S & W Coke Bottle grips

[Char-Gar]

I had occasion to take a couple of pics to show a fellow just what Coke Bottle grips looked like, and I thought I would post them here, in case others were curious.

S & W stopped making these due to cost and they are quite collectible and pricey these days. John Culina (Kurac) still makes clones of these grips and those in the pics are made by him. A look at the profile of the grips well tell you why they are called "Coke Bottle" grips.

[Guesser]

I have never grasped the reasoning for the nick name "coke bottle". I own a number of them but the reasoning escapes me.

[Salmoneye]

I have never grasped the reasoning for the nick name "coke bottle". I own a number of them but the reasoning escapes me.

You must be really young...

[Char-Gar]

I have never grasped the reasoning for the nick name "coke bottle". I own a number of them but the reasoning escapes me.

Go look at, or better yet pick up a vintage 8oz glass Coke bottle and it will come to you.

[The Virginian]

I am old enough to remember those but I don't see the resemblance.

[osteodoc08]

Outline the grips while looking at the back. For me there is a resemblance, but YMMV.

[Char-Gar]

Oh jeeeze... The old Coke bottle had a narrow neck and a swell in the middle to hold on to. Here is a pic of a giant Coke bottle in Las Vegas. Now look at the grips. If you don't see it now, go get a grown up to explain it to you. Picking up a handgun with these grips on it, feels somewhat like picking up an old Coke bottle.

[Guesser]

I'll be 70 in June; I remember the 7oz. coke bottle, 8 oz. coke bottle, 10 oz. coke bottle, 12 oz. coke bottle and on to the top. Takes a tremendous stretch of imagination to see it. Or maybe someone with no imagination started it. To me they are "target" style grips. Or in Colt lingo, "stocks". I remember the 7 & 8 oz bottles being a nickel.

[Char-Gar]

The Smith and Wesson target grips have varied in size and shape quite a bit over the years. The term "Coke bottle" was coined by collectors to distinguish the early grips with the pronounced palm swells from the later target grips that did not have them. Both are target grips.

The collectors also refer to the relief in the early target grips to allow the rounds and cases to be ejected with out hitting the grips as "the football". Later target grips had a cut out for the use of a speed loader.

These are just terms Smith and Wesson fans use to distinguish between generations of Smith and Wesson target grips and nothing to be spun up about. They are just words that some people find descriptive. You can use or not use any term you like.

I have never had any problem understanding why folks latched on the term Coke bottle to describe these grips. It makes perfect sense to me. No they are not exactly like a Coke bottle, but they are somewhat the same shape and that is good enough for me.

At any rate, when the term Coke Bottle grips is used to describe early Smith and Wesson target grips, this is what they mean and that was the purpose of this post, not to defend the accuracy of the term.

[truckerdave397]

I like my women to be shaped like Coke bottles.

[rintinglen]

I like my women to be shaped like Coke bottles.
But I'll take a can.

[Guesser]

Now I'm among the informed; so, I'll can it!!!!

[The Virginian]

Seems like a stretch to me, but if you all say so I guess it is so.

[sw282]

Early Targets around 1950 had neither a football or a cutout...These are usually called 'early' or 'full' targets

[captaint]

Besides the bottle shape of the grips, the Cokes had checkering panels than came down further on the grip panel itself. The Cokes had checkering down to about 1/4 inch from the bottom of the grip. The standard target grips - the checkering panel stopped about 3/4 inch from the bottom. Most, if not all of the Cokes I have seen are walnut. I know mine are.

[bhn22]

Oh! You mean "Marilyn Monroe" grips!

[bedbugbilly]

Ahhh . . . would that be the nickel or the dime bottle of Coke? Who doesn't remember how good that glass bottle of Coke tasted after you pulled it out of the red Coke cooler in the gas station, pried the cap off with a church key or the opener attached to the cooler and took that first swig on a hot day?

Thanks Char Gar . . . not only for the great photos but stirring up thoughts of times past when things were a lot "simpler". . .

[Aaron]

Just thought I would mention, the smooth grips pictured are not S&W "Coke" grips.

[Aaron]

They would be checkered like this.
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r624/50Beowulf1/Mobile%20Uploads/20150216_114415.jpg (http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/50Beowulf1/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20150216_114415.jpg.html)

http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r624/50Beowulf1/Mobile%20Uploads/20150216_114455.jpg (http://s1175.photobucket.com/user/50Beowulf1/media/Mobile%20Uploads/20150216_114455.jpg.html)

[JHeath]

Maybe you guys need to put on your Coke Bottle Glasses to see it.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=coke-bottle+glasses

[Char-Gar]

Just thought I would mention, the smooth grips pictured are not S&W "Coke" grips.

Go back and read post #1 in this thread.

[alrighty]

Thank you Char-Gar for explaining the coke bottle grips.

[DoubleAdobe]

Oh! You mean "Marilyn Monroe" grips!

Ha, there is an old visible gas pump popularly called a "Mae West" for similar reasons.

[GLL]

Besides the bottle shape of the grips, the Cokes had checkering panels than came down further on the grip panel itself. The Cokes had checkering down to about 1/4 inch from the bottom of the grip. The standard target grips - the checkering panel stopped about 3/4 inch from the bottom. Most, if not all of the Cokes I have seen are walnut. I know mine are.

Some were rosewood or Goncalo.
http://www.fototime.com/5093ED59D2808FB/orig.jpg

http://www.fototime.com/ACEA976F59C757C/orig.jpg

Early “standard” Targets for comparison
http://www.fototime.com/E692E8581EAEC21/orig.jpg

As Charles mentioned the Kurac grips have a very pronounced "coke-bottle " profile.
The palm swell on John's grips fit the hand very nicely !

Jerry

[Char-Gar]

Palm swells are very comfortable and an aid to gripping the sixgun. Roper used them on his grips and Skeeter Skelton carried the idea over on his modified Ropers made by Herrett. Deacon Deason (Bear Hug) continue with the palm swells on his clone of Skeeters grips.

John Culina makes very fine grips indeed. In addition to the pair pictured, I have a pair of his in English walnut which I like very much.

Here are pics of original Ropers (Colt Trooper), Bear Hug Skelton (S&W 19) and the English Walnut Culina cokes (S&W 15). All have palm wells, but of different sizes. It takes considerable more time (and cost) to put palm swells on handgun grips, so I guess that is why so many of them don't have them.