A buddy of mine picked this Colt SAA up this weekend and he's wondering what the proper grips should be?
He is saying the serial dates it to 1965.
He's thinking the ones it is currently wearing were "homemade".

Thanks in advance for any help.

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Most call me Pete- SWCA#3248

Looks like 2 piece after market converted to one piece grips
It probably wore 2 PC second generation black grips,but a letter would tell for sure

Factory grips were "hard rubber" , probably some type of black plastic, checkered with the rampant colt symbol cast in place. About the most basic , no frill grip around.
The "homemade" grips it's wearing look nice....better than the black checkered plastic factory grips. Get some factory grips if you like but don't get rid of the custom grips ...they look very nice.
Gary

The fit of the grips currently on that Colt is not of any “homemade” job; they appear to have been done professionally (probably as good or better than factory) as they fit the straps perfectly and also tight against the frame. However I can’t tell from the pictures just how well the silver inlays were done. If your friend buys the correct 2nd generation black hard rubber grips (non-eagle) they will almost assuredly have to be fitted to the Colt. I believe the cost of the grips alone will run $200+.

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Terry Lester

I would not be surprised if those are the original grips that came on the gun as 2-piece grips.
Then someone later converted them to a 1-piece grip by adding the filler block inside and covering the screw holes with the silver ovals.

2nd Generation Colt SAA, especially the full nickel plated ones, often came with Walnut grips.

Plain (non-checkered) panels.
-without Colt medallions were used on the SAA
-with gold Colt medallions used on the New Frontier (Target adj sight SAA revolver)
-Walnut grip panels were a cataloged Optional- Special Order Item on 2nd generation SAA Blued/Casecolored revolvers.
These Blued/CCH revolvers normally fitted with with the black plastic Colt repro of the 'Eagle' grip.
*But they did use up some of the older pre-WW2 'Colt' logo grips on the 2nd Generation Blued & Casehardened guns before 1968.
Collectors love to find those!

The 2nd Gen panels were marked with the last 3 of the guns ser# on the inside of both panels.
Marking was scratched in on the plastic & older hard rubber grips.

On the Walnut panels, it is hand written. It can be in Black, Blue or White pencil or pen. I've also been told in Red, but I've not seen that.
It is not really all that uncommon to find mismatched grips on a NIB gun either. (The grip panels themselves match each other,,but not the gun's ser#).
If a gun did not meet final inspection, it was stripped of parts and the grips, if OK were sometimes simply recycled onto another gun if they fit.
No re#'ing was done. So the NIB gun w/ mismatched grips appears.
A few have appeared with no ser# at all on the grips,,right out of the box from the factory.
Leave it to Colt to keep things confusing..

Just some considerations,,,

On a '65 nickel SAA the grips/stocks would have been 2 piece walnut, or the black hard rubber grips, which were the standard grip/stocks on the blue/CCH SAAs. Colt changed to the black plastic eagle grips in 1968. The hard rubber grips used pre-1968, were not left over 1st gen grips, but were new production; there are a couple of 2nd gen variations of the hard rubber grips with and without a Colt Hartford address and slightly different pattern on the interior of the grips. The exterior of late 1st gen and pre-68 2nd gen grips are virtually indistinguishable, but the inside pattern and/or the Colt Hartford address tells the tail.

It is highly unlikely that the grips on your gun are the reworked originals. Someone would have had to totally re-contoured and reshaped them as well as converting to one piece. The walnut grips/stocks used on nickel SAA are not fit flush to the frame as those are.

Best regards,

Further to the quoted post above, if your friend really wants to understand all of this I suggest he buys Don Wilkerson’s book on 2nd Generation SAA’s. In the meantime maybe some pictures will help. The first two pictures below depict original 2 piece hard rubber and walnut grips on nickel 2nd Generation SAA’s. The third picture depicts original 1 piece walnut grips on a commercial gun during the black powder era - the fit of the grips currently on the gun pictured above are reminiscent of the way the early black powder era grips were fitted.

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Terry Lester

Nice nickel SAAs. I always preferred the look of the black HR grips/stocks on the nickel SAAs over the walnut.

Here's a 5-1/2" nickel .44 Special I recently picked up. It has a bit of a timing issue with an early bolt drop, which I plan on having Jim Martin correct.

Best regards,

Thanks for all the information as well as the photos.

I'll pass on the information to my buddy.

Masterbuck54

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Most call me Pete- SWCA#3248

I had a 3 gen .357 nickel'd gun that had the same 2 piece walnut grips as the 2nd gun in lestert357 posting.
While it was a beautiful gun those grips were kind of a let down from the rest of the gun. What you have on your gun very well may be a step up.

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Expert at not being an Expert.

Here's what they look like on a genuinely old Colt:

The old 1st gen black grips were gutta percha made fom the rubber tree of the same name, just like old S&Ws.

2nd gen black grips and newer evolved to Butaprene, a modern form of plastic.

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Jim
S&WCA #819