Rubber grip panels for a New Model Blackhawk

[MillCreek]

I finally filled a hole in the collection and acquired a .357 Blackhawk in stainless with the 4.62 inch barrel. Up here in the wet part of Washington, I need my outdoor guns to be resistant to water damage. I would like to replace the rosewood panels. I have seen the Hogue and Pachmayr rubber grips for the Blackhawk, but would prefer finding some rubber grip panels to replace the rosewood panels. I would have thought there would be a lot of such available, but I am apparently wrong, according to my Google searches.

Any leads on this?

[jackmoser65]

The factory grips are not actually rosewood but a rosewood colored laminate so there's not much chance of moisture hurting them.

[John D]

Some white or black micarta from Hogue would look nice on that new Blackhawk.

[44 AMP]

Wish I could help, sorry.

I've been running Pachmayr grips on my .357, .45, and .44 Super for so long (30+ years) that anything else simply feels ...wrong.

[MillCreek]

I picked up and installed the Hogue 83000 monogrip today. I am underwhelmed with the fit and the difficulty in installing it. I found a video on the Hogue site suggesting using two business cards as shims while installing it, but there is still a perceptible gap at the backstrap insofar as the grip sits lower than the backstrap. I am puzzled by this insofar as I have several Hogue monogrips on my Ruger DA revolvers and they fit quite well. I might try the Pachmayr presentation instead.

[Isk]

The Hogue Monogrip is terrible on a single action. It entirely changes the feel of the gun and, for me, makes working the hammer harder. I too wish someone made rubber grip panels for the Blackhawk.

My recent solution, oddly, was to take a Pachmayr rubber grip sleeve for a Springfield XD .45 and slide it over the stock Ruger grips. I didn't like the way the grip sleeve felt on my XD and when I pulled it off the XD, the Blackhawk was sitting nearby and I thought "Hmmm."

It has made the grip more comfortable and more stable in my hand (more "grippy"), but I admit I haven't yet shot the Blackhawk with this new grip. I should be trying it out soon.

[MillCreek]

Isk, how interesting! Is it the full-size grip sleeve that has the two finger ridges on it? And it was able to slide over the width of the Blackhawk grip?

[SaxonPig]

Some if not all new BHs come with checkered hard rubber grips. I actually like them and swapped them for the original wood stocks on my Old Model 30 Carbine BH.

[MillCreek]

^^^Mine, purchased new in February 2017, did not. I cannot find any hard rubber grips on ShopRuger or any other parts site. If you have a lead to find them, I would appreciate it.

[MillCreek]

I decided to try the Pachmayr grip. It was a waste of money. The Pachmayr grip does not fit with the existing pin at the base of the grip frame, near the front of the frame. Try as I might, I could not close the 3/8 inch gap of the rubber grip at the base of the front grip frame. There were no directions saying that the pin has to be removed, and I did not try to drive the pin from the frame. I had high hopes for this grip, to replace the Hogue monogrip for the Blackhawk, which also fit poorly around the backstrap, despite using the business card shim trick described on the Hogue website.

Bottom line: if you have a recent manufacturer New Model Blackhawk with a pin near the bottom front edge of the grip frame, this grip will not fit.

So to recap my experience, the Hogue Monogrip fit poorly, the Pachmayr Presentation fit poorly and I have reinstalled the rosewood grip panels to the handgun. At least the stock grip panels fit.

[SaxonPig]

The ones on my BH pictured above are available from as replacement parts directly from Ruger. Call them or check website to order. I happened to find these at a local show priced at $30.

[jackmoser65]

Your factory grips are weatherproof, are you replacing them for some other reason???

[MillCreek]

SaxonPig, I had already looked both on the Ruger and the ShopRuger sites, in addition to Brownell's and Midway: the checkered rubber grips for the New Model Blackhawk are nowhere to be found. Do let me know if you think I am overlooking something.

[SaxonPig]

I called Ruger and a nice lady told me they were available and she gave me the phone number for the parts department. Then I saw a set at a local show and never called. Here's the AZ customer service number.

Telephone: 336-949-5200 / Fax: 928-541-8835

[MillCreek]

JackMoser65, Ruger tells me that my particular rosewood grips are a natural wood product, not a laminate. They sent me a link: http://shopruger.com/Single-Action-R...uctinfo/70046/

[jackmoser65]

I don't care who said what, they ARE a laminated hardwood. The grips in the link are with absolute 150% certainty, beyond any shadow of a doubt, laminated hardwood. I'll buy you a new set of grips if they aren't. Ruger hasn't used real wood since Lett's folded several years ago. That's why they went to the black plastic until their recent affiliation with Altamont. Who produces LAMINATED grips.

[MillCreek]

A follow up this morning from Ruger, responding to my question about purchasing black rubber or plastic grips as are shipped on the current blued New Model Blackhawk:

Good morning Michael,

We do not currently offer black hard rubber plastic grips that fit your model. Thank you for your e-mail. Kyle

So the New Model stainless with no internal lock, manufactured in 2016, must be sufficiently different from all the other Blackhawk models. I wonder if it is the size or location of the roll pin at the bottom front edge of the grip frame, or that the stainless XR3-RED frame is larger in some dimensions, as I have read on the Net.

[Isk]

MillCreek,

It is indeed the rubber slip on grip with the two finger grooves. The finger grooves get a little squished so that they don't quite fit the fingers, and there is a little gap between the slip-on grip and the frame, but the grip doesn't move and it creates a slightly wider grip (which I think is helpful). I suppose an inner tube piece might have the same or similar effect, but I wonder if it would slip over the grips like the Pachmayr did. I had no trouble fitting over the bottom "hump" of the grips.

[Real Gun]

If you put gunstock finish on the inner surface of the grips you have, they should be well protected from moisture.