I know it's getting old, but I have another grip question. Most guys post here about guns they grabbed but lately I have been posting more about grips, I hope no one minds.

These are another E-bay acquired pair. Paid decent money for these but think I still got them for a bargain. Some of you may have seen these and I apologize if I outbid another member but I wanted these bad.

At first look I knew there were better than typical presentation grade grips with no cutout on the left panel. They also looked to be in good shape and I was right.

Got them today and is it just me or am I noticing a slight palm swell on these. I am pretty sure I see one on the left panel while the right panel doesn't seem as noticeable. Of course, the butt shape is oval which is usually indicative of Cokes. So, could these be smooth Cokes?

I see some darkness on the edges of the back that might lead me to believe that someone restained these but I don't appreciate that much upon close inspection. They look factory to me and I am happy to have grabbed them. Any thoughts are welcome.

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Dacoontz, They look great. I saw these myself and tried to wish them into being k frame. But it didn't happen, Price was fine, Tell us what they are going to go on.

Haven't decided yet. I was thinking these would be standard for an engraved gun but I don't have any of those. I may just switch them around on various guns as they'd probably look great on just about any of them.

Very Nice!

Dacoontz, that is some mighty fine lumber ! Prob'ly look right swell on my 624 with that classy bookmatch! Seriously, congratulations !

Larry

Stocks like yours could have been shipped with a 1950 Target 44 with a 4-inch barrel or an engraved revolver up through around 1958.

Bill

I for one like seeing the stocks and learning about them

I still have trouble with rosewood though

Doc's right. Whatever they were origionally shipped on was likely a very special gun.

Also possible that they were sold as an accessory after the fact.

Could have been special order on just about any 1950 or very early 1955 Target; IE: Pre-23,24,25,26 or 27.

Nice stocks. Not easy to find. I'd guess that they are stained Goncalo.

Drew

Very very pretty, but are you positive they are rosewood? My initial ID would be Goncolo Alvez (SP?). I love the non-relieved targets.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Based on the grain shown in the photos, I believe the stocks are made of rosewood.

Bill

Daniel,

I'm in full agreement with Bill!! They're definitely Early Rosewood Targets!! I had my eye on these as well & suppose I should have stuck seeing what they ended up going for!! The only reason I gave up is I thought they'd go crazy at the last minute & having only Dial-Up I didn't have a snowball's chance of grabbing them at the last minute!! Oh well, glad to see someone here ended up with them that will appreciate these Grips for what they are!! You did "Very" well!! Enjoy!!

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Masterpiece

Nice pick up Daniel!

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Sure you did

Thanks for all the comments. I was very fortunate to pick these up and almost lost out at the last 10 or so seconds. I got outbid in the last 6 seconds and luckily enough my comcast internet was working well enough to get the bid in really quick. The price was probably what I would consider a little more than half the market value from what I have seen these sell for lately.

As for material, I am no expert but comparing these with stocks I know to be Rosewood the grain is identical. I wonder if these wouldn't look half bad on my pre-21 Pinto, although that particular gun letters with walnut diamond magnas.

These were available from several different "jobbers" such as J&G Rifle Ranch and S&W in the early to mid 70's and probably earlier. You could also get them out of Shotgun News. I picked through a box full of the Target type and also the Magna style grips to select the ones I wanted in a gun store in Anchorage, AK. They were individually wrapped with S&W waxed paper and in small boxes. I have several pairs of both that I bought and put on N Fames and some K's. They were also available in smooth Goncalo Alves (Sp?).

Daniel:

I threw a bid in on these as well, but since I did not "need" them I was not aggressive in the bidding. I'm glad that you picked them up. I think that you got a great price. They are way high on the cool meter .

I think that they are some of the very early smooth target presentation grips, particularly since they do not have the ejector "football" cutout in the left grip. I have several sets of early smooth rosewood stocks with the "deep cup" pre-war and early post-war escutcheons (corresponding primarily with the periods that the checkered stocks had diamond centers), but all of them have an ejector football cutout in the left panel.

Now all you have to do is find a well preserved 5-screw engraved or pinto N-Frame to put them on - and yes, I think they would look great on your pre-21 pinto! Let's see some photos...

Congrats,

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Richard
Engraved S&W fan

Richard, pics? If I must. Here you go.

Well they looked great by themselves but on that gun they look fantastic.

Looks like they found a home!

Recently it was pointed out to me that Goncalo is one type of Rosewood.

Drew

I have a similar pair that live on my 4" nickel 25-5. I have had them for years and don't remember where I got them. Gunshow? They look real nice on a nickel gun.

That, is one fantastic looking Pinto! The Blued Frame and Rosewood really set the Nickel off.

Beautiful grips and beautiful gun! So what's the story on that fine looking shooter?

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Even older, even crankier....

