Sometimes I buy snub nose revolver-related items just because...well, that's what I do. Found these weird and ugly Colt D Frame grips on Gunbroker. Cannot identify the manufacturer, but they look a lot like the old Bianchi lightning grips designed to shield the hammer.

My first thought is that these are both ugly and impractical. They shield the hammer, presumably for snag-free deep concealment, but are absolutely HUGE compared to standard grips. They add an inch + to the grip length. Stupid. I want to learn more about the manufacturer. Will strip them and cut them down if no collector value. Anyone seen these before, in wood?

AWAG: Old Mustangs from the 70s or they are reminiscent of some grips imported in the early 80s from the Philippines. They look highly functional.

I think those are the elusive Australian Boomerang Grips. They turn you revolver into a throwing weapon when the cylinder is empty, and if you miss it comes right back to you.

These are JR Grips, sold by Bianchi early 70s. Indeed they were made by Al Lang at Mustang Grips, whose shop was nearby in Temecula. John Bianchi, who we called JB because there were so many Johns at the company, designed them. JR was his son John Richard, and they were sold as a project for his teen son as part of his becoming more a part of the business as he grew. Unfortunately for the best intentions of his father, JR first had a terrible dirt bike accident when another young man jumped his own bike and landed with his footpeg through JR's helmet and he was left retarded. Within a year he was a suicide by gun. His sisters found him. He was a lovely boy and I recall fondly taking him to the Superbowl of Motocross before his accident.

These were replaced with a design made using Pachmayr's rubber overmoulded grips with perforated steel inserts, due to breakage at the narrowest part of the wood grips.

Yours won't ever be valuable but they are a part of holster industry history.

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Red Nichols The Holstorian

Red, thanks for the insight on these. Without it I would have guessed they were somehow related to the later rubber Bianchi style but now we know "the rest of the story" .

Kudos to you and the writeup in the current issue of American Handgunner, and thanks for participating here.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220