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05-14-2014, 07:34 PM
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The mystery of all my Ropers is cleared up....
I stopped by to visit the woman my friend and I bought those handguns from today, we chatted about gun stuff and her days shooting competitively with her husband. I asked her about the fancy grips on many of the guns we bought and she said "oh, yeah, all our grips were made by "Gone-yey".... I asked her if his name was spelled G-a-g-n-e, and she said "yes, they pronounce it like that", which is unusual for this area; most would pronounce it "Gag-Nee". She said he measured their hands for the custom grips himself. When I asked her if they knew him well, she said she grew up in West Springfield around the corner from Gagne and his family and that one of Gagne's 3 or 4 daughters used to walk her to school when she was on her way to work.....
Small world....
82ndpara
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05-14-2014, 08:05 PM
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Cool! I hope you wrote down as many details as you could while they were fresh on your mind. That information is priceless. Congratulations on not only finding great guns but great shooting history. I'm (frog) green with envy!
Froggie
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05-15-2014, 06:54 AM
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Absent Comrade
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Hello
I have read that before Walter Roper Hired Matheis Gagne to make his custom shooting stock's that he was a clock and cabinet maker. That would certainly explain his attention to detail. I am Blessed to have a set of his stock's in N-frame configuration that reside on my 1935 Registered Magnum. I have not found another Pair of stock's that feel as comfortable as his creations so the guy that ordered mine must have had hand's close to what mine are. I heave read that Gagne would request a Shooting hand Tracing from prospective buy's prior to him making their stock's so each pair would fit the buyer perfectly.His son Albert Gagne served an apprenticeship under his father and later on when Matheis retired Albert went on to work at S&W in their research department. It has been rumored that Albert was the driving force in the birth of the Famous Coke profile stock's that S&W Offered. Ironically Walter Roper tried to get S&W Interested in his Custom shooting stock's many year's prior to this was No success. Albert Gagne also shot on the S&W shooting team as I have sen Photo's of him with other factory shooters. I have heard several guy's complain that Matheis Gagne did not use High grain definition wood in his stocks but the pair that I have are very attractive as far as their grain structure goes to me. Here is my pair of Matheis Gage custom shooting stocks, Unaltered still wearting the original finish that Matheis Gagne applied to them many, many year's ago. Regards, Hammerdown
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05-15-2014, 07:07 AM
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Hammerdown,
Those are my personal dream for a pair of Roper/Gagne stocks... in K-frame size. While I like the thumb rest on purely target stocks, for actual use and carry, the ones shown strike me as the perfect all-around way to hold on to one's favorite revolver. Thanks for sharing!
Froggie
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05-15-2014, 07:10 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hammerdown
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Thank you for starting out this gloomy Thursday on an up-note!
I love that gun, and its' stocks. It just doesn't get any better than that!
BTW - Great pics
__________________
Rick
SWCA #2727 , SWHF #435
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05-15-2014, 07:37 AM
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Absent Comrade
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1blindref
Thank you for starting out this gloomy Thursday on an up-note!
I love that gun, and its' stocks. It just doesn't get any better than that!
BTW - Great pics
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Hello Guy's
I appreciete your kind word's here I actually found the Roper stock's before I bought my Registered Magnum. They were on a Much later Model 27-2 revolver at a gun show. I knew the vendor so asked to see the gun. He asked me if I could use the gun? I told him no but I would like the stock's off it. He said tha he felt that the Herritt stock's as he called them were hindering the sale of his Model 27-2 and that he wished he had an original set of period correct Target stock's for his gun. I told him to keep that thought and raced out to my Truck that was in the parking lot. I had a nice pair of factory non diamond target stock's in my Glove box that I gave $35.00 for at another gun show the week before I promptly returned to his tables with them. He asked how I would trade and I said even up. He Pulled the Roper's off his Gun and handed them to me and I split fast with my New found Ropers. I did have another Pair of them that started life in 1936 and had the date scribed into the rear of them with S&W .44 as well. They had been sanded down to fit a K-frame revolver and I bought the Gun to get the stock's on it. Later on I swapped them to a guy that had an original pair of Period correct Pre-War Magna's as I did not get a set with it when I bought it but it shipped with them that I now have for my Registered Magnum as well shown below. Regards, Hammerdown
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05-15-2014, 03:01 PM
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82nd,
I did not know there was a mystery.
Good for you.
Put the pics up again. They ARE beauts.
Cool anecdote on the lady knowing Gagne!
__________________
Regards,
Lee Jarrett
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05-15-2014, 04:38 PM
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Wow! This sort of information is fascinating, and really serves to flesh out and enrich the collecting culture. Thank you for sharing
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05-15-2014, 05:20 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by handejector
82nd,
I did not know there was a mystery.
!
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Well, I guess the only mystery, to me anyways, was how I ended up with at least six pairs of Ropers on 20 handguns
No complaint here,though!
I'll do a family photo when I get the last of them cleaned up.
82ndpara
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05-15-2014, 05:23 PM
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Absent Comrade
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hammerdown
I knew the vendor.
He asked how I would trade and I said even up. He Pulled the Roper's off his Gun and handed them to me and I split fast with my New found Ropers.
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I guess he's lucky that you KNEW him!
f.t.
__________________
South Carolina-God's country
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05-15-2014, 05:28 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hammerdown
Hello
I have read that before Walter Roper Hired Matheis Gagne to make his custom shooting stock's that he was a clock and cabinet maker.......
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Hammerdown; thanks for all that info! And the magnum is awesome!
82ndpara
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05-15-2014, 07:23 PM
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The pics of that magnum with those stocks make my shooting hand throb with lust. Outstanding!
__________________
The triple smoker
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10-21-2018, 11:20 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 82ndpara
I stopped by to visit the woman my friend and I bought those handguns from today, we chatted about gun stuff and her days shooting competitively with her husband. I asked her about the fancy grips on many of the guns we bought and she said "oh, yeah, all our grips were made by "Gone-yey".... I asked her if his name was spelled G-a-g-n-e, and she said "yes, they pronounce it like that", which is unusual for this area; most would pronounce it "Gag-Nee". She said he measured their hands for the custom grips himself. When I asked her if they knew him well, she said she grew up in West Springfield around the corner from Gagne and his family and that one of Gagne's 3 or 4 daughters used to walk her to school when she was on her way to work.....
Small world....
82ndpara
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I’d like to add that Mathias Gagne was born in “French Canada” (Quebec) in 1870, emmgrated to Maine in 1892, married 1898 and is noted in the various US Census’ 1910-1920-1930 as a “Whip Carver, a Piano Leg carver, and a Woodworker for various companies...more to follow.....also remember “Verne Gagne” of Wrestling fame yupp he pronounced his name “Gone-Yaw!”
Last edited by NT430; 10-21-2018 at 11:28 PM.
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10-22-2018, 02:50 AM
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82ndpara- please post a link to the thread where your guns are visible. Thanks.
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10-22-2018, 07:56 AM
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He hasn't been here for about a year and a half...
__________________
Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220
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