Gos Grips

It may be relevant to my quandary below that the bird I put on my stationery (must scan– it is not a jpeg), western belt buckle, and autopistols has always been a Goshawk, designed from  from Japanese art.

I have had this:

And, on a Commander frame, this:

The artist who did the scrimshaw above was no longer working when I discovered that, contrary to what I had thought, I could still work the slide on a 1911– but only on full- sized guns, the way John Moses Browning designed them. Small frame guns needed stronger springs which, with arthritis and Parkinson’s, I found difficult, so I sold them all. Since I have always felt deprived if I didn’t have a .45 auto, I decided I would get another, a big one, but the deal is still a little down the road. Meanwhile, I looked around and found that Hogue Grips, while making more commercial grips than anyone, also did scrimshaw. With trepidation, I asked Rosalie, my contact, if they could do a Japanese Goshawk. She in turn asked me for an original image, and got back to me in about a week with the slightly stylized version below for approval. It was PERFECT,  catching the character of the legendary North- of- the- Waste- White, better known to us as the Kamchatka and east Siberian subspecies of the Gos, Accipiter gentilis albidus. She then quoted me a ridiculously low price, and cautioned me it might take ten weeks. That was three weeks ago, and I already have the grips, and love them.

Now I need a 1911, probably either a Colt I can improve on (but which is expensive) or  Springfield like the gun in the ad below. Ad? Well, with no .45 at hand, when I noticed the ad said “Actual Size”, I just dropped the grips onto the paper for your appreciation. The screw holes were in the right place