firearm Posted April 16, 2021 Report Share Posted April 16, 2021 I have had these grips sitting in a glass case in my gun room for many years. I always thought they were original Remington wood. Maybe not. I am curious to know what one of you RKI's thinks. I numbered them with a small piece of tape for discussion purposes. #4 has the typical crack horizontally. I compared them to the 21's in my vault and they look identical to me. Your 2 cents would be appreciated. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gijive Posted April 17, 2021 Report Share Posted April 17, 2021 Nick, In my opinion, all the grips shown are original Colt era grips. The slight break of the horizontal edge by the curved arc at the rear portion of the grip is common on some, but not all Colt era grips. A more curved penetration (1/4" or so) of the straight edge at the top is normally the sign of a reproduction grip. I have observed that slight softening of the straight edge on original grips before, but it is usually the exception, not the rule. Grip # 4 exhibits the most sanding as the curved arc for the thumb is pronounced and the straight horizontal edge at the top has been softened considerably. Have you checked the grip-mount channel at the top for the presence of an S stamp near the screw hole? You have have an early Savage grip in there? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD. Posted April 17, 2021 Report Share Posted April 17, 2021 Excellent observations by gijive. He is the Colt wood master! I don't like what gijive calls, "the slight break of the horizontal edge by the curved arc." I don't disagree with gijive's observations, but this rounding of the horizontal edge always gives me pause, especially when a feature of a grip that is not part of a complete gun. There have been so many reproduction fore grips made over the years that I take the horizontal edge very seriously. Great call on grip #4. Given its condition, I did not spend enough time looking at it. gijive is correct; that is a Savage fore grip! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firearm Posted April 17, 2021 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2021 The grip are all completely unmarked. No letters in the channels or anywhere else on the grips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Motorcar Posted April 18, 2021 Report Share Posted April 18, 2021 Well, since they are unmarked and hold no value you should sell one or more to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryo Posted April 21, 2021 Report Share Posted April 21, 2021 ATF has labeled those parts as firearms.. Send to me for disposal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firearm Posted April 23, 2021 Author Report Share Posted April 23, 2021 Been offline for a few days. After talking with Tom I decided to buy a set of calipers and measure the width on all of the grips at the widest part that you hand would wrap around. All of them measure 1.25" in thickness, give or take .01". .5" in the slotted area, 1.0" outside on the width of the slotted area. 5.8" front to back and 4.8" top to bottom. I am amazed how much they measure alike. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD. Posted April 23, 2021 Report Share Posted April 23, 2021 Nick,Thanks for the update. Your questions are always fun to address. Chuck was right on point with his response. Of course, Chuck is the Colt wood master! I still do not like "the slight break in the horizontal edge by the curved arc" when looking at a vertical fore grip but admit this can be found on original Colt's. Today someone called and ask me about pictures of the supposedly Bonnie & Clyde Colt Thompson, NO 4208. I believe this Colt's has been discussed on the forum in the past. I did have some pictures and was somewhat surprised when I viewed the vertical fore grip. Note the slight break in the horizontal edge by the curved arc! NO 4208 is not in the best of condition and I never spent much time looking at the pictures. Definitely an oversight. Thanks to you and Chuck I can add something new to my toolbox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD. Posted May 1, 2021 Report Share Posted May 1, 2021 I would like to take the examination of Colt fore grips a little further. I agree with Chuck the fore grips presented by Nick are all Colt's. One appeared to be an original Savage fore grip but the measurements performed by Nick rule that out. Pictures can be very deceiving, especially when examining any one part in detail. As I stated earlier, "the slight break in the horizontal edge by the curved arc" on a fore grip always gives me pause. It is not something I see very often on original Colt guns. However, if the break is very slight and the gun stands out as all original, it is not something that is really noticeable, especially if only on one side of the fore grip. I will be the first to admit I have probably overlooked this "slight break" when examining Colt's without any issues or any evidence of sanding or refinishing on all three pieces of wood. Let's take this examination a step further. There are many Colt owners on this great forum that are always looking for an excuse to get that Thompson gun out of the safe. I ask that all Colt owners take a look at the vertical fore grip(s) on your Colt's. Do any of the fore grips have "the slight break in the horizontal edge by the curved arc?" Be sure and look at both sides. If you find this slight break, how about taking an iPhone picture and posting to this thread. If not, a quick post with the results of your examination will suffice. I took a look at all the auction pictures I have saved over the years and could not find an example. Auction pictures are usually low-resolution and not fit for publication but do provide some detail on the computer screen - what they were designed to do. Just so we all are on the same page the green arrows in the below pictures Nick graciously shared with us will point out the slight break we are studying with this thread: Shown below is an original Colt's fore grip that does exhibit a horizontal edge. It is easy to tell one stroke with a piece of sandpaper and that perfect edge would disappear. I think it will be beneficial for everyone to see what we can find. After all, that is the purpose of this forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rbtf70 Posted May 1, 2021 Report Share Posted May 1, 2021 8583 has a nice sharp edge on the horizontal. Much easier to see this if the grip is tilted slightly so the light reflects on the flat surface of the horizontal edge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1921A Posted May 3, 2021 Report Share Posted May 3, 2021 (edited) Sorry - double post, deleted this one. Edited May 4, 2021 by 1921A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TD. Posted May 4, 2021 Report Share Posted May 4, 2021 rbtf70,Thank you for posting. I have a few pictures of NO 8583 and the horizontal ledge is perfect on the right side (the only side I have of the fore grip). I really like that Police hardcase and want to speak with you in the future about the long cleaning rod. 1921A,Great pictures. The grip on the left is perfect, just what I would expect to see on a Colt's in excellent condition. I am finding the grip on the right with the slight break in the horizontal ledge is a little more common than I once thought, but usually the slight break is only on one side of the grip. When a fore grip with a slight break is on a gun with no other issues, the slight break is almost invisible. The grip in the center is more like a couple of the fore grips posted by Nick, above. I don't see grips with this amount of break or rounding on the horizontal ledge on many guns. It is one of the reasons I wanted to expand this thread so we all could learn more about these expensive Colt's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1921A Posted May 4, 2021 Report Share Posted May 4, 2021 Heres three Colt grips I found in my Thompson stuff. I have a few more packed away somewhere. The first one shows a nice straight horizontal edge at the top of the arch. The second one shows the top of the arch slightly breaking the horizontal ledge. The last picture is a fore grip and pistol grip from a full set of Navy wood I sold recently. The horizontal line on the Navy grip was not broken by the arch. All of these are original un-sanded Colt/Remington grips. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1921A Posted May 4, 2021 Report Share Posted May 4, 2021 (edited) TD - Ive seen a few of the vertical foregrips where the arch breaks the horizontal ledge, some significantly. I had a 17000 number Savage Commercial with that feature. The wood was original and unmarked. I made an assumption the high arch fore grips were early Savage grips. So much for that theory. Edited May 4, 2021 by 1921A Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSMG28 Posted May 4, 2021 Report Share Posted May 4, 2021 (edited) I do not have a lot of examples for this topic, but here are two Colt's foregrips. The second one is from a gun that went to France, where it got the Berthier swivel. Below is a Savage foregrip that looks very much like a Colt's, but with minor differences. The edge is just slightly broken on the left side. This is likely due to the fact that the ledge is slightly wider top to bottom than on the Colt's grips. Edited May 4, 2021 by TSMG28 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benedw60 Posted June 19, 2021 Report Share Posted June 19, 2021 Gijive pm sent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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