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Joined: Dec 2001
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 6,275 Likes: 205 |
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, we find many shotguns with hard rubber buttplates and grip caps. Some have the company logos embossed on them and some seem generic. Some grip caps and buttplates were used by several companies, especially grip caps. Does anyone know where these early companies got their buttplates and grip caps ? There must have been one or more common suppliers.
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Joined: Feb 2006
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2006
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Daryl, good question. I know L.C. Smith used most that had their name on them, plus they also used a few that did not. I posted on the LCSCA about an early Fulton 2E (circa 1896) that had a butt plate with two pointing dogs on it and said I have seen a few "elsies" with this same butt plate. A viewer wrote in and said that this butt plate was used by a few other gun manufactures and not just L.C. Smith. I agreed since it does not have any name on it and therefore could be used by anyone. I believe all of the gun manufactures had them made elsewhere and don't believe there was many to begin with. It would be nice to find an old catalog of such butt plates and grip caps and who made them. 
Last edited by JDW; 09/22/09 11:41 AM.
David
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Feb 2002
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Yup, that buttplate is pictured in Houchins and I have an early Fulton gun with one identical to it. They are scarce, but certainly factory. I have only seen one mint example, own it, and would be willing to allow it to be duplicated if someone knows how to make a mold without disturbing the original. A friend has some molds but I don't think he made them, so I wouldn't know where to go. It is a beautiful buttplate when in good condition.
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Joined: Aug 2007
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Aug 2007
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I suspect they were sourced from Belgium, but I can't tell if the butt-plate & tubes came from the same source. Field & Stream, Volume 14, page 29, 1909 http://books.google.com/books?id=6B5YAAA...ted&f=false“The History of America Arms and Ammunition” “The gun is made entirely in the well-equipped factory, with the exception of the rubber butt-plates, and the tubes for the barrels, which are imported.” Kind Regards, Raimey rse
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2001
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Raimey, thanks. That is the first hint as to sources I have seen in print. It gives us a place to search.
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Joined: Aug 2007
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 10,882 Likes: 201 |
Info may be gained from a search on plastics centered around natural materials and Belgian Leo Baekeland(1863-1844) immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1880s and possibly a citizen post 1892, inventor of Bakelite, a mixture of phenon with formaldehyde and natural material, in 1909: http://www.google.com/patents?id=mLlgAAA...;q=&f=false Surely he worked with someone in Belgium. kind Regards, Raimey rse
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Joined: Jan 2009
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
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Joined: Dec 2001
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2001
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Raimey, I think buttplates were mistakenly called Bakelite by many people over the years. Certainly lots of buttplates resemble that product , but of course, some come decades before Bakelite. I have also heard guttapercha was used. There are quite a number of patents relating to this product and I think the product was used in Colt pistol cases maybe as early as the 1860s.
Our friend in Belgium has asked a friend of his, who is an antique expert, about our question. Now that we have the Belgium lead, it may explain the lack of information on these products from the U.S.
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Joined: Aug 2007
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Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Aug 2007
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Mr. Hallquist: From what I've scanned recently, it seems that some custom makers have made butt-plates from old radios of Bakelite. I can't say either way but this new text, "Polymers & People" from 2005 touts Bakelite as a butt-plate material: http://books.google.com/books?id=4Lleak5...tes&f=false Kind Regards, Raimey rse
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Joined: Dec 2008
Posts: 277 Likes: 5
Sidelock
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Sidelock
Joined: Dec 2008
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There’s a company in FL: Vintage Industries that make very good repo plastic buttplates, grip caps & grips.
About 7-8 years ago I had them make some custom hard rubber grips for a Colt SAA that I was restoring, the gun has special ordered hard rubber grips, Vintage reproduced them exactly.
Vintage industrys products are very well made, almost exact copies of the originals…except that they are cast, during the casitng process the mixture gets air bubbles it. This is not visable in the finished product, but if you have to grind/fit it down for a better fit you may expose these voids, which are hard to hide.
Mike Hunter
Hunter Restorations
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