Good Morning, I’m French and I have a S&W n°3 Russian manufactured by Ludwig and Loewe in 1880 approximatively. I’m looking for grips anyone can give me a website address where I could find grips, old or antiques if possible? Thanks for your help

Bebop1ts, Finding original grips for a L&L No. 3 is going to be very difficult, but try Ebay as sometimes a pair will show up there. S&W grips are the same size and the round butt Russian 2nd & 3rd models will fit your L&L. You could try a "Wanted" ad here on the Forum, also. Replica grips are obtainable on various internet sites, of course. Good Luck, Ed.

Hello,
Thanks for your answer. I try yet Ebay but no chance still now.
I'm new on the forum what is a "wanted" and where can i find this to post the wanted?
Regards

"Wanted" is a section of this Forum, Go up to the top, select "Smith & Wesson Forum" in the header box, and it will list all the various sections as you scroll down. Select the Classified section and then the "Wanted" part.

__________________
H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

You can buy replica plastic grips for a #3 Russian from N.C. Ordnance Inc. However, I do not know if they ship internationally.

__________________
Guy
SWHF #474 SWCA LM#2629

L&L original grips were wood, not plastic ( hard rubber ), so a pair of N.C.Ordnance plastic stocks would not be correct, even if they could be fitted. L&Ls were copies of the S&W Model 3 Russian 3rd models, not New Model No. 3s. Ed.

I believe Uberti sells replacement wooden stocks for their replica of the S&W Russian handgun. IIRC, they can be bought unfinished and unfitted. You might have better luck pursuing these from their factory in Italy. I have a Commercial Russian 3rd Model and have plastic imitation ivory grips on it that I purchased from NC Ordinance. It took a little work but they fit. Here is what they look like on the gun.

__________________
Guy
SWHF #474 SWCA LM#2629

Guy, Very nice! Uberti grips are probably a good source for Bebop1ts to get some stocks for his L&L that will look authentic. Ed.

I've seen those guns only in photos. How does the Lowe craftsmanship compare to S&W's?

I did have a M-95 Chilean Mauser rifle made by Lowe. It was very nicely made. Extremely well finished and fitted.

The L&L Russians are identical in every way to S&Ws, except they have L&Ls name on them. Their quality equals S&Ws. Ed.

The Russians bought a complete set of inspection gauges from Smith and Wesson and contracted with LL to build the No 3 for them. The tooling was probably bought from Greenwood and Bately in England. The Russians bought 105,000 No. 3s from LL in 2 contracts. LL also produced the revolver commercially.

Since the LL revolvers were built to the same inspection gauges as the No. 3 manufactured at Springfield they are parts interchangeable. There is, however, no record of a manufacturing license ever being issued or sold to LL or the Russians.

Production was terminated at LL in probably 1884 and the tooling was moved to the Imperial Tula arms factory (ITOZ) where production commenced in 1886. Approximately 35,000 revolvers were produced at Tula, again parts interchangeable with the Springfield manufactured revolvers.

Joe