Revolver Grips

[Pancho Peacemaker]

What is your favorite material* for period revolvers?


*consider period materials only, not modern reproduction materials

[Yuma Kid]

Pancho,
Pimps & Gamblers always prefer Mother of Pearl, cause it reminds us of dear old Mom. 
Yuma

[Books OToole]

It depends on the pistol and it's finish.

But its hard to go wrong with ivory.

Books

[joec]

I'm not sure if it is stag or Jiggered Bone as they are very similar to me. At any rate I always love the grips on Matt Dillion gun in Gun Smoke. I want to buy 3 sets for my Uberti 1873 and ASM in one piece.

[Will Ketchum]

I really like genuine stag but apparently they weren't available until the 1900's so on blue guns I like ivory and on nickle I prefer gutta percha.

Will Ketchum

[Irish Dave]

Pretty much prefer gutta percha whenever possible.

[Tjackstephens]

Books, Have to agree with you on ivory. Tj

[Tascosa Joe]

Books, me too.

[Shotgun Franklin]

My latest grip are walnut with a white 5 pointed star on each side. I am from Texas ya know.

[Steel Horse Bailey]

I like ivory 'tho I have none.  Silly me, I like a nice piece of wood and most of my guns are equipped with it.  I love stag, but like Will mentioned, it isn't as authentic or common back in the day.  I'm pretty sure it was available before 1900, but what I've heard is that it was considered to be CHEAP! 

What I don't much like is the Tiffany treatment.  It's an awesome idea, but kinda gaudy for my taste, even for a "show" gun in a case.  It's hard to beat Ivory.  Mother of Pearl looks OK on derringers and small hold-out guns, (to ME) but I've never cared for it much.  M.O.P. seems to have been the most pricey back then.


To each his (or her) own!  Variety is the spice of life!
I love options!

[Forty Rod]

I'm with Books, but a close second is walnut.

Gutta percha actually makes more sense,but it doesn't work for me aesthetically.

[Grapeshot]

Well, I just had my two SAA clones outfitted with True Ivory, so I guess I'd have to with Ivory on my blued gun.

Nickled guns get the Hard Rubber treatment or some exotic DARK hardwood.

[FriscoCounty]

I think aged ivory can look real good on SS / nickel guns.

[James Hunt]

Those fancy boys were often shown with pearl, the really tough guy's who maintained law and order, managed the faro games, and consorted with women of questionable virtue seemed to like ivory - but as a commercial hide hunter and good Methodist I prefer the working mans choice of 1872, smooth sided wood.

[Pancho Peacemaker]

I've done some reading on the Texas Rangers during the 1870's and 1880's.  More than a few times, favorable mention is made of pearl grips on some of the Rangers' revolvers.

Has anyone else encountered this info?



Pancho

[Tascosa Joe]

I have owned a couple of turn of the century Colt SA's that had pearl grips.  One had a nice steer head carved in it the other was plain.  I think I have as many late 19th Century early 20th Centruy SA Colts with Pearl grips as with Ivory.  From my perspective Pearl is more prone to chipping and cracking than Ivory.  I am still a huge fan of Ivory.  If I had the money all my regular shooters/carry guns would be gripped in Ivory.

[James Hunt]

Rosa's "The Age of the Gunfighter" shows several pearl handled revolvers, all appear to date late in the 19th century or later. No less than Emmet Dalton, George Scarboruogh, and Poncho Villa have such attributed to them. A hard crew for sure. I know of no actual information regarding Texas rangers. But there seems to be a paucity of pearl handled full sized revolvers from the 1850 through 1870 period although ivory was popular. Pearl may have been a fashion statement at the turn of the century.

We all know those rangers were a bunch of dandies, so it may be they carried them - did we ever actually admit Texas into the Union? 

[WaddWatsonEllis]

I would like to put a little ad out for Big T and his pistol grips.

Although primarily a knife man, he made me some great Stag grips for my little S&W pocket pistol, and he just matched some wooden grips that I traded for (for a '58 Remmie; no pics yet).

He does an excellent job far less expensively than the big boys we normally turn to ... Here is a pic of the grips he made for my little S&W:



And since he is a Texas boy, I would imagine that some of the Texas crew might be interested to know this ...

[RickB]

I have a S&W #2 that has original pearl grips. They are a little chipped (they were probably on it since the late 1880s). But they've held up nicely. I've included a picture to share this beauty with you guys.  

[Pancho Peacemaker]

Here's a few examples of period pearl grips:

Frank Hamer's gun. (He started Rangering in 1906 and was famous for his "apprehension" of Bonnie & Clyde)  These are pearl grips, but look more ivory in this picture:


Frank Jackson's gun (of the Sam Bass gang).  Not a Ranger, but he was gun down by them.


James Van Riper.  Texas Ranger in the 1890's and later Police Chief of San Antonio.


William Smith (aka "Austrailian Billy") rode with TR in the Rough Riders, later serving as an El Paso lawman and in Company C of the Texas Rangers