Notches in wood grip of SAA dating from 1883

Here is an interesting tidbit I learned back in the early 1980's that is similar to the "notching". A friend of mine had a teens single action that had come from the area of the King Ranch in south Texas and there were notches filed in the edge of the frame in the metal under the cylinder and on the triggerbow and on the barrel and on the backstrap and there were X's scratched 2 times inside each grip.

My friend said that he had the gun on his table at a gunshow and a guy walked by and asked to look it over and studied it and told him that he was some kind of college professor and that the notching on the single action had been done by a mexican (at the time he didn't know where it had come from) and that in his travels and studies he had found that it was fairly common for a mexican to put notches in their guns to "ward off evil spirits and bad luck".

Years later I was at a show in Denver and one of the Texas guys I know had a gun on his table that was notched in the metal very similar and when I asked him what he knew about the gun he said "It just came out of the brush down near Kingsville" which is the area that the King ranch is located. I asked him if he had taken the grips off of it and he said he had and that there were X's scratched inside the grips.

So, so far, the story holds water for me on the custom.

coltsixguns, do you think that is the deal with this revolver I have? Note both of the grips which appear to be made out of bone have an "X" carved into them:

In my opinion, notches carved on grips or metal are from kills. Back in the day, guns were simply tools to the vast majority of their owners. It's why we see them in such terrible condition today. They were carried and used. The above Colt 1860 Army is a Civil War era revolver. The notches on the backstrap cannot be verified, but the war was very serious to those who fought on both sides. Some soldiers may have been quite proud of each kill they made with their rifle or revolver. Carving careful notches is not the sign of an aloof person, but rather a very serious soul. I held this revolver when I took the pictures (it belongs to a co-worker who was given it by his father-in-law) and I felt some awe that this Colt may have in fact taken the lives of persons represented by the notches on the backstrap. The person who carved them may have been proud of his killing or maybe even tormented by it. We'll never know. Doesn't make the gun any more or less valuable, but it sure is interesting.

coltsixguns said:

Interesting X's.....the ones I mentioned were scratched on the inside of the factory hard rubber grips but someone had certainly went to town notching the metal on the outside edges of the metal on the saa.

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You reminded me that I had a pair of HR's in my parts box. As you can see, 4 x's scratched on the inside of one of the panels. Never knew what they signified until mabey now. Do you think that these came out of old mexico or just some random scratching?

George Patton had 2 notches on the stocks of his SAA, from the Pershing expedition into Mexico. You can see them in the pic below the medallion.

This 1907 SAA has three notches on the heel of the grip frame that look to be made by a hacksaw blade. The notches have the same patina as the rest of the gun so I assume they have been there for a while. It's a great shooter with lots of character.