Aftermarket Grips & Forearms

[Axehandle]

Spent the last 35 years with TC popguns.... Little bullets and fine looking Bullberry wood.....  Just flipped over to the dark side with a 375 JDJ G2 Contender and a 378 GNR Encore.  Thinking that I'll need all the cushion I can get...  What is the general concensus?  Pachmayr Decelerator Grip and Forearm?

[Darrell H]

Axehandle,

I have had 2 MGM .376 Steyr barrels in the past along with a couple of .460's, .500 S&W's etc.  The were some pretty hard kickers in the bunch.  The Pachmayr grip works great.  However, if you like wood, I used a Bullberry grip on my Encore with the above mentioned barrels and recoil wasn't painful at all; it worked really well.  The Bullberry grip is "rounder" and wider than the factory grip and distributes recoil in the hand very well IMHO.  The only thing that I hate about the Pachmayr grip for the Encore is the sloppy fit to the frame.  The G-2 Pachmayr fits wonderfully, I don't know why the Encore grip doesn't.  Good luck with whatever you decide!   

[securitysix]

I use the Pachmayr Gripper and fore end on my Contender.  When shooting from the bench, I can get a better rest on the front bag with the Pachmayr fore end than I can with the T/C fore end and I can get a more consistent grip on the Gripper than I can the T/C rubber butted wood grip my Contender came with.

Recoil with my braked 14" .223 Remington barrel (came with the gun, I hate brakes and don't shoot it much) and my unbraked 14" 7-30 Waters barrel is not bad at all.  Not sure how it would handle one of the JDJs, but I suspect it would be just fine.

[flipajig]

I have a Bullberry grip and also a Pacmire decelarator grip and like them both. I also have a Pacmire for my Pro hunter frame and it works just fine.

[Ken ONeill]

Stan,
 See my response at Lee's.
Darrell makes a good point regarding the Pachmayr rear grip fit. Looks awful, but feels good.

[I make oil]

I have the Pachmayr Decelerator grips my G2 pistol and love them.  I also have the Pachmayr Presentation grips on my Super Blackhawk in .44mag.  I find they help a lot.  I guess I am different than some of the other guys here but I like the look.  I am a function before form sort of guy anyhow.   

[P.A. Myers]

I have a nice looking walnut grip for my Contender, that was a bit large for my hand. I thought the larger size would spread the recoil more. The T/C grips are often too narrow and wedge your hand with stout recoils. To put my finger properly on the trigger with these big grips, I had to rotate my hand forward and this puts my thumb at a right angle to the gun. I squeezed off a 300gr. at 1485 fps and it just about took my thumb off. Of course I had to do it again.

The message here is to make sure your grips fit, whatever style. I still sometimes use those big grips, but not with anything
that kicks hard.

[Dezynco]

I use a set of Pacy's on my G2 45-70.  They really help with recoil, but they are rather heavy.  I have also noticed that they fill the hand so much that my "trigger finger" tends to rub the front of the trigger guard when I light off the big 45-70.  Helps to wear a mechanic's glove or a soft leather glove on my shooting hand.  It's only a real problem when I shoot repeatedly, once or twice is no problem.

[Hopalong7]

       Not only do the Pachmyer grips feel good and absorb a lot of recoil, but the added weight of the grip and the forend(on the original Contender stye) helps alot to reduce the effect of the recoil.  For the heavy kickers I use nothing else.
Walt