I purchased this gun off of an internet classifieds in my area. I saw the add and drove to the guys house after a quick call with some very general questions about the gun. From the time I saw the add online to the time I arrived at his house was a total of 35 minutes if that tells you anything.

It was all I could do to keep my cool about the gun when the seller handed it to me. After looking it over I felt about 90% confident the finish was legit. I offered him a smidgen less than what he was asking and he was tickled with the offer and said "deal." I figured there was some risk involved but it was worth taking the chance. At the time I knew very little compared to what I know now (which is still not much in comparison to some) . What I did know at the time was because of the great members of this forum. I think shortly after this I started voluntarily donating to the forum figuring it had already paid me back ten fold with this one purchase.

When I got it home and showed it here on the forum I was given multiple votes of confidence about it's finish. It was the score of a lifetime and within my first year of collecting S&W's, pretty darn fortunate was I.

All I heard about it from the seller was that it had been his grandpa's gun and he had inherited this one out of the many that his grandfather had. The seller had taken it to a couple pawn shops that offered him a bit less than what I paid him but he decided to try and sell it online, which he did to me of course. It now rests respectfully in my safe and will hopefully now last for a much longer life and for many more pics to come.

The gun shipped to Rex Firearms of New York in July 1954. I wonder where it went from there and how it ended up here in Utah. Too bad there aren't accessible records of Rex's business logs as they ordered and sold many an interesting S&W.

Hello Daniel
Nice stock's as you know Gancalo-Alves is considered to be an Exotic Brazillian Rosewood. It has many shades in it's color as far North as almost Blonde in color, to a much darker shade in color like your's has. When refinishing these real dark contrast stock's the dust from sanding them looks to be Purple in color. That said, I recently picked up this set of smooth Presentation grade Rosewood's for $25.00. These are stock's from the 1970's time span with silver washer's on the rear holding the medallions in place. These Later made style of stock's have very flat panels and were very square in Nature which to me are far too thick and uncomfortable for my hands, so I stripped them in Acetone and wanted something different so I I decided to make them into a Coke Profile like the much earlier design was and Placed a semi gloss finish on them. They are shown below before and after I re-worked them. They now have a Pleasing comfortable Palm swell shaped into them...






This is how they looked when I got them for $25.00














Here is how they Look Now with the Coke Palm swell profile shaped into them and a semi gloss finish...

Daniel,

You did very well on the purchase of those grips.

I have these sets you see here and the guns letter with them the way you see them. They are all rosewood per the letters, however the pair with the ivory inserts letter with smooth target grips in rosewood with no mention of the ivory inserts.

Roy Jinks said he's never necessarily figured out how those with the ivory inserts originated, but he wishes he had a few sets of them!!

I also think smooth rosewood targets look great on two tone guns.

Tom, That's sure a sweet pair of Magnum Pintos.... and the scratched up one ain't no slouch either!

You guys are just terrible!!!!!!

I did get these two sets recently for my kids guns

230grfmj,

I'm not sure in what time-frame your Revolvers were engraved, but if it was in the Fifties, like I believe they were, I believe you'll find that there's a good possibility S&W's Master Engraver Alvin White is the one that inlaid these Ivory Diamond Inserts into the Grips!! I've seen more than a few of his Engraved Revolvers that he's inlaid, within reason, that Exact Ivory Diamond Insert into the Grips when he did the engraving work or possibly did the grip work for one of the other Factory Engravers like Harry Jarvis or Russ Smith who also did work in that time period!! I'm not saying it's definite, but very likely!! Your one Revolver looks to have been done in the style of Harry Jarvis is why I mentioned him!!

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Masterpiece

Masterpiece,

Thanks for the feedback. Yes they were all shipped in the mid 50's timeframe.

I know the class A engraved one was engraved by Russell Smith and I even have an affidavit that he signed to that affect.

I've never been sure about the class B one that has the ivory inlay in the grips. I've had other knowledgeable people tell me that they think it that it may have been engraved by Virginia LeBlanc.

Alvin White certainly did first class work, and maybe he did this one. I've love to know and welcome other opinions.

230grfmj,

I had a pretty good idea that either Russ Smith or Harry Jarvis did the A-Engraved Revolver!! Sometimes the difference is hard to discern between these two fine engravers as their styles are very similar!! Having the affidavit from Russ is definitely a big plus to it's provenance!! The B-Engraved Revolver is hard to tell as Virginia LeBlanc's work isn't seen very often & very hard to verify!!

The point I was trying to get across concerning the Ivory Insert is there's a good possibility that Alvin White is to be credited for doing the inlay work on the Grips even in the event that he didn't do the engraving work on the Revolver itself!! He is known for doing extensive carving & inlays on some of his grips & may also have done grip work for some of the other engravers of the period to be used on their Revolvers!! At this point in time my guess is we'll never know for sure!!

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Masterpiece