Bone Colt Bisley "INDIAN TRAIL" Jigged Grips RJT#6534

Most of the early 1870/80 jigged bone gun grips and other bone items were made by individuals or small shops. In 1891 the Rogers Manufacturing Company of Rockfall, Connecticut started making manufactured bone products, and bone fertilizer. They began to make jigged bone handles for knives and guns around the turn of the century. They made other bone products including combs, toothbrush handles, baby pacifiers, and one of their biggest sellers, corn-cob pipe bits. At first, all of the bone used by Rogers Mfg. Co. came from domestic cattle. By the 1920s, or perhaps even earlier, all of the raw bone was coming from overseas, mainly from Argentina. By the time of the first World War Rogers Mfg. Co. was the nation's largest maker of manufactured bone products. The bone used by Rogers during the war was all imported from Argentina, Brazil, and a new source: Australia. The Australian bone came mainly from old tough range cattle, and was very thick, dense and strong. This heavy Australian bone quickly became the preferred material for handles.  The gun grips by Rogers Mfg. Co. were jigged in a style that was dubber “INDIAN TRAIL” This unique style of jigging was, a long, random "worm" style of jigging. Though these distinctive grips are no longer made commercially, hand made "Indian Trail" jigged bone stocks are still available from River Junction Trade Company.