Homemade grips for 1873 SA

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jw63ss

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Hi there, i'm new to this forum, so i hope i,m posting in the right category.
I've recently acquired myself a uberti cattleman in 45 colt, it is a blast to shoot, and quite accurate, however i feel that the grips on a 1873 is really, really small and i have medium size hands. I kept getting my knuckle wacked by the trigger guard, i'm probably not gripping it correct, but it didn't feel right to me.
so i decided to make my own wood grips, and make them 3/4 of an inch longer, from a lump of briar burl i bought online.
I know, that the die hard 1873 purist, will probably say that what i've done is blasphemy, but i think i did allright...
 

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I think you did okay, Ill never knock someone for improving the functionality of their firearm. I have to echo Bob Wright, what is pibe root? I have a wood working background and have not heard of this material.
 
Nice woodwork. That being said I have to add that it just doesn’t look right on that pistol to me. However, I do admire your ability to shape wood and put a superb finish on it. I’m envious.
 
jw63ss said:
Briar root, ( or burl ) is a hardwood for making pipes, it is very heat resistant, and smooth grained...
Click to expand...
I think......you did a fantastic job. They are a little big but who cares if you like them.

In reality, you most likely were gripping the gun wrong. Those guns were designed to actually rotate in your hand upon discharge. Which in turn made cocking the gun easier for the next round. But even knowing this, feeling a gun slip in my hand made me uncomfortable. So I sold mine and bought a Redhawk.
 
jw63ss said:
Briar root, ( or burl ) is a hardwood for making pipes, it is very heat resistant, and smooth grained...
Click to expand...

Ah, Thank you! That I know, having been a pipe smoker many years back!

At one time the Rolls Royce automobile had the instrument panels made of briarwood. Don't know if that' s where the model of the car, Briarwood, came from or not.

Bob Wright
 
A word of caution about briar - it tends to be somewhat brittle. And, as the burl is actually part of the roots, it always has sand pits in it - sometimes they are so much, or so big, that the whole plateaux/ebauchon block becomes useless. But, depending on the wood, sandblasting it can show some remarkable texture - see an example bellow:

002-006-2247.jpg

An Ashton Pebble Grain Canadian from Smokingpipes.com

P.S. Myself, I wold fit an 1860 Army frame to that revolver as it is about 1/3" longer.
 
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jw63ss

I think you did just fine! Great looking set of grips that you made yourself and fit your hand size perfectly. What could be better? Life is good!
 
Howdy

You have done a pretty good job of recreating the grip on the Single Action Army Flattop Target model. A very rare variation of the Single Action Army, it had an extra long grip, longer than the plow handle grip of the standard SAA. I have a photo in one of my books, but I have not come across a photo of this model with the extra long grip on the web to direct you to. But it was a good deal longer than the normal SAA grip.

For what it's worth, I discovered a long time ago the secret to prevent getting the knuckle of my middle finger whacked by the trigger guard in recoil was to leave about 1/4" between my knuckle and the trigger guard. Attempting to cram my entire hand onto the grip was guaranteed to keep my knuckle hard against the trigger guard, resulting in an uncomfortable whack. But by not attempting to cram my entire hand onto the grip but instead curling my pinky under the grip, I found that I would automatically open up a space of about 1/4" between my knuckle and the trigger guard.

This method of shooting a SAA has served me well for quite a few years now, full house Black Powder 45 Colt loads have a respectable recoil, but my knuckle has not gotten whacked in a long time.
 
Driftwood Johnson said:
Howdy

You have done a pretty good job of recreating the grip on the Single Action Army Flattop Target model. A very rare variation of the Single Action Army, it had an extra long grip, longer than the plow handle grip of the standard SAA. I have a photo in one of my books, but I have not come across a photo of this model with the extra long grip on the web to direct you to. But it was a good deal longer than the normal SAA grip.

For what it's worth, I discovered a long time ago the secret to prevent getting the knuckle of my middle finger whacked by the trigger guard in recoil was to leave about 1/4" between my knuckle and the trigger guard. Attempting to cram my entire hand onto the grip was guaranteed to keep my knuckle hard against the trigger guard, resulting in an uncomfortable whack. But by not attempting to cram my entire hand onto the grip but instead curling my pinky under the grip, I found that I would automatically open up a space of about 1/4" between my knuckle and the trigger guard.

This method of shooting a SAA has served me well for quite a few years now, full house Black Powder 45 Colt loads have a respectable recoil, but my knuckle has not gotten whacked in a long time.
Click to expand...

It works for me also for shooting my 3 1851 repros, my Taurus Gaucho, and my 1860 repro with navy grip frame. They are all very close or identical to the 1873 grip frame.
 
LonesomePigeon said:
Nice job. There's a USFA repro on gunbroker with those type of grips. I believe they were a factory option that was offered for their Flattop repros but apparently you could get them on a regular SAA too. https://www.gunbroker.com/item/740808627

View attachment 776375
Click to expand...

Well I'll be....
I have searched and searched the old inter web, for something similar, and found absolutely nothing...:)
Nice to see, however I like the solution with the screw in the bottom better, makes the grips look a little more clean, but really nice you showed me that gun...
 
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LonesomePigeon

Good work! Your photo of those target grips reminded me of the ones I saw in R. L. Wilson's book: "Colt-An American Legend". On page 174 there's a 7 1/2" barrel Flattop Target Model with checkered walnut grips and on page 193 there's one with a 5 1/2" barrel and hard rubber target stocks.

0g8QbRV.jpg

6mgSahS.jpg
 
Yes

At the bottom of the first photo (with the green background) is a Flattop Target Model with the extended grips. Notice the dovetailed rear sight and the square front sight.

However this version was quite rare. More common were the Flattop Target Models with the standard grip, shown in the second photo.

These were only made from 1888 until 1895. They were eclipsed by the Bisley Target models which started production in 1894 and were made until 1913.
 
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