Guys with medium and larger hands have been tucking their little finger under the handle of their single action revolvers since the introduction of Colt’s Navy Model. This isn’t a big problem with early Navy-gripped blackpowder and cartridge revolvers—and their modern clones—owing to their light weight and relatively mild recoil.

The later, heavy frame Blackhawk & Vaquero can be a chore to handle using this two-finger grip; especially with ‘Ruger/Contender’ loads. The previous fix required a Ruger Super Blackhawk, Hunter or Bisley grip frame, fitting it to your frame, refinishing as necessary and then buying a set of grips to match. With Ruger factory grip frames well over a hundred bucks (when you can find them) this can be a fairly expensive proposition.

Texas Grips offers an alternative in their extended grips for Ruger single action revolvers. At 1/2 inch longer than standard grips and with a proportional flare at the butt, it offers a Dragoon sized grip that preserves the plow-handle profile. The owner, Henry Lance offers these grips in a number of attractive hardwoods and laminates, but Mesquite got the nod for my old Vaquero. I wanted Mesquite for its hardness and toughness; I figured it would stand up to heavy 45 Colt loads. I wanted them unfinished because I prefer dark, hand-rubbed oil finishes on my ‘using’ guns. Here are a few photos of the grips in their unfinished state. The workmanship is excellent.

Here’s a couple of photos of the Mesquites with a light coat of walnut stain and three good coats of Tru Oil. It was glossy until I dulled it with 0000 steel wool and hand-rubbed it to a satin finish. I like Tru Oil because it provides a little ‘grippier’ surface than synthetic finishes and touch-ups are easily applied without redoing the whole piece.

Of course I took it out and shot it. Using my 255 Lee RF 900 fps load, I was able to keep all my shots on a 14” gong shooting one handed at 50 yards. I’m going to have to experiment a little because the POI with the longer grips is, predictably, a bit lower in one-handed shooting. Deliberate, two hand unsupported shooting at 100 yards was much better, almost as good as my rested shooting with the factory Ruger grips. I tried three shots each, holding just above center and on the point of the 24” diamond plate. Each effort resulted in three shots clustered in 4-5 inches.

The real test was to see how well the extended grips handled heavy 45 Colt loads. I used a 300 grain XTP/W296 load, good for 1100 fps from short Rugers and a 315 grain gas checked lead SWC (cast weight 330 grains) again powered by W296 to about 1150 fps. The Mesquite Texas made my short Vaquero handle like a Super Blackhawk with 240 grain 44 mag loads. This is easily the most comfortable grip I’ve used with heavy 45 Colt loads in the New Model Ruger revolvers. Using a six o’clock hold with the 300+ grain loads, I made consistent hits on a 4″ dot at 50 yards. Having a full four finger grip on the Vaquero makes it point dead on target and easier to hold on on target in deliberate shooting. This is the best under $100 handgun accessory I’ve used in a long time.

For this shooter, Texas’ ‘extended’ single action grips were a huge improvement over the Vaquero’s factory XR3-RED panels. I recommend them highly to anyone wanting a substantial, yet traditional looking grip for their Ruger Single Action revolver.

https://texasgrips.com/product-category/pistol-grips/ruger/xr3-red/blackhawk-extended-xr3-red-ruger/