Are these oversized grips?

950 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by what would you say, Oct 28, 2013

what would you say

Discussion Starter · Sep 16, 2013

Not Colt grips, but same principle as the SAA : I recently acquired some USFA grips that are the "old Ivory" type.. a synthetic material. These grips do not have the locator hole drilled yet nor the escutcheon installed for the grip screw. I was planning on replacing some of the black grips with these, but as you can see, the replacement grips are quite a bit larger. I acquired a black hard rubber set, white rubber set, and the old ivory set and they are all the same size.. very large. Also acquired a Bisley set and they seem to be the correct size. They all are official USFA grips.
So, I'm wondering if these "larger" ones just need alot of trim down and/or still had some manufacturing process left to do, or were they for an oversize grip frame? The black and white hard rubber grips have the checkering already with a border, and it seems it would not be right to have to trim them that much. I think it would mess them up. I will contact the seller, but its been since the spring. My project took a back seat for a while. and I didn't notice this right away.

The black set pictured are the correct fitted size off of the gun. The other white set is the new grips. You can see the white grip is equally larger all over.

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dfariswheel

· #2 · Sep 16, 2013

Because single action grip frames vary in size custom grips are often a little oversized to allow fitting to an individual gun.

However, those seem inordinately large and I wonder if they were intended for a larger type revolver.
If the grips are checkered and fitting them to your gun would cut into the checkering, I'd suggest they were for a different gun.
I'm not sure what to do in this case.
If fiting them would damge them, I'd consider returning them or selling them and buying something that would be a closer fit.
There are plenty of SAA replica grips available.

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what would you say

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 28, 2013

I contacted Turnbull and also emailed the photos to them, and quickly received an email response. Response was that an employee there that came from USFA said they fitted the grips by removing material from the back with a belt grinder a little at the time. I still don't think any of these grips, being as they are all exactly the precise oversized fit to each other, could have enough material removed and look right. there would be no border left and the checkering would run to the edge of the grip with no border that the smaller fitted grip has in the photo.

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Hondo44

· #4 · Sep 28, 2013

I bought a set of walnut grips from USFA with checkering and border. They came oversize like yours. I reduced in size like Turnbull stated by sanding the back, almost to my grip size. Then final fitted the last 1/32" the usual way, and they worked fine. Still had a border all the way around. Just don't belt sand the back right to your grip size or you will lose the border and they will be too thin.

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what would you say

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 28, 2013 (Edited)

I received a detailed procedure on how USFA fitted their grips to the gun. It required some labor and skill and sometimes a frame refinish when one was returned for another set of grips. In the last steps of the process, they hand sanded the grips while mounted on the frame.
Of course, I wouldn't do that last step as I cannot refinish my grip frame, but at least all this explains why the unfitted grips are much larger than the finished grips

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