2nd Chance Smith
Re-Living Your Youth? It Can Happen
Those who have followed my writings over the years will know I’m an auto-pistol person. So, they may be startled to learn my first handgun was an old revolver! It was a classic top-break .32 Smith & Wesson. The time was 1948, and I was 14 years old. With my father’s OK, it was purchased from an elderly antique dealer named Bell Smoot in Elizabethtown, Ky.
The price was $15 and I had saved up enough from small gunsmithing jobs to pay for it. It was carried on several camping trips in the Colesburg hills, and was once fired to discourage a bobcat from entering the food-tent. A few years later, it was, alas, traded off for my first auto-pistol. Hey, in those days, the only way to get another gun was to trade what I had.
Now, let’s fast-forward about 65 years to late in 2016. A local guy wanted to dispose of an inherited handgun. When I saw what it was, I had to have it. A .32 S&W top-break, in excellent condition except for the original hard-rubber grip panels which were chipped and broken. This time, I paid a lot more than $15 for it.
I knew where to get replacement grips: Vintage. Founded by David Byron, the company was later sold to a nice lady in Florida. Subsequently, she passed it on to Triple K, a firm already noted for replacement magazines and fine leather-goods.
Triple K has maintained the extremely high quality of Vintage grips. Once, many years ago, I obtained a set of SAUER 38H grips from Vintage, and noticed on the inside, they had German military acceptance markings. I called to tell them that mistakenly, they had sent me their pattern originals. But no, the copy pair was just that good.
On my “new keepsake” Smith & Wesson, the grip edges were a perfect fit. I had to alter slightly the depth of the recess for the stabilizer cross pin at the bottom. Old S&Ws have some variation there. Well, it’s good to sort of have my first handgun again, and think about those camping trips. This time, I’ll keep it.
Triple K
(619) 232-2066
https://gunsmagazine.com/company/triple-k-mfg-com/