New Grips For An Old Flattop

According to the records provided by Ruger, the old flattop .44 magnum was birthed sometime in 1962. It was, when it came into my life, a well used shooter. It definitely was not of the collectable status, or I would not have been interested. Since the price was right and all the parts were present and working, it followed me home. The Ruger flattops for me seem to "fit" better than even the old three-screw model. They just have that feel about them that seems natural, coming very close to that magic fit of the Colt SSA.

Not being a fan of the .44 magnum, I started pondering just what I was going to do with this fine old sixgun…..sure would make a nice .45 Colt! Wonder what would happen to me if I had it converted…..would the Ruger gods banish me from ever owning another Ruger? I hashed this thought over a long time until I finally decided to just do it.

Previously I had an old three-screw .357 converted to .44 special by Hamilton Bowen so I had my source for the conversion. Mr. Bowen’s work in my experience has been outstanding. To use an old hot rodder’s term, one ends up with a sixgun that has been "blueprinted" when it is returned from spending time with him. So, off it went for a new lease on life.

I never intended to make a magnum out of the old gun. It gets a regular diet of 260 grain Keith-style semi-wad cutters over various charges of Bullseye or Universal Clays and sometimes 2400, and shoots all exceedingly well. It is a very fun gun to shoot.

Still, there was something missing. Even though the fit and feel of the gun was right on for me, the old plastic grips were not in keeping with the idea of the gun…...at least not to my way of thinking. It sure would be nice if it had a pair of custom grips from Roy Fishpaw, maybe from a piece of that fancy walnut he has. So, I contacted Mr. Fishpaw and got placed on his waiting list for a pair of grips. Roy’s time frame for supplying grips was one year! That was ok, I would just bear my burden and shoot it with the plastic ones for a while longer.

Then, just when my time for sending the gun to Roy for grip fitting came around, a job elimination put a crimp in my extra funds. Roy’s work doesn’t come cheap, and rightly so, he is one of the best. I had to bow out of the custom grip market.

Ok, I’ve got this hunk of walnut that I have no earthly idea from where or from whom it came. Maybe, just maybe, I could make my own. Reviewing the grip making information in the FAQ’s I decided that given ample time, it should be within my capabilities, so I sliced off a couple of slabs and started fitting.

The wood was not plain but not fancy either…..just enough figure to make me think I might end up with a set of grips that might look pretty good. Working slow and easy I got the slabs fitted to the frame and positioned with the locater pin. The old flattop, by the way didn’t use a roll pin, it is a real honest to goodness solid pin. With the fitting compete I started roughing out the grip profile, with the intent of duplicating the old plastic grip profile. I mostly used a Swedish Sloyd knife for this since I prefer using a knife in lieu of a rasp. It worked pretty well, the only problem was keeping it sharp. I found that the edge had to be razor sharp in order to maintain control in cutting the profile. The wood had a few streaks of what appeared to be mineral deposits in some of the pores. These really did a number on the sharpness of the knife-edge.

I worked the profile down close to final size with the knife, then smoothed with a fine cut rasp and finished with various grades of sandpaper, ending up with 600 grit. I applied a finish of Danish Oil, soaking the grips in it to maximize penetration and buffing between coats. The end result is very pleasing, both from a fit and feel standpoint and from a self-satisfaction standpoint. I know that some man-made materials are superior to wood for durability, but nothing compares to a pair of oil finished wood grips for feel……IMHO.

With this project completed, I feel the need to find a really fancy piece of walnut and make another set for the old three screw .44 special. Those factory grips, even though they are walnut, just don’t have the right profile. And then there is the S&W M63 that has those rubber monstrosities on it, and the M15, and the………..

No worry, Mr. Fishpaw and those other very capable grip makers don’t have anything to be concerned about from me. At my production rate, I would be hard pressed to earn enough to keep a supply of peanut butter and crackers on hand.