"pointer" grips?

[cgates]

Does anyone know about these grips? They came with a colt officer I got recently. They are plastic and have a thumb rest.

made by W Murad in San Carlos, CA is what is says on the inside.

One set is white, the other is brown. Both have a floral/leaf pattern on them.

I was not able to find much on the net.

[TRAP55]

I have several sets, and I've tried every thing I can think of to find info on Murad and what happened to the company. Came up with zip. I couldn't even locate surviving family members in the San Carlos area.
Contact Vintage Gun Grips to make copies, the patent rights expired and were never renewed, so Vintage will copy them(if they haven't already), and send them back with your choice of a set of grips from their catalog.
Murad grips in good shape average about $60 to $80 on the auctions. Can you post some pics of yours?

[cgates]

Ill take some photos later on today and post them for you. They seem to be in very nice shape.

Any clue as to when this company was in operation? I know the gun they were on was from 1939, but I am thinking these are not nearly that old.

[cgates]

Heres some photos - no dates on these grips that I can see. Some research lead me to some photos where similar grips had stickers on them that said montebello, CA. I found this interesting, as the Colt that these are from also had a clamshell type holster - its an early version made in Bakersfield, but much later versions were also made in Montebello, CA. coincidence? maybe so...

These grips are different - the screw on the ivory colored ones is shorter and goes into a threaded piece of metal imbedded in the plastic. The Brown ones have a piece of metal that goes all the way through to the outside of the grip and the screw is longer. My assumption is the brown ones are the earlier version.


[IMG][/IMG]

[TRAP55]

cgates, Murad may be credited being the first to use injection molded plastic for grips. I've found reference to the grip designs belonging to King Products, and I believe they were based in Montebello, CA. Murad made them, sold some of his own, and King sold the basic same thing. That's the best I can do to put that much of their history together.
I picked up a set of black ones just like yours, for my Colt Officer Match .22, and as soon as I remember wth I put them, I'll put them on the gun. They were made in three colors, Ivory (white) and a $0.50 option, Ebony (black), and Walnut (brown), and they also made left hand versions.
From what I can find, Murad goes back at least 60yrs, and back in the day, King was one of the big boys in firearms accessories. They made everything from aftermarket ventilated ribs for shotguns, rifles, and handguns, to wide target triggers and hammers for handguns.