colt grips

[freek]

Has anybody ever seen one-piece grips like this?  The gun was made in 1878. 1st year.

[The Pathfinder]

Are they Gutta Percha? If so, then no, I don't ever think I've seen a grip like that. Have you pulled the straps to see how it is made? One piece, two stuck together?

[freek]

One piece # to the gun

[The Pathfinder]

Wow, they are unique in my experience. I hope so of the other guys chime in, cause I have never seen any grips like that. I'll go back to the books tonight, but I can't even remember any mention of such. Congrats on a truly wonderful find.

[Calico Kirby]

The original configuration on the very first Lightning pistols included a one piece checkered walnut grip.  This was expensive and time consuming to produce so they soon switched to a one piece checkered hard rubber grip (as seen here).  These were also soon scrapped in favor of  two piece hard rubber grips – which you see on most surviving examples today.  That's a very nice example of an early grip.  You don't see many of those so I'd hang on to that one!