Colt New Service (Fleur de lis)

daddio202 · Nov 1, 2020

I just had to post new pictures of my Colt New Service in 38 special with the new grips I recieved from forum member Toyman. He has some absolutelty stunning old Colt revolvers. He had them made for a New Service by a man named Steve Jesse. Thanks to him for selling me this set of Fleur de lis service grips, it took my old Colt up a notch from the Coltwood (plastic) grips I had on it previously. Here are a few pictures, thanks for looking and if anybody else has some old Colts with the tough to find fleur de lis grips please post a picture or 2. This style grips were primarily used on Officers models, and New service Target revolvers, Saa's before and around WW1.

boykinlp · Nov 1, 2020

Great grips! Steve Jesse made some terrific grips. I wish he was still making them. He just quit posting over 3 years ago. Do any of you folks know what happened to him?
Larry

dsf · Nov 1, 2020

daddio202 said:
I just had to post new pictures of my Colt New Service in 38 special with the new grips I recieved from forum member Toyman. He has some absolutelty stunning old Colt revolvers. He had them made for a New Service by a man named Steve Jesse. Thanks to him for selling me this set of Fleur de lis service grips, it took my old Colt up a notch from the Coltwood (plastic) grips I had on it previously. Here are a few pictures, thanks for looking and if anybody else has some old Colts with the tough to find fleur de lis grips please post a picture or 2. This style grips were primarily used on Officers models, and New service Target revolvers, Saa's before and around WW1.

Interesting front sight too.

Toyman · Nov 2, 2020

I am glad they fit so good. A Colt collector liked these grips and tried to reach Steve Jesse and could not get a response. I think it has been closer to 8 years ago I had him do this set. The wood is out standing.

Onomea · Nov 2, 2020

Those are gorgeous. I had some on a 1927, I think it was, OMT, which I sold several years ago. Those look better than the orginals!

Toyman · Nov 2, 2020

This is a close up of the Steve Jesse grips

Tom K · Nov 2, 2020

daddio202 said:
I just had to post new pictures of my Colt New Service in 38 special with the new grips I recieved from forum member Toyman. He has some absolutelty stunning old Colt revolvers. He had them made for a New Service by a man named Steve Jesse. Thanks to him for selling me this set of Fleur de lis service grips, it took my old Colt up a notch from the Coltwood (plastic) grips I had on it previously. Here are a few pictures, thanks for looking and if anybody else has some old Colts with the tough to find fleur de lis grips please post a picture or 2. This style grips were primarily used on Officers models, and New service Target revolvers, Saa's before and around WW1.

Here is my New Service Target in .44 Russian, with FDL grips.

These are before-and-after pics of the grips, that were restored by the late, great Hugh Clark (Swamprat on the Colt Forum). He did a terrific job.

I looked at those Steve Jesse NS grips and was sorely tempted, probably should've gotten them just on principle even though I don't have a gun for them at this time. I have several sets of S&W grips made by Steve that I love - too bad he seems to have disappeared.

The S&W grips he made for me are duplicates of some pre-war custom grips by an unknown maker, that are the grips that S&W should have made all along but never did. They are like magnas with a grip adapter incorporated. The originals are at the back and Steve's copies are on the other guns. I had him make some in both N and K frame size.

boykinlp · Nov 2, 2020

I wish I was smart enough to buy many more Steve Jesse grips when they were available, like Tom K did. He made many different style grips. I believe he was self taught and learned through trial and error. I saw some of his "error" grips that looked amazing. Seeing how quickly he would pick up things, like checkering, was unreal to me. Here is my only set of Steve Jesse grips. They have the difficult to obtain large (half inch) silver medallions. Look at some of the things that he incorporated in his grips.

daddio202 · Nov 2, 2020

Wow! Those target style grips he did are just amazing! Seems to me Steve was most talented in the checkering he did. The checkering is very fine and absolutely straight and perfect. Wish I had been a collector years ago when such talent that is now a dying artform was still around in a larger quantity of folks.. Thank you all for sharing your beautiful grips with me and please keep the pictures coming, I can not get enough, like eye candy for me!

Tom K · Nov 2, 2020

boykinlp said:
I wish I was smart enough to buy many more Steve Jesse grips when they were available, like Tom K did. He made many different style grips. I believe he was self taught and learned through trial and error. I saw some of his "error" grips that looked amazing. Seeing how quickly he would pick up things, like checkering, was unreal to me. Here is my only set of Steve Jesse grips. They have the difficult to obtain large (half inch) silver medallions. Look at some of the things that he incorporated in his grips.

Yup, those are the same style as the ones that I had Steve make for me, that are near-duplicates of some vintage grips by an unknown maker that I bought in Tulsa from the late Ray Brazille.

Here are the originals. The grips that Steve made were a little thicker than these and actually feel a bit better in the hand. I especially like the little cutout at the toe - everything you need and nuthin' you don't. I don't understand grips that flare out at the bottom, like they were made for someone with fingers like ET.

boykinlp · Nov 3, 2020

Years from now, I have a feeling that collectors will look at these grips, not knowing who made them, but swearing they are much, much older than they really are. Kinda like Tom did with his originals.
Larry

Tom K · Nov 3, 2020

boykinlp said:
Years from now, I have a feeling that collectors will look at these grips, not knowing who made them, but swearing they are much, much older than they really are. Kinda like Tom did with his originals.
Larry

It is true that I don't know for certain when these grips were made. I initially posted about them here: Who made these grips? - update Post 32

Ray Brazille thought they were made pre-war and I took his word for it. They are definitely made to fit a pre-war N frame, which is a skosh longer than the modern N frame.

boykinlp · Nov 3, 2020

Tom K said:
It is true that I don't know for certain when these grips were made. I initially posted about them here: Who made these grips? - update Post 32

Ray Brazille thought they were made pre-war and I took his word for it. They are definitely made to fit a pre-war N frame, which is a skosh longer than the modern N frame.

I don't doubt that the originals are pre-war. I also think Steve's could be thought to be pre-war too, they are such good copies.
Larry

Colt New Service (Fleur de lis)

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