Open Top 44 with Navy Grip

[Daniel Dodge]

It seems like I see a lot of open tops pictures in my books and such with army grips, but not navy grips. I'm a bit of an open top new guy, but are the 44's with navy grips historically correct or were they all made with Army grips?

I know that the 1860 RMs have army grips and the 1851 RMs have navy grips, but I'm not to sure about the 1871/2 Open Tops.

I would like to get a pair of them for shooting SASS classic cowboy, I like to be as authentic as I can and I prefer the navy grips.

Thanks for the education!

Dan

[Coffinmaker]

Capt Sage,

The Open Top was offered from the Colt factory with Army Grips and Navy Grips.  So either grip type is correct.  Pick the barrel length you like and order away.
I will caution however, Uberti Open Top guns are nicely packaged, deluxe KITS.  They will require some work before they provide yeoman service.  You'll need to find a Gunsmith well versed in the intricacies of Open Tops.  As a starting point, before ANYTHING else is done to the guns and before you put them into service, check and resolve the Barrel/Arbor fit.  There is an excellent tutorial over on "The Open Range," written by Pettifogger.

Coffinmaker

[Fox Creek Kid]

Approx. the first 1,000 of the originals had the Navy grip. I have seen only one with a higher serial # that had it.