never had one yet that was NOT "flat",,,,yes often the castings may differ in outer dimensions ( wider or longer than any given grip panel), often saw this with the early stainless Vaqueros, metal stuck out around the grip panel,BUT again, NEVER had, saw ,or worked on one that the sides were NOT "flat". Yes, I would understand thinning one down so it was the same as the newer, thinner,, (narrow) grip frames ala , the "New Vaquero"...............sounds like another way to get MORE $$$$ out of a potential customer, justify the overall cost of "customizing",,, milk it baby 8) :roll:
just for information , the measurements we took from those two examples when the New Vaquero first came out is, the original Vaquero the frame thickness is .488"nom., and the NEW Vaquero is .440" nom.
what we measured, NOT from the blueprints, factory drawings ( patent app) :wink: