Bullseye Grips for the Smith & Wesson SW22 Victory

Not long ago, I wrote about Bullseye Grips, and their various offerings for a select few popular firearms. These include 1911 models, the Ruger Mark III and IV 22/45 pistols, and the SW22 Victory from Smith & Wesson. After that intro, Andy from Bullseye Grips offered to send a pair for us to try out. I immediately thought of a good friend of mine who has a S&W Performance Center SW22 Victory similar to mine. I say similar, because although they started out the same, we’ve taken different paths as we customize them. Since he doesn’t have the oversize safety we agreed that the thumbrest model from Bullseye would be perfect for him. Emails were exchanged, and a few days later the grips, in Grey Starburst G10, arrived.

Bullseye Grips, a quick recap

Andy mills these grips from sheets of G10, which is the strongest fiberglass laminate available. Layers of glass cloth and epoxy resin are cured with heat while under compression.  The result is a material that is very durable and stable, with a variety of colors available. Although the color options are probably limited only by imagination, Andy found that sticking to a few key shades makes inventory easy, because he needs to buy an entire sheet at a time. So custom colors are not available. We think the current options are more than acceptable though.

Installation

On the SW22 Victory, replacing grips is as easy and as removing four screws, and making sure parts don’t fall out. On the left side is the slide lock, and the magazine release spring is on the right. The grips pretty much hold them in place. So I recommend doing one side at a time. Since these are the thumbrest grips, doing the right side first makes a little more sense. If you do the left side first, that pointy thumbrest won’t allow the pistol to stay flat on the work space. Not a big deal, but worth noting. Either way, it’s a very straightforward swap, as long as nothing falls out of place.

First impressions

Not going to lie, I really like these Bullseye Grips. If I hadn’t installed the oversize safety on my own SW22 Victory, I would get a pair for it. That thumbrest is very comfortable, and makes for a solid grip. And the color goes great with the carbon fiber barrel. I even saw another SW22 Victory on our local classifieds at a very fair price, and considered buying it just so I could throw some of these grips on it. But buying another pistol just so I could buy some grips didn’t sit well with my wallet. Needless to say, Justin, the owner of the pistol pictured, was absolutely stoked when he first got his hands on these grips.

Actual range time

When we finally got some range time, we were able to confirm that these are not just a pretty set of grips. They fit very naturally in hand, and that thumbrest is positioned perfectly. The SW22 Victory is no lightweight, and it is just a .22, so it’s not like it’s difficult to control. But the Bullseye Grips allow for a very solid grip. This is already a nice pistol in so many ways, I just think it points a little better now too.

Of course, our opinions might be biased, as we both have considerable money into these pistols, and no one likes to trash talk their investment. While we were shooting, we let the guy next to us try out the pistol. I had put my suppressor on it, and he had never shot a suppressed .22 before. Yeah, I felt bad, as he’s missing out. Anyway, in addition to the smiles and giggles, he mentioned how much he likes the grips too. How relevant is that? Well, suppressor, carbon fiber barrel, Holosun, all on a Performance Center S&W. And the first thing he mentioned was the grips. Just sayin’.

So what’s the verdict?

There’s no question that we both like these grips. Bullseye Grips improve the looks and performance of the SW22 Victory. That’s really what it comes down to. Whether it’s worth the money is an individual choice, but there is no question that they are high quality, and well thought out. I like them so much, I’m considering a set for one of my Mark IV Rugers.

When they were sold on Etsy, Andy sold nearly 2,000 sets, and had plenty of five star reviews. On his new site, they sell for $84.95, which includes shipping. That’s a pretty fair price, considering that there aren’t many other similar options (at least, not that I am aware of) out there. The standard version, without the thumbrest, sell for $69.95. Considering that Andy built his own mill, and handles everything himself, the price is reasonable. Each set gets the attention of a custom set of grips. He doesn’t have the economy of scale some of the bigger retailers do, but they also don’t offer a similar product.

I’d like to thank Andy for sending out this pair of grips for us to review and write about. Just seeing that someone offered them made me happy. Getting to actually try them out, and having them exceed my expectations was a huge plus. Mostly, I’m impressed and pleased that someone saw a niche, filled it, and has been pretty successful at it too. If you want to get your own, or at least see what Andy has to offer, check out bullseyegrips.com.

Comments? Questions? Have any of our readers tried out Bullseye Grips? Feel free to share below.