Sambar Stag -vs- Elk Stag

Kevin · Nov 21, 2015

Not sure why but I've seen a lot of posts just lately about stag grips. Bob just had a post about sending off a grip frame for a new set to be fitted. Then I couldn't find the post just now but someone else was talking about Sambar vs. Elk and they preferred older Sambar. Then Someone posted a picture. The Elk was more whiter and the Sambar more yellowed.

My question is, did the older stag grips yellow with age or are they always that color? Will Elk Stag grips turn yellow with age? I have two sets of them from Sack Peterson, but they are not that old. One set is perhaps 5 years old.

Would shoe polish get them to that nice yellow patina? I like the Elk Stag and the Sambar, both are nice in their own right. Just curious about the differences.

Bob Wright · Nov 21, 2015

Sambar stag is naturally amber in color, while, as you say, elk is whiter. Red stag from Europe is also near white.

All stag will yellow, but never as dark as Sambar.

Of all the stag I've seen, I do prefer the elk or red stag.

As a matter of interest, the European red stag is the American elk. In Europe their elk is our moose. So far as I know, there is no European equivalent to the Virginia white tail. And I believe the sambar is very close kin to the Sitka deer.

Bob Wright

CraigC · Nov 21, 2015

I used to be a real snob about stag versus elk antler. I've definitely changed my opinion since getting a couple sets but still can't call elk antler "stag". The Sambar grips in question were yellow because they were old, not because they're stag. New stag grips will be the same off-white bone color as new elk antler. I have no idea how elk will age because it's only seen widespread use in pistol grips since India's export ban on Sambar antlers. On my Colt New Frontier below, you'll see the same Ajax Sambar stag grips about 10yrs apart.

You can see how the grips have started to yellow.

New stag, made almost completely smooth. They appear to have not changed color at all in the 15yrs I've had them.

Notice there's little difference in color between the new stag above and the new elk antler.

Personally, I just wouldn't pay the lofty premium for Sambar. Elk is perfectly fine for my purposes.

tom black · Nov 21, 2015

I've had this pair of sambar stag from Ajax at least 30 years. They have a beautiful mellow appearance to them.
Tom Black

Bob Wright · Nov 21, 2015

Craig.

Why are you making a distinction between Sambar stag and elk antler? They're both antler, from a "stag."

I have only one knife that I know to be from Sambar antler, and it was always an amber color, never the white color of elk antler.

Bob Wright

Bob Wright

Kevin · Nov 21, 2015

Thank you for all the information. The pictures help clear a lot of that up too...

CraigC · Nov 21, 2015

Because the OP is asking about the difference between the two. There is a difference, as they are two different species of deer and their antlers are not the same. On average, Sambar tends to be denser and its bark darker and deeper. My point is that a good set of elk antler grips, made from the best of elk antlers, gives up little to nothing to Sambar stag. Stag might generally be better but to me, it's not worth the lofty premium, which might be three or four times that of elk antler.

As far as terminology goes, "stag" may be the generic term used by Europeans to denote a male deer but we don't call male elk "stag", we call them bulls. So we shouldn't call grips made from elk antler "stags". Because that implies they're something they are not.

Bob Wright · Nov 21, 2015

Well, you'll just have to excuse me, I'll continue to call all grips made from antler "stag" regardless of the source.

Bob Wright

rugerguy · Nov 21, 2015

semantics, all I know is if you have a pair of each in your hands, the "stags" are denser, heavier, and the elk are lighter and more porous.......
todays "Sambar" stag, basically out of India, the color is much lighter, mainly due to the nutrients in the deers diet,,,older stag , that from the 40-50 and 60s are more yellow, seems more often more bark....the sambars of today, whiter, ( lighter color) wether Ajax, Eagle or Hogues............. sambar stags usually sell for about double the prices of elk.............................just what we see at most any given gun show or gun shop........... :wink:

Chuck 100 yd · Nov 21, 2015

Sambar stag is much more dense than Elk antler and also much more dificult to get.
Call it what you like but to be honest when selling or buying "Stag" grips the difference is more than the price alone.

toroflow · Nov 21, 2015

CraigC said:

Craig C: What type of finish is this on your revolver? Hard Chrome, Mahovsky Metallife, or? I really like that "bluish" hue. Also, sorry for hi-jacking this thread!

CraigC · Nov 21, 2015

Bob Wright said:
Well, you'll just have to excuse me, I'll continue to call all grips made from antler "stag" regardless of the source.

Bob Wright

Even if it's made from whitetail antler?

Then how do you differentiate between $150 elk antler and $400 Sambar?

CraigC · Nov 21, 2015

toroflow said:
Craig C: What type of finish is this on your revolver? Hard Chrome, Mahovsky Metallife, or? I really like that "bluish" hue. Also, sorry for hi-jacking this thread!

It's hard chrome. It only looks so bluish because it's parked in front of a window.

CraigC · Nov 21, 2015

Not semantics at all. There is a difference. The question is, are you willing to pay for it?

rugerguy said:
semantics, all I know is if you have a pair of each in your hands, the "stags" are denser, heavier, and the elk are lighter and more porous.......

And yet the elk antler on the blued flat-top above weighs PRECISELY the same as the Sambar (not Sanbar) stag on the hard chrome flat-top. Just a hair under 3oz.

BearBio · Nov 22, 2015

CraigC said:
Not semantics at all. There is a difference. The question is, are you willing to pay for it?

The use of "stag" versus "elk" is only semantics (use) and not meaning. "Stag" is the term for any deer of the genus Cervus. "Buck" is the name for the male American deer (Genus:Odocoileus). As someone pointed "elk" in Europe is our "moose" (Genus:Alces").

I have sambar, elk and moose grips.

bogus bill · Nov 22, 2015

Here is some I have and had. I don't know what they really are from. I do know many years ago they were relatively a lot cheaper than now. I bought some from a out fit called Ajax. They were good and cheap.

CraigC · Nov 22, 2015

BearBio said:
CraigC said:

Not semantics at all. There is a difference. The question is, are you willing to pay for it?

Click to expand...

The use of "stag" versus "elk" is only semantics (use) and not meaning. "Stag" is the term for any deer of the genus Cervus. "Buck" is the name for the male American deer (Genus:Odocoileus). As someone pointed "elk" in Europe is our "moose" (Genus:Alces").

I have sambar, elk and moose grips.

To dismiss it as semantics is to imply that there is no difference, that it's two different words for the same thing. It is not. The term "stag", in this context and many others, universally implies Sambar stag. So if you sell me some "stag" grips for $350, with no other disambiguation, I better not find out they're actually elk antler.

The American elk species are part of the genus Cervus, yet males are referred to as "bulls", not stags.

BearBio · Nov 22, 2015

CraigC said:
The American elk species are part of the genus Cervus, yet males are referred to as "bulls", not stags.

So are male bass, cows, bison, buffalo, alligators, trout.

CraigC · Nov 22, 2015

That'll become relevant when we start making pistol grips from their antlers. :roll:

rugerguy · Nov 22, 2015

well EXCUSE me.....SAMBAR, spell check does not recognize either spelling, besides some of us don't type, text or own smart phones.............. :?

besides its still what I said it was above , as to the difference, and if you pay $400 for a pair , then you got WAY more money than I do............$75 to $125 at todays berea gun show....... 8) :roll:

Sambar Stag -vs- Elk Stag

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