Deer Hollow Grips
The term “reproduction” can mean many things, but in the case of grip maker and gunsmith Olof Fornehed or Deer Hollow Enterprises, his grips (for Colt “snake” guns and some others) are as Colt would have made them — only superior. He even duplicates a few design traits Colt left in (such as a gap at the trigger guard) which Olof could have easily fixed. But as he said, “If I fixed it, they simply wouldn’t look like original grips anymore and that would defeat the whole idea!” The medallion is authentic, checkering, fit, etc. is, as Colt collectors say, “Just like an original Colt, only better.” Members of the Colt forum were instrumental in helping Olof get things exactly right, and he wanted to give credit where it was due there.
Olof did say he improved on the finish applied. “Colt’s clear coat is known to chip and flake off easily, so I’m using a modern, more durable type of clear coat,” he explained. Which shows, as the finish is simply marvelous and when I unboxed the sample grips in the photo I immediately dug out my minty original Python. Low-and-behold, Olof’s grips were like mine — only better! The grips are hand-selected American black walnut using factory screws — not the metric screws or those “Cheesy die cast medallions seen in many other reproductions,” as Olof says. Fit, finish, checkering and attention to detail is as flawless as a man-made thing can be, and I was seriously impressed by everything I saw. Grips are available with gold or silver medallions, Python generation 2 and 3 have nickel screws, and burl walnut is offered depending upon availability of the wood.
Olof wanted me to remind you fit is dependent upon the gun. He wagers his grips are made more consistently than Colt made and polished the grip frames and in nine out of 10 cases, the grips fit fine. But sure enough, now and again they need some final hand-fitting. He’s made an instructional PDF on his website showing just how to do it to help avoid any hysteria. You can also better fit original grips using the same instructions.
Prices are exceptionally fair. From a low of about $125 for Diamondback and D-Frame grips to about $200–$225 for most Python fits, this is far less than original grips go for, and you honestly do get better quality.
For more info: www.deerhollowonline.com, Ph: (931) 738-5044
