"Adam 12, see the man...."

[banzaijohn]

I was partners with Mike Farrant, Fuzzy's son 15 years ago; he's long since retired. About 7 years ago, I sent Mike an email about the resurgent interest in his family's grips. He gave me the back story on his Grandfather's and then his Dad's nickname and the fact they still had a bunch of exotic wood and all the patterns to make more grips. Unfortunately, the interest isn't there at this time. Interesting story though:

"John, Thanks for the update on dad's grips that are still around. I'll forward your emails to my two brothers who were more involved in the business than I. My grandfather, Henry "Fuzzy" Farrant, started the grip making business with another man named "Hess" in the 1930's. Their grips were made out of cast metal, trying to size them to a drawing of the hand of the shooter ordering. I believe we still have one of these left. My dad Earle "Fuzzy" took the business into wood. All three brothers are writing down what they can remember of Dad and Grandpa; one day we will compare notes and put together some sort of family grip business history. We still have all the templates, and about 15 -20 grips left, but none of us want to get back into the business at this time. My brother Pat worked for the business full time for about 8 to 10 years, the other two of us were just part time. Dad was making grips from the 1940s till the late 1990s, until he got sick.

A couple of funny notes:

My grandfather rescued a person from a mattress warehouse fire in the 1920s, in the downtown area of LA. When he came out of the fire he had all this sticky mattress stuffing all over him, and you know how cops are. So was born the nickname "Fuzzy." One family member speculates this was the origin of the expression police=Fuz, but no one has ever done any real research.

Also, last September my brother Tim, who lives at my dad's house, received a return package from the post office marked "undeliverable." The package contained a pair of grips mailed to a gun shop in Illinois; the date of the original shipment was 1976. Apparently this shipment of grips has been sitting in some post office for 33 years. The grips were great shape.

Stay safe, and thanks for the update on pops grips that are around.

Mike

[Dagga Boy]

Did Martin Milner's Model 15 ever sell?

Not sure. Scotty Reitz has been all over me trying to get me to buy it. They just wanted way more than I could justify. In high school and college I used to hang out right in front of Milners beach house when we went Boggie Boarding, or for beach parties. I would love to have the gun.

BonzaiJohn....Thank You! Outstanding stuff. Funny about the nickname. Cops nicknames always have some funny story behind them.

[11B10]

This thread is just one more reason why I love pistol forum. The depth of knowledge on this site, the sincere appreciation of history, everyone's selfLESSness, their willingness to share all of it, always done with never a trace of ego - is just not found in today's world, especially on the net.

If you guys never posted pictures, it would be amazing. The pictures make me feel like Wayne and Garth: "I'M NOT WORTHY!"

MUCH appreciated, fellas!

[rsa-otc]

My father had a 1960's version Target Master piece Mdl 14-?. He used that gun to good effect winning multiple NRA Bullseye competitions. Growing up our china cabinet was full of NRA Silverware.

I used that gun to claim my first two state PPC titles and shoot my way into Master Class in NRA PPC in the late 70's. It was also the gun I took to my first NRA Police Firearms Instructor Course.

Unfortunately when my father suffered a massive stroke that left him wheelchair and assisted living bound I didn't have the money to bring it home from NV and told his wife to get what she could to help make ends meet.

Really wish I could have swung bringing it home. That gun was sweet and in the end sported a late 1970’s Austin Behlert patented trigger job. I don’t know what Austin did to the gun but the trigger and hammer looked to be hard chromed and it was super slick.

[rsa-otc]

My first gun was a Mdl 15 that I bought used because I was not yet 21 years old. That was converted to a Austin Behlert PPC gun. When I got my first L Frame smith I found that I could out shoot the PPC custom gun with it. The PPC gun was traded for a matching 4" L Frame and a Mdl 39.

[iWander]

Mine isn't as nice as everyone else's, and it's actually a Combat Masterpiece, so it's a pre Model 15. I got it from a retired Delaware cop who got it from his FTO. They used it as their competition gun for almost 20 years each. They estimated has over 50,000 rounds through it between the two of them. The second pic is it next to my buddies old PPC model 10. I keep telling him I got dibs if he ever decides to sell it! My CM may have most of the bluing worn away but there isn't any rust and it shoots almost as well as it did when it was new! A buddy of mine gave me the Farrars grips that are on it. Anybody knows of another K frame set of Farrars for sale I'd love to buy them.

Hi Point, I have you covered! The Safe Speed was given to me by my now retired assistant chief in exchange for some gun work that I did for him. It's like new as they were banned from duty use right after he bought it.

[Dagga Boy]

The Farrar grips are hard to find. I always liked them as well.

If you ever want to sell that holster, let me know....my 15 with the Farrants would look great with it.

[iWander]

So does my CM and Grandpa's Victory Model!

[Dagga Boy]

Very nice.

[LtDave]

K-38. Check. Farrant grips. Check. Safety Speed holster. Check. SoCal PD. Check.
This is the gun I took to the Police Academy in 1980. Carried it until we had to convert duty guns to DA only. Switched to an issue 686 at that point.



Holster was a Safety Speed LH breakfront. My SS clamshell was for a 4" gun.