Different style original grips on same type Colt PPS

[DG45]

Check the differences in the grips on these two different Colt Police Positive Special revolvers. It looks like both have original Colt grips but one set is quite a bit thinner than the other one. Does anybody know what these different styles are called and if its possible to buy replacement grips like the thinner ones?

http://www.gunsamerica.com/userimages/574/986790948/wm_2013499.jpg

http://www.gunsamerica.com/userimages/4789/930308350/wm_1473318.jpg

 

[Glenn Dee]

I dont see any difference.

 

[longranger]

Are they both Colt P.P.'s or is one a P.P. Special, I see the difference in the grips.the first one appears to of late 1920's hard rubber "Fleur De Lis" grips ended in 1924.The second one looks more like later 1950's Police Positive Special.What cartridge are they chambered ? .38 Special, the revolver is a Police Positive Special.Police Positives were not chambered in .38 Special they were .38 Colt (S&W's) and .32 Colt and .22 target Mdl. 6" barrel drift adjustable rear sight.If you have serial #'s you can look the years of manufacture at www.proofhouse.com .
Colt was pretty good at using up left over parts on guns the parts would fit in.

 

[DG45]

Both were advertised as Police Positive Specials. The thinner - handled one was a 38 Special. I'm not sure about the thicker-handled one, but it was identified as a PPS in the ad, not a PP. Don't know the years of manufacture, but they were being advertised on Guns America.

 

[Don P]

It appears to me it is the angle of the dangle in the photos

 

[Webleymkv]

My guess is that the guns, or at least the grips, are of different vintage. Colt changed their factory grips several times over the years.

 

[DG45]

The reason I asked was because about 30 years ago I fell victim to the latest "cool grip" fad and took my factory original grips off my 6" Colt Official Police, revolver and put some god-awful black rubber oversize grips on it. I intended to keep the original grips, but misplaced them and never found them again. I've moved twice since then so they're gone. Although that gun was a Colt Official Police model, its stock grips were very much like the thin grips shown on the old Police Positive Special shown in the 1st hypelink above. I've wanted to get some grips like that again for a long time but have never been able to find a set of grips like that again, and wondered if the style had a particular name. I've heard of "square butt revolvers" and "round butt"revolvers but don't know what this style is. I appreciate all the responses, but trust me, it ain't the angle of the dangle.

 

[Dfariswheel]

Picture Number 1 is of an early Colt Police Positive Special made in the early 1900's. These early guns had a slightly different grip frame with the front of the grip closer to the trigger guard.

Picture Number 2 is a later version but still pre-WWII.
These later guns made in the late 20's and on had the more modern grip frame with more finger room between the front of the frame and the trigger guard.
The only thing I've ever heard them called was the "skinny grip frame" or "the early narrow grip frame".

The grips are not interchangeable between the very early and the later frames because the early frame version is much thinner front to back.
You can buy plastic replica early skinny frame grips here:

http://www.vintagegungrips.net/

http://www.gungrip.com/index.php

The early Colt grips were made of black hard "Gutta Percha" rubber with molded in checkering and logos.
The above two places sell replicas listed as for the Army Special, and the Official Police.
The Army Special/Official Police didn't use the early narrow grip frame. Only the small early PP and PPS used that.

 

[DG45]

No, this was an Official Police, 6" barrel mfg. in 1965, and I'd swear it had the same type grips as the one on the first PPS above ; I'm not saying they were PPS size grips, obviously they were bigger than that to fit an Official Police, but I'm sure they were the slim grips like those. I was just hoping there was a name for the style. I probably I should have posted this in the Smithy forum.Can it be transferred there?

 

[Dfariswheel]

I'm not sure what you saw, but Colt used the same grip frame on all medium frame Colt revolvers from the Army Special of 1908 to the Official Police of 1969.
In fact, all medium frame Colt's used the same grip frame up to and including the Python.
You can take the grips off a 2003 Python and a 1927 Official Police and the grips will interchange, with possible minor fitting to match the frame perfectly.

While the grip material changed from hard rubber in the early 20's to checkered walnut later, there were no "skinny grips" made for these guns, certainly not for a 1965 model.
An Official Police made in 1969 would have the same type of checkered walnut grips used in the late 1920's.

1960's Colt medium frame grips. A 2 1/2" Python would have Gold medallions, an Official Police would have Silver.
Other than that, they're the same.

 

[DG45]

Not saying you're wrong Dfariswheel. You sound like you know exactly what you're talking about, and it was a long, long time ago. But that OP was my gun, and when I saw that first PPS in the picture above, it hit me like BANG! that the grips on that gun looked just like the factory grips used to on my OP. I've tried to find a pair like that again for my OP for years with no success.

My OP's grips were probably a little bigger than those on the PPS, but they looked just like that - which I didn't like then. The gun had been my father-in-laws. He bought it; I didn't. He just left it to me. Whe I got it I changed the grips because I thought they looked too small for a big 6" I Frame Colt. But those grips were checkered walnut, with a silver colt medallion and they looked on my gun just like those skinny grips looked on that PPS. But, like I said it was a long time ago and time does sometimes play tricks on memory, but I don't think so in this case.

Think about it. How many skinny checkered walnut factory Colt grips like that have you ever seen, even on a PPS? Not very many walnut ones I bet. But, hey, there's that one. It's got a completely different style walnut grip than what you normally see on a PPS. I know, bcause I've got both a PPS and an OP. I kept the factory grips on my PPS because they were the wider type. But I'll bet you anything that that skinny grip on the PPS in that first photo above is Colt factory original.

Now, I've seen plastic skinny grips (or maybe they were hard rubber) on PPS's before, but the PPS in that first photo looks to me like it has skinny WALNUT grips, and thats rare, and probably special order. If Colt made a non-standard grip for a PPS, why not for an OP? I'm wondering if there wasn't some particular style that had a name, that maybe you could order if you wanted to pay extra or something. That was the kind of thing my father-in-law would do. Somebody on this thread mentioned that they thought it was called a fleur de lis style or something like that and maybe that's what it was.

Anyway, I'm not trying to argue with you, I'm sure that you are principally correct and that 99.9% of OPs with walnut grips had the type of grips you showed in your photo, but then so did PPS's.....yet there's that one in the first photo above, and its got a different style of grip and I think its exactly the same style grip that was on my OP.