They are regular diamond targets made from Goncalo Alves wood.
K Frame Coke Bottle stocks
- Thread starter 19leben
- Start date
They are regular diamond targets made from Goncalo Alves wood.
That was not the point. If the palm swell is not an important part of the difference between Cokes and standard target stocks, why call them cokes at all! I have struggled for years trying to figure out why these stocks are so expensive when there is no documentation that the company wanted that exact design and more and more likely that they were done by some workmen because they wanted to do it??
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Coke bottle stocks (N-frame only) have a larger checked area and the early ones (56) have an observable palm swell I believe is an artifact of the manufacturing process. Coke bottle is a collector term. As time progressed, the larger checked area remained, but the palm swell became much less noticeable. I have not seen a pair of K-frame coke bottle stocks.
Bill
Bill
Jim King wrote the article "Smith & Wesson Stocks (Grips)" for the SCSW 4th Edition. He says "Coke bottle stocks" were introduced for K and N frame target revolvers in the mid 1950s.
He also says the Coke bottle name reportedly comes from the shape of the stocks when viewed from the rear.
He also says the Coke bottle name reportedly comes from the shape of the stocks when viewed from the rear.
OP
Okay do we trust Jim King? One would think that he has information that the rest of us don't. Too, might this be a situation whereby K Cokes do exist, albeit in a slightly different form than we expect?
Also, assuming that Jim King is misinformed: from what source would he have gotten his (mis)information?
Doubt it. In my mind, that moniker apparently became common name after someone just named them that years ago. If there was a directive, change order, or other document from the factory referencing not only the term "Coke" or even the general design from the 1950s it would certainly have been found and copied by some collectors. If the same rebellious workmen made both N frame target stocks and K frame target stocks at the factory, the end product, "Cokes", could have shown up in both frame sizes.
...Special Oversize Stocks made of Goncalo alves (I believe) references the larger area of checkering and differentiates these stocks from diamond target stocks with the smaller area of checkering. The 44 Magnum was a special revolver when introduced and S&W wanted it to have special stocks. I don't know where the term coke bottle stocks originated, but I know Harrison Carroll, well known dealer and S&WCA member, used the term in his gun lists in the early 1980s and probably before that. The term was coined by collectors and never used by the factory. Similar to the term "pinto", a term coined by collectors to describe a revolver with a two tone (nickel/blue) finish. Furthermore, if the factory manufactured these stocks with a palm swell, I believe it would have been included in the description of Special Oversize Stocks.
Bill
Bill
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Sounds to me like a good "Ask Roy" question. So I did.
Asked Roy if "Cokes" or Oversize Target Stocks had a palm swell. Also asked if they were made for the K frame.
I think my cokes do have a palm swell. Viewed from the back I can see it around where the grip screw is. I also feel it in my hand.
Asked Roy if "Cokes" or Oversize Target Stocks had a palm swell. Also asked if they were made for the K frame.
I think my cokes do have a palm swell. Viewed from the back I can see it around where the grip screw is. I also feel it in my hand.
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Do we trust Jim King ? Guess you don't know him, I'd trust him without reservation, now I would politely argue that deliberately produced K frame cokes don't exist but that's not a trust issue.
The "palm swell" if actually measured is no more that ten to fifteen thousandths per side, usually found an eighth or above the grip pin hole. The "feel" of cokes is mostly fingers feeling several combined curves not an actual swell. "Seeing" the swell is mostly an optical illusion, think of the diamond as an island, and imagine the checkering tool as a little pizza cutter plunging into the wood just past the border and then withdrawing quickly just in time to miss the island. It creates a visual dip we see as a low area.
The "palm swell" if actually measured is no more that ten to fifteen thousandths per side, usually found an eighth or above the grip pin hole. The "feel" of cokes is mostly fingers feeling several combined curves not an actual swell. "Seeing" the swell is mostly an optical illusion, think of the diamond as an island, and imagine the checkering tool as a little pizza cutter plunging into the wood just past the border and then withdrawing quickly just in time to miss the island. It creates a visual dip we see as a low area.
