BLACK POWDER
NEW GRIPS FOR THE NO. 3 FRONTIER
With new authentic grips from Triple K Manufacturing, author Mike Nesbitt’s Smith & Wesson New Model No. 3 replica revolver by Uberti is often mistaken for an original.
But the question is, how does the replica S&W New Model shoot with Triple K's replacements? STORY AND PHOTOS BY MIKE NESBITT
I
n my story last issue about the new Smith & Wesson No. 3, I was able to tell you why I like that Uberti-made S&W-style gun. There are several reasons and I don’t think I missed any of them. However, there was one little thing that I wanted to change and that was mainly for personal reasons. I favored some original-looking grips, such as what Smith & Wesson
used to have when they were making the New Model No. 3 revolvers, so I ordered some from Triple K Manufacturing. Triple K makes replacement grips for several older pistols and revolvers, and they also make replacement buttplates, so I might call on them again. Just putting new grips on a revolver is almost as good as getting a new gun. Actually, this was an almost new gun because I really hadn’t gotten it too long ago. The wooden grips that Uberti had put on the gun were very serviceable, certainly, but I wanted
something just a little more authentic in appearance and the vintage-style grips from Triple K quickly filled the bill. Those authentic grips were just what I was looking for. Triple K’s grips are made in the shape and style of the old hard rubber grips that Smith & Wesson used to put on their New Model No. 3 revolvers in the late 1870s and later. S&W actually had two colors for these rubber grips. Black was probably the most common, but they also had mottled red rubber grips. I think the red grips (and forearms) were most often used on the americanshootingjournal.com 73
