My 3rd model Hand Ejector .44 special belonged to Sheriff J. Perry Francis of Coconino County, Arizona. When I acquired it, it was wearing a very well aged set of antler stocks. They looked great from a distance, but they didn't fit very well and left the frame standing proud in several places.

Earlier this week, Ken Driskill posted up a set of his elk antler grips here on the forum. They arrived today....

"Original" grips:














New and old together. Ken's grips are white! I hadn't really noticed how aged the "original" grips were until I put them next to the new ones.






And here's the old warhorse with new shoes:












Oh darn....I guess I have to go to the range again. This set will be aged in the same manner as the first set, which are now safely tucked away. Hopefully 60 years from now my grandson will be writing a similar post.

Thanks Ken!

The new grips are very nice, and match the originals. But I would keep the older stocks on that revolver ... that's the way the Sheriff had it and they add a lot of character to the revolver... get another revolver and put those new stocks on it!

I had seriously considered that, since the new grips would also look great on my .38/44 HD. The deciding factor was that I intend to shoot this one and will most likely include it in my carry rotation. I wanted grips that fit both the gun and my hand better.

THAT is a beautiful firearm.

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JAREDSHS
LEO(retired)

Much prefer the original grips. They give the revolver a great look. The new grips look to new and look like plastic to me. Sorry, just my thoughts.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

insert wolf whistle here

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Some collect art; I shoot it!

Good looking .44. I have smooth walnut Kurac Magnas on my 5" 3rd model. They are shaped like "Cokes" and fit my hand wonderfully.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

The older grips did have a great look, but they had a ****** feel. None of my guns are safe queens or decorations. They all get used. Give these new ones a few years of sweaty hands, Hoppes, gun oil, and sunshine and they should age nicely.

At some point back in the 40's or 50's the old set probably looked very similar....and I'm sure someone gave the sheriff a hard time about his fancy new grips.

Sherrie J.Francis Perry had great taste in guns ans grips ,so do you that is a great looking revolver and the new grips have a great look to them also .great gun great grips great caliber what's not to like .

The biggest fault I find with elk “stag” vs real Sambar is the amount of pith that always seems to show through. Your new set were laid out and cut to minimize this effect and IMHO came out very nicely. You don’t get to see that often with large scales like your N-frame demands. If I were going to do anything other than a historical display, I would do as you have said, preserve the originals for posterity and use the new ones to extract maximum pleasure from that fine revolver.

Regards,
Froggie

Nice set of stocks on a nice .44!
Here's my 2nd model .44 with Ken's "aged" stocks. They fit and feel great!

Attached Images

	.44HE 2nd 5-inch Ken Driskill Elk Magnas_a.jpg (99.6 KB, 39 views)
	.44HE 2nd 5-inch Ken Driskill Elk Magnas_b.jpg (91.4 KB, 31 views)

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Tom in AZ
Respect the Dingbat

Oh man, that is beautiful. I think the new ones look great and I can see where the old ones didn't fit so hot. They do look nice too. It's a just a great looking gun.

I have to say though, I've always wondered if people actually enjoy shooting revolvers without some kind of thing to fill in the space a bit more between the trigger guard and magnas. Whenever I try to handle and shoot a revolver with no fill in there, it's doesn't feel good at all to me. It looks good though.

Do a lot of you guys actually like shooting them with just Magnas?

Here's one of mine...

Attached Images

.44 Army 1946.jpg (102.6 KB, 28 views)

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Living a dream - S&WCA #2364

Magnas are to small for my hands. The first thing I usually try to do is find target grips for my S&W's. I am a piker and only own seven S&W revolvers, all have had their grips changed. One has S&W Combat grips, one has a set of Hogues, four have target grips and one has a set of Sambar grips.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.