Mogorollia and Coffin both hit it on the head!
Moose racks offer Huge slabs, one can easily cut each half of an 1873 grip then glue a spacer in the middle.
Re Coffin:
Yuppers my good Coffin- making grips from antler is a labor of love ( and stinky as h*ll ) .
If you only want one or two sets, it is a better use of your time, effort, and health to either put in some overtime or get a short term second job to pay for having them made, correctly, already fitted!
If you are an antler addict like myself , well thats different.
I have put deer stag on most knives I make, I put them on store bought Scheffiled bowie blades,
I put them on a Buck 119, then managed to snag 6 80% finished Buck 119 blade blanks to do more of the same
I even replaced plastic grip panels on store bought swiss army knives, folding liner lock knives, and some cunning Pakistani Damascus folding knifes that came with some sort of horn panels…..
I have cut but not yet finished antler panels for a pair of Remington 1858’s but I have drawn the line at any of the colts…
Remmy panels are smallish line 1911 panels, and once stabalized I can deal with them. But the
1851, 1860, 1873 …. They all share similar grip frMes requiring way too much antler and with toomuch possibility
of shrimkage, warpage, etc etc… Otther guys can deal with all that and I will let them!
Trust me on this - you dont wanna be spending weeks on getting your stag grips “just right” and then watch them
Shrink over the next three years, no matter how well i thought i sealed them ….
And I dont make any for other folks, cuz I learned not to ruin a great hobby by turning it into a business.
And then have them come back after three years with grips that dont fit…
Yhs
Prof getting too old for this marvel