WARNING: Do not attempt on your own. I am a professional Screw Up trained to screw things up. This was just pure luck.

I bought a Smith & Wesson Model 65-2 several years ago. It was a police trade-off and right before gun prices decided to climb to Mount Everest and stay there. It came with the standard wooden grips that had the ergonomics of a splintered 2×4 and I could not get a damn good grip on the thing. Going cheap as I always do, I got myself a Hogue Monogrip for the revolver but still, I could not get a comfortable grip.
My hands have been defined as mutant: Chubby medium length fingers in what should be a large hands and sometimes getting something to feel comfortable is a pain in the knuckle. I eventually modified the Hogue to the point I now can get a grip on the revolver that feels just right and I don’t look like I am trying to play ping-pong with a fly swatter. I don’t shoot the revolver much so these dremel mods have taken a couple of years to do and because I was afraid of screwing up and confess to the wife I needed another grip.

The first modification was the “thumb rest.” (1) Although I call it a thumb rest, the actual reason for that shaving was that more times than not, a spent case would fail to come totally out of the cylinder because it would hit the grip. If you are just plinking, this is not a big problem, but it kinda screws up your attempts of fast reloads while shooting IDPA. The resting thumb part was a bonus and actually helped me with the “crossed thumbs” two hand grip.

Next was #3. That wedge there was as uncomfortable and a source of conflict between the ring finger and the pinkie to the point it was difficult to control recoil in a manner that allowed me to re-acquire the target faster. With a revolver’s need for a higher grip, the ring finger and the pinkie play a big part in controlling the recoil, at least for me.

Last was #2 and the one that took me the longest to figure out, but ten again I am not the brightest bulb in the Enterprise’s console. It was a subtle thing, mostly lack of comfort than anything else. I decided the deepening the groove might be what I was looking for and gave it a try. The reduction was very gradual but right after the first pass I felt that it was much more comfortable to handle. Three very soft passes later, the gun finally felt both comfortable and controllable. Some dry firing showed less wobbling.

Final word will be the range test sometime next week but I think I am going to be very satisfied. Now I have to figure out how to make the worked sections of the rubber grip look somehow good. Ideas are welcome.