OT Bisley grip VS SAA standard grip

Mich Hunter · Post by **Mich Hunter** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 6:01 pm

Just trying to get a feel on recoil for the bisley. I have 6 ruger blackhawks and 1 peacemaker, but no bisley frames. I am wondering how the comfort is with the big boomers on the bisley. I have thought about getting a conversion Blackhawk bisley in 475 or 454. Is there any pro's vs cons with this grip style. I would also want to do the rounded butt conversion but jsut for the style. Seems like the bisely woundn't roll in the hand as nice as the standard grip.

salvo · Post by **salvo** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 6:24 pm

I never did care for the looks of the Bisley, but have often heard how well they handle with heavy recoiling loads. About 6 months ago I made a trade for a Ruger Bisley Vaquero 4 5/8" in .44Mag. I also have a Super Blackhawk 4 5/8" .44Mag. and the first thing I did was compare them side by side with my old standby load of 24.2 gr of H110 and 240 gr JSP.
The Bisley grip really does handle the recoil better and I am even staring to like the looks too.

kimwcook · Post by **kimwcook** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 6:25 pm

Given my experiences I wouldn't shoot a big bore revolver, ie..475, 500, 454 Casull with a standard SAA type grip again. They just plain hurt my hands to do so. Just shooting a SBH with wood grips in a hot 44 mag load is unpleasant. The Ruger Bisley I had converted to 475 by Linebaugh wasn't necessarily a delight to shoot with high end loads but in my opinion it would be down right painful to shoot with a plow handle grip. And, the way I take a two handed hold on a big bore a rounded butt wouldn't effect me one way or the other. I think they're probably a little smoother for handling.

CraigC · Post by **CraigC** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 7:22 pm

Recoil is highly subjective. What works great for one makes another bleed. However, for most shooters (including this one), the Bisley is the way to go for heavy recoil. Another aspect that has a huge impact on felt recoil is the grips themselves. Grips that are properly fitted to both sixgun and shooter can make a world of difference. Particularly on Rugers because their factory grips are so ill-shaped.

Lastmohecken · Post by **Lastmohecken** » Sun Sep 23, 2007 11:01 pm

Recoil really is a subjective thing. I bought the first Ruger Bisley I ever saw in 44mag and had it cut to 4 3/4 inches. It did handle the recoil better then the Super Blackhawk grip did in factory form. The Bisley might be a little harder on the wrist though. And I eventually got away from it, because I developed a bad habit of letting the weight of the gun rest on my trigger finger while on the trigger. Which would occasionally cause me to fire the gun before I was fully ready. Another thing I don't like about the Bisley is the hammer, it is too low for fast shooting, with a hard kicking gun, because the gun will settle a little deeper in the hand after the first shot and I can't cock the low hammer, without re-gripping the gun, because the hammer hits the web of my shooting hand. I did solve this problem by swapping it out for a Super Blackhawk hammer, then it worked good.

At this time I perfer a short barreled Super Blackhawk with the rounded trigger guard.

The best grip I ever had on a single action for a hard kicking gun, which still allowed me to shoot fast repeat shots was a standard Super Blackhawk with a square trigger guard, but I had a set of big smooth Herrett Shooting star Grips on it, and it did have a couple of slots milled in the barrel on each side of the front sight to reduce recoil. You may not believe this but I went to a jackpot bowling pin match one time. We had several Jackpots that day, so we ended up shooting several times. Most people there shot IPSC including me, but everyone was having problems cleaning the table with one magazzene using 1911's. I finally broke out the old Super Blackhawk with some 210gr. Hollowpoints behind 20 grains of 2400 and ended up getting one of the fastest times of the day with it. Of course I wasn't shooting quite as fast as the 1911 boys, but I was cleaning the table with one cylinder full and that made the difference. That big grip was ugly as sin, but it worked better then anything else I ever used on a hard kicking singleaction.

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:33 am

Lastmohecken wrote:
At this time I perfer a short barreled Super Blackhawk with the rounded trigger guard.

But the dragoon-style trigger guard is so COOL!

Lastmohecken · Post by **Lastmohecken** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 12:24 am

Ysabel Kid wrote:
Lastmohecken wrote:
At this time I perfer a short barreled Super Blackhawk with the rounded trigger guard.
But the dragoon-style trigger guard is so COOL!

Yes, they are cool, but that grip doesn't fit my hand very well, I think my 44mag has the slightly different Blackhawk Grip instead and it fits me better.

copen · Post by **copen** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 4:10 pm

It's really a matter of preferance or maybe more so,fit. Kinda like a good fitting shotgun or rifle. Some folks love'em and some hate'em,for whatever reason.This might not be a fair comparison,but my Ruger 5 shot
Bisley is easier to handle with heavy 5 shot loads than my NM Blackhawk
is with heavy 6 shot loads.At least for me.I had considered buying a Bisley conversion kit from Brownells for the NM but decided to try some Hogue grips instead and they work just fine for anything I will be shooting in a 6 shooter.And a h#!! of alot cheaper.Again, may not be a fair comparison.Bisley has 7.5" bbl and NM a 4 5/8.
Non factory slabs may be an even better improvement for the Bisley.

Mojo · Post by **Mojo** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 8:59 pm

The first Bisley I ever shot was the Ruger Vaquero .44 mag. that I now own. It took a little getting used to. My hand wanted to ride up the grip higher than on a regular frame and the back of the trigger guard had a tendency to bite my middle finger when firing relatively heavy loads. It was more a matter of poor shooting form than anything else. It just took a little adjustment to the manner in which I gripped the frame and after I got that worked out I really like the style and feel of the Bisley. However, I did change the grips to thicker slabs which also helped a lot. With a .44 mag. it does seem that the Bisley allows a better grip and I am able to handle the recoil better than other revolvers of similar caliber.

Post by **Ysabel Kid** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 9:09 pm

Lastmohecken wrote:
Yes, they are cool, but that grip doesn't fit my hand very well, I think my 44mag has the slightly different Blackhawk Grip instead and it fits me better.

The Super Black Hawk grip is indeed different - though the same plow-handle shape - of the regular Black Hawks. At least the old models of each (which is what I have). To each their own - these old grips fit me like they were custom made for my hands...