It's the New Vaquero.

8. The original .32 "Super" Single Sixes (Super denoting adjustable sights) were equipped with the XR3-RED pattern grip frame. The early fixed sight .32's also had this grip frame. Only the later model fixed sight guns had the short XR3-RED grip frame.


As the others have pointed out, you need grips for the standard Blackhawk or Vaquero. The 4 5/8" and 5½" Supers were equipped with a different grip frame than the 7½" and 10" models. I don't know why anybody would want to destroy the fine handling qualities of a good single action by installing oversized rubber grips. It eliminates the inherent "roll", making the sixgun stick to your palm, actually accentuating recoil and pushing more of it straight back into your palm. Rubber grips do not cushion your hand from recoil as the backstrap is completely exposed, that's where you feel it. Properly fitting custom grips are a far better solution.

Last edited by CraigC; August 9, 2009 at 10:03 PM.
CraigC is offline  
 
Page generated in 0.02883 seconds with 8 queries