Pistol grip shape??

[Scota4570]

On a British pistol, like a Manton, was the grip fatter at the bottom?   The picture show it may be but the may be an artifact of the  distance to the lens. 

[smart dog]

Hi,
Some were wider and some were not during the same time period.

dave

[Wolfeknives]

I have a set by Egg and one by Westley Richards. Both widen slightly at the butt.

[Scota4570]

OK, my first try was to bring the grip sides out from the lock molding to the but in a straight line.  What will give a little over 1/8" flare. 

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

In the picture you provided, the grip flares as it comes to the butt cap, but it is a swamped flare, not a straight one.  The flare is subtle.
One the pair of pistols recently posted here, there is only a very minor flare, as the grip is quite deep 'fore and aft'.

[Seth Isaacson]

I think in the picture you are referencing, it is somewhat of an effect of your eyes being tricked by the shaping of the side flats making it look like the wrist narrows when instead it may just flare slightly at the pommel. A Mortimer pistol I recently looked at appeared to narrow at first glance but is actually even along the length of the wrist until you get to the pommel which has a rather French style bordered design. I think it is the flats that make them look like they may narrow towards the top. I get to handle a lot of English pistols, and they can vary a lot though from pistol to pistol, maker to maker, and year to year as others have commented. I have worked with some with very narrow wrists overall that surprised me.

[D. Taylor Sapergia]

Scota4570:  The percussion pistol you have shown has a grip that is deep front to back, so would benefit from a grip that had little or no swelling at the bottom, similar to the pair of pistols recently shown on this site.  The grip must fill the hand ... doesn't need to be voluptuous.

[Scota4570]

It is coming along.  I think I am about "right" on the grip shape and profile.  The grip cap was actually fun.  I made some swage blocks and squished some 18Ga steel.  It worked surprisingly well on the first two tries.  The aluminum was not damaged.  I imagine the original guns used thicker steel for this.  Since I am not going to use the gun as a club or a hammer, I think this will look OK.

This is going slow with lots of head scratching.  That is good since I am learning new things.  The first project  of anything is always that way. 

Thanks everyone for the help on this project. 

Scot

[Seth Isaacson]

That is looking very nice! How will you be finishing it? Brown barrel, casehardened lock, and blued furniture like most English pistols? Is the entry pipe brass or iron? Hard to tell from the photos, but it looks brass. A brass entrypipe with iron remaining furniture will probably look out of place.

[Scota4570]

The brass entry pipe  was easier to make.  I will probably swap the pipe on the under rib with brass and use brass wedge/ escutcheons.  If I really don't like that I will make a steel entry pipe.

There were no cast entry pipe in steel available for a 5/16 rod. 

I will probably brown and boil the steel parts.

There is a long way to go.  I still need to engrave and checker.  I was thinking about using my MMC 60* cutter to lay it out and leave it flat top but with V-grooves.  I may not have the patience to make a new parallel side cutter and do it all by hand.  This wood is not super high grade rock hard stuff.  Real flat top checkering may want to shed a diamond here and there. 

I start these projects with the intention of going crazy with perfect details.  As the project progresses a few compromises are made.  No two originals were alike so I justify it to myself that way.