Slim Is In

The newish trend in pistols seems to me to be that less is more.  Designers have figured out that pistol shooters, concealed carriers especially, don't like bulky pistols.  At least not pistols that are bulkier than need be.  The Glock SF, S&W M&P series, Ruger SR9 and now Sig is getting in on the size reduction of their pistols with the new P226 & P229 E2 pistols.  They've reduced the size of the backstrap and overall size of the grip, plus an improved texture.

This makes perfect sense to me, when I was tearing down a couple of P226s to refresh the springs for the owners, I marveled that there was so much wasted space in the frame and these pistols could have been a LOT smaller than they actually were.  Looks like Hans & Co. thought the same thing, eh?

The reduced grip will help those with smaller hands, but I think it'd guys with larger hands too, how?  Simply put, I've got ham-hands and the web between my thumb and forefinger is especially meaty.  So when I close my hand up, this area takes up a lot of space, I typically put the smallest backstrap on a pistol like the Walther P99 or S&W M&P to give that part of my hand a place to go.  That chunk they took out of the backstrap looks awfully inviting to me, this gun looks like it'd fit me like a glove.

Now I'm wondering if there'd be a way to retrofit an older P226 or P229 to this new grip?