Ed, what Drydock said is correct, the grip size is the only difference (plus Army gripframe is all steel). However, you may have a problem finding a 5.5" with the Army grip. This may have changed (look on Cimarron and Taylors websites to compare models), but the way it used to be was that the Navy versions came in any barrel length, but the Army came only in the 7.5". Finding someone who wants to swap Navy for Army grip set shouldn't be too hard, though.