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Originally posted by Gringo Cazador.....

I have a large Jerry Fisher two screw grip cap laying next to my keyboard. I think it measures about 1.28 X 1.75 or so. I kinda like a big grip, I have to take a lot of wood off to get this to fit on one of the stocks I'm working on. I think a Dressels is a little larger, but not enough to make that much difference.

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Billy....



The size and shape of the grip cap has evolved with the art of the custom stock. I find little quarrel with the following text from Jack O'Connor's "The Rifle Book"...



"The tendency is to make pistol grips too large. The average hand is best fitted with a pistol grip of about 4.75 inches in circumference and almost round but slightly oval in cross-section."



I think there may be a subtle move to making current custom stocks even more slender than that. O'Connor's text was first written in 1949....subsequently again in 1964. I don't know if the quoted text refers to the former or latter era.



But in shape, current custom stockmakers will mostly carry the shape of the grip cap up into the cross-section of the grip. The lines described by the exterior shape of the grip cap blend perfectly into the grip. I actually prefer a diameter less than 4.75"......my favorite 7x57 having a diameter of just under 4.5".



A minor change in this diameter will result in a major difference in the "feel" of the rifle. And of course, as Chic eludes to....there is a strength consideration in heavy kickers.



If grip cap dimensions are carried into the pistol grip cross-section, some nominal diameter grips will result in the following examples:



Fisher 1.75 X 1.28 = 4.75" diameter grip

NECG 1.82 X 1.356 = 4.98" diameter grip

Dressel 1.85 X 1.43 = 5.14" diameter grip



A 5" grip feels huge to me.



GV

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Billy,
That is our goal in life, to bring others along on the road to ruin.

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