Morning Win-Mag, very nice looking grips, quite befitting a lady.
Aesthetically, I’m in the Magna crowd, diamond preferably. BUT for shooting they leave much to be desired.
Your coco Hogues have pleasing lines and checkering, I’ve haven’t tried that profile, it looks good to me. Kudos.
Good Luck on your on continuing quest.
Aesthetically, I’m in the Magna crowd, diamond preferably. BUT for shooting they leave much to be desired.Same here, but I've learned a lot about S&W factory grips over their decades of use, most of which is not encouraging for the purist. Since they took the diamond out, craftsmanship and pride has declined. They became chunkier and flatter, checkering got smaller in area, and flatter diamonds. Worst of all, the quality of the alleged gonca alves wood went down until there was no "flash" and fancy grain to most. Lady Di's original grips looked more like yellow pine, and not even fit for a commoner to wear. All too much time and materials to spend on something pricey that you're still trying to squeeze another ten cents of cost out. I see it in the auto industry all the time. The old-style Magna grips that somehow were still made of quality wood I keep stashed in a safe place.
Aside from lots of rubberized ergo-grips on the current product line, any models with wood or laminated grips apparently come from Hogue, which has spent big money to remain state-of-the-art on this area. With CNC checkering and shaping equipment, they can do more pleasing shapes, instead of by hand. The S&W aftermarket line has some of the styling cues of the old Magna stuff, but its overall shape is more rounded and contemporary.
Just a quick news alert from
Saturday Night Gun Pron: Santa had to leave these with a FFL holder, rather than in my stocking, but Boxing Day at the local gun store let them UN-box some of the stuff that just arrived. They had two items in my unofficial "hold" spot, waiting for my approval.
On the right, the now-rarely-seen CZ 75 SP-01 Tactical, with a diploma that shows that employee who administered the final exam might have hit the beer-vending machine in the lunch room a bit too much, first. No problemo, it leaves me with an achievable goal to "shoot for". :)
On the left, a bit of a mystery, but with great credentials. Both are all-steel, the SP-01 in .40, the Police in 9mm. Both got welcome-to-America grips fancier than the black rubber or plastic ones they arrived with. They may yet acquire some high-tech grips.
The basic model, "75 BD" is, according to the catalog, an ordinary variation, and part of their regular product line (if you can ever find one). Value-conscious shooters tend to snap up CZ products so quickly that most don't stay in stores for long. It's almost a cult item, with not enough for even the hard-core to just walk into a country (never urban) Wally World and get rung up.
What makes this one a mystery, outside the factory, is the combination of features that appear (or not) on different sub-models. All-steel frame, loaded chamber indicator, bright stainless trigger, can be found in different permutations on other models, but not all together on one. Especially the slide stamping POLICE, which isn't documented anywhere. To the CZ "enthusiast", it adds a hint of mystery to what already is a fine weapon that can be made even finer with the proper skills.