View Single Post
Old July 11, 2012, 11:38 AM   #19
carguychris
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 20, 2007
Location: Richardson, TX
Posts: 7,523
Quote:
They are hollow grips so they are rare then?
Genuine S&W hard rubber or gutta percha stocks are flat on the inside where they fit up against the grip frame. IOW they are a solid piece except where needed to clear the frame and mechanism.

If the inside contour is hollow and follows the outside contour- i.e. the material is a fairly uniform thickness and is not flat against the grip frame- they are modern reproductions made from injection molded plastic; see posts #15 and #16. These are basically worthless by themselves and subtract some value from the gun as they are not factory-original. However, if it's any consolation, the loss of collector value will be minimal on a gun that is in rough shape otherwise.

Even if the grips are factory, they are visibly damaged and therefore are not worth a whole heckuva lot (+1 Win73). AFAIK the only I frame stocks that really get collectors' attention by themselves are (a) genuine factory mother-of-pearl, which get into 4 figures(!) if they're pristine, and (b) the rare mottled blue-and-red hard rubber.

That said, ALL decent factory I frame stocks have some value because the grip frame was lengthened in 1952; factory stocks made after this date can be mounted on an earlier gun but very obviously don't fit properly at the bottom.
__________________
"Smokey, this is not 'Nam. This is bowling. There are rules... MARK IT ZERO!!" - Walter Sobchak
carguychris is offline  
 
Page generated in 0.02464 seconds with 8 queries