Ajax Grips

[Pony Lakota]

Bought a Vaquero (old model) from Gunbroker.com. It came with Aged Ajax Ivory Polymer Grips. These things are the yellow/orange background color of the "start new topic" page that I am typiung in right now. They are the worst looking grips on any gun I have ever seen. It's laughable. I have a pair of ivory grips circa 1900. I have a piano, circa 1920, with real ivory keys. None of that ivory looks anything like these things. At first I thought it was a joke, untill I looked on the Ajax website. They are quite proud of these fiascos. Is it just me? Has anyone else seen these things?
Thanks For Listening

[Buffalo Creek Law Dog]

I agree, orange grips looks weird however, John Wayne has orange grips and he is the standards setter

[Neversleeps, 13790]

 ???I really don't understand the trend to wanting everything to look old.
The guns in use back in the 1880's would NOT have looked 100 years old.
They certainly would have looked used, not old and "over the hill"! So why
the rush to spend in some cases, MANY extra dollars to make things look old?

[RattlesnakeJack]

I'm with you on this point, Neversleeps!

[Pappy Hayes]

Where is a good place to get nice faux ivory grips that fit well and are not too pricy? All my revolvers have the 1860 Army grip. I do have one 58 Remmy that I will eventually probably change out.

[St. George]

There are a number of firms supplying 'faux Ivory' grips - and they're located in the advertising of all the C&WAS magazines.

Alternatively, you could just go to your search engine and type in 'faux ivory grips' - or a variant of the same.

The color on real Ivory depended on sun exposure - as well as exposure to oils and 'placement' on the tusk where it originated from.

You'll see everything from Bone-White - to almost an Orange.

The reference books - 'Packing Iron' - by Rattenbury, 'The Book of Colt Firearms' - by Sutherland and Wilson, and 'A Study of the Colt Single Action Revolver' - by Graham, Kopec and Moore - as well as several of the late-comers - all have examples of period Ivory in its many variants.

The two-piece set worn in the movies was probably the most 'often-seen' pair of grips and so - they became a sort of 'standard' for those who use the 'John Ford Reference Library' for their research.

The practice of 'aging' a gun seems silly, given the time frame represented.

The guns would have been close to new at the time - as new products just introduced, and arriving at the hardware and drygoods stores.

Personally - I always thought it was a very clever marketing ploy to get rid of guns whose flawed finishes weren't up to commercial sales standards - but could be sold to the gullible if 'antiqued'.

Guess it works...

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[SFT]

Where is a good place to get nice faux ivory grips that fit well and are not too pricy? All my revolvers have the 1860 Army grip. I do have one 58 Remmy that I will eventually probably change out.

Try Buffalo Brothers, Get a Grip, Eagle Grips, Cowboy and Shooters supplies, and even E-bay.

I had two pairs of Ajax grips that came with 2 Remington 1875's I bought from a friend, and they were the worst fitting, ugliest grips I ever saw, and I through them away before I sold the Remmies.  I then went and bought a pair of stag grips for my Ruger OMV and had to spend way too much time and effort fitting a finishing them, and guess what, Ajax again.  I was dumb enough not to check who made them when I picked them out from a large box at the local gun show.  Never, never again will I touch an Ajax product.