Both revolvers are .22s, so I know recoil is not really a problem. They were chosen mainly to model the new grips. On the left is the new, and vey radical Ergo grip. It looks weird, and feels weird for about the first ten seconds. It provides a meaningful grip for all fingers, and aligns the grip with a natural line from your wrist down to the elbow, or so they claim.
Next to it is the new Hogue "bantam" grip for the J-frame. It's designed to provide a decent grip except for your pinkie, which is usually forgotten on all these compact grips. It's better than the original "Magna" grips (second from right), which were touted as an improvement over the original absolute-minimum grips, which extended only as far as the checkered area, and were intended more to protect the internal mechanism, with less thought towards the shooter's hand. Finally, an Ahrend's hardwood concealment grip, designed to function much like the Hogue "bantam".
For realistic worst-case testing, one of the salesmen at the LGS borrowed one of their scandium 11 ounce J-frames in .357Magnum (yes, they DO exist), and put on the Ergo grip. Common knowledge, validated by painful personal experience, admits the recoil is brutal (and a big deterrent to practice with the weapon, and gain added confidence).
With the Ergo grips, the recoil was still heavy (muzzle rise about 45 degrees, even for big guys), but not as brutal, because the final "slap" at the end of the recoil movement, didn't happen.
The Ergo grip does not fit on the S&W BG38, which is a quasi-J-frame, but shot about as well as my Model 60, but weighed six ounces less, which settled it for me. Accuracy, and shooting comfort, were roughly equal, so I retested the pair, the Ergo on the M60, and the new Hogue grips made specifically for the BG38, on the other. What used to be approximately equal results now produced these new results:
I instantly decided that an extra six ounces of weight was a small price to pay for more comfort and control (recoil still heavy, but manageable for even 50 rounds of practice), and far better accuracy. It was a no-brainer for me, but YMMV.
Another no-brainer for shooting comfort hit me recently, but I've gotten so used to the idea, I keep forgetting to mention it. First, consider a pair of shooting gloves. I use Surefire leather/nomex pilot's gloves, and they're worth every cent. Also, due to my carpal tunnel in my right hand, a couple of inexpensive terry tennis wristbands keeps my carpal tunnel syndrome from flaring up, especially with heavy recoil.