CaryC Grips?

[Pistolero]

I recently purchased these nice dark wood grips for my Ruger New Vaquero Montado from a seller who stated he thought that they were made by a gentleman named Cary. They fit my gun well and are nicely sealed and polished. There are no markings inside of the grips that identify the craftsman. I am hoping that Cary reads this post and can tell me if he made them. I like how they look against the bright stainless polish of this gun.

 

[rugerguy]

they look very nice, that being said, all the grips we ever got from or seen of Carys' were marked on the backside............
he does nice work and I still love the ones he did for us years ago done with "holly" wood, folks think they are ivory.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Interesting mystery! And can anyone identify that "dark wood"?

Mike Armstrong

 

[mhblaw]

As pisolero said, Cary Chapman marks the inside of his grips. I have several of his on various Ruger customs and he did really nice work. He has taken time off for health reasons, but hopefully will get back into business again some day.

 

[eric conrad]

All of my grips by Cary are also marked inside. The man is a true craftsman.
Eric

 

[Bear Paw Jack]

Pistolero, calling Cary a gentleman may be an overstatement, but he for sure is an Artisan of the highest order. :) Does the SBH fit into the NV with out modification. I don't have much money to play in retirement, but I may have to have come Cary grips one of these days. I don't know of anyone better.

 

[Pistolero]

Pistolero, calling Cary a gentleman may be an overstatement, but he for sure is an Artisan of the highest order. :) Does the SBH fit into the NV with out modification. I don't have much money to play in retirement, but I may have to have come Cary grips one of these days. I don't know of anyone better.

The grips were made for a New Vaquero and the fit my New Vaquero Montado very well. The wood appears to be a dark walnut with a nice clear finish coat on both sides. They have a beveled bottom and are thicker than the thin factory NV grips. I looked at the backsides closely and there are no initials other markings to identify the maker.

 

[dwayne]

I have a set of Cary's grips on a Bowen BH conversion. In a word -- PERFECT!

 

[Colonel Daddy]

My grips from Cary are so marked, so I guess that is settled. JMHO, but Cary is such a fine craftsman that every Ruger Single Action pistolero
needs at least one set, and preferably more, of His beautiful grips!

 

[mm6mm6]

My birdseye maple handles from Cary C are the finest I've ever held. The fit is superb. Cary even finishes the end of the grips screw! Who else does that? No one! He also includes an aluminum spacer to fit between the grip panels over the screw so that you can't over tighten the grips and crack the wood. Who else does that? I really hope Cary C is able to get back to grip making because his are truly the finest.

 

[Pistolero]

mm6mm6,
That is a sweet looking .44 Special!

 

[ajw65]

mm6mm6 those are great looking grips.

 

[powder smoke]

Pistolero, calling Cary a gentleman may be an overstatement, but he for sure is an Artisan of the highest order. :)

Not to pile on but have to agree ps

 

[caryc]

Thanks for all the kind words guys. The answer is no, I did not make those grips. You can tell by the grip screw. It's set to deep in the grip. I used special made longer grip screws that were cut to length to fit each set of grips so that I could mount my ferrules just below the surface. I never liked the look of a nice set of grips with the ferrules mounted deep in that ugly quarter inch hole. As someone said, I finished the ends of the trimmed screws.

Below you can see the nice relief cutout that I made in my new XR3 grips to make room for the locks. I routed that cutout in there so it always looked nice. And, on the new XR3 grips, I signed and numbered them inside that cutout. I signed and numbered all my grips so people wouldn't have to wonder who made them.

You can also tell my grips by the extra "blind" tooling hole just above the grip screw hole. That hole and the grip pin hole were my two tooling holes.

 

[Pistolero]

Cary,
Thank you for the info. I hope to find a pair of your grips for my Ruger New Vaquero.

 

[pruger45]

Very nice!