THE Milt Sparks Gold Cup
I’ve known the crew at Milt Sparks Holsters for quite some time and have been a customer of theirs for over 20 years. My first really good holster was a Milt Sparks Summer Special, it’s the holster I cut my teeth on and the quality, usability, and consistency of the gear from Milt Sparks Holsters became the standard by which I judge all others. So in 2018 when they approached me about rebuilding Milt’s personal Colt Gold Cup I was both honored and eager to tackle the job.
The pistol was Milt’s personal gun with light modifications in order to make the gun a more useable piece. The photo above shows Milt shooting the gun however, for many years it was used as a mold gun in the shop. Often times the best way to form a holster is to use a real gun and as you can see it can be a bit of a bumpy ride. When Milt sold the company to Tony Kanaley the gun went with and as such when Tony retired the new owners also got the piece. The before photos tell the story of a gun that has helped to form literally thousands of holsters.
For me a big part of this project was keeping the gun and any modifications looking like the era it was from. This project was never meant to be a full-house gun styled the way I do my work, but rather a compliment of work to bring the gun back to life. The frame and slide stayed original with most of the work on those parts centering around removing the numerous dents, dings, pits, and wear from being a mold gun. The raised rib slide top, which is one of the key features of a Gold Cup, proved to be the most work. The edges were pretty banged up and the serrations were often flat or rolled over. This area was corrected by draw-filing and chasing the serrations by hand with a single point file. The front sight was left in place but narrowed slightly and I fabricated a new gold bead for the insert.
From a parts perspective it was very important to keep the M-S Safari grip safety and Swenson ambi-safety that had been fit for Milt at some point. I was able to re-work and refinish these parts to help keep the original character of the gun. For many other parts it was simpler to replace them with ‘new old stock’ Colt parts where appropriate.
As far as pure passion projects go this one ranks towards the very top. The gun has tremendous sentimental value to the Milt Sparks brand and it was my pleasure to help them return it to a functional and workable pistol once more.
