I'm super happy with my new, just delivered Altamont stocks in olive wood for my 686 (K/L-Frame square butt) in their new Roper style. Fit and finish are superb. They don't cover the backstrap so they're not as big all the way around. They feel good in my hand. $95 shipped from Altamon.

















My dad and my god father sold Altamont grips for their owner, Ken Enright back in the early 1980s. He was a kind man and easy to work with. He passed away earlier this year and if you'd like to read an interesting obituary, here it is. Altamont makes all of S&W's current wood grips, rifle stocks for Ruger, and many other grips and stocks for several other firearms manufacturers.

http://www.news-gazette.com/obituari...h-enright.html

-Steve

I placed a set of Altamonts on a Square Butt J frame today!

Thanks for sharing the obituary of the owner. He was quite the man!

I've been curiously considering getting a set of those for a 1950 model that I have, I'm glad that you post these so I can have a look at the real deal.

Very nice on that gun

thanks for posting your pictures - they look very very nice

Great pics! thanks for sharing.

Steve, thanks for a wonderful, informative post. Prior to reading it, along with the included obit, “Altamont” was just a name of a grip company to me. I also appreciate the excellent pix. It seems like every other image I could find was always of the left grip panel. I appreciate the sharply detailed image of the right grip panel! Muchas gracias.

Froggie

Looks good. Pictures well done.

Just yesterday I got a set for my model 63.

Wow. That grain and finish brought back memories of my fender telecaster. Great set.

I'm thinking my Model 16-3 homage is needing a set of appropriate stocks. It is a little too young (made late) for "real" Ropers, but a set of Roper homage grips by Altamont seems sort of appropriate, don't you think? I'm kinda leaning toward basic walnut...

Froggie

mm6mm6, if I could ask a favor... I'd love to see one more image showing those grips from the rear (in profile) to better judge their "feel" without having to actually hold them. As you can probably tell from my previous post, I am very interested in these grips, but they are a long way off from Central VA, so I need to know a little more about what they are actually like.

TIA ~ Froggie

Very nice set of grips, about time someone came out with a great idea and well executed. The wood has nice soft grain also. Larry

Very nice grips. Quick question--do Altamont grips come with the screw? Their site doesn't really seem to say.

Do the Altamont Roper style have the Coke profile for the Pam swell?

Now you've done it mm6mm6, I have to have a set of Olive grips. They are just beautiful.

All the Altamont grips I have came with more than one screw, some with a pkg of 3.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

They came with three very nicely blued screws. Short, medium and long. Not really sure why though. The short one fit perfectly. It's not like the grips would be different widths, right? When my dad and god-father sold Altamont grips, they would always give people two screws and sometimes offer blue or nickel plated screws.

Here you go Green Frog!

They don't have a palm swell. In this pic it might look like there is a slight difference along each side, but it's really just the checkering pattern causing a tiny illusion. They're pretty much straight along each panel. The left side is cleared for ejection though.

Thanks--I thought they probably did, since I saw a Taurus grip on their site that makes a big deal of saying that you have to use your original screw. I'm thinking about a set for my 14-3 that came with magnas.

Many thanks for the additional pix, Steve. It’s a shame there is no palm swell... that would make a nice set of grips most excellent,. Oh well, for the price one really gets a lot with these, doesn’t one?

Froggie

I just ordered the BATELEUR in Silverblack for my 617 last night. I've been undecided on which grip to get for my 4" 686...Until now... wow, I like these Ropers... thanks!

I hot a question, my altamont grips felt awesome until I shot the gun. The way they are cut at the top of the back strap somehow cut the **** out of the web of my right hand. They dont feel sharp enough to do it, but they sure as heck made a bloody mess within 6 shots. I got 6 nice little cuts at the base of my thumb.
Has anyone done any woodwork on these grips they can comment about. The above photos of OP gun looks identical in the area in question

I have Altamonts on a few of my pieces. The Laminated wood Altamonts with finger grooves fit my hands perfectly. Be advised though, the laminates do not feel warm to the touch like real wood does. Those olive wood grips are just perfect on that S&W.

These Altamonts are shortened and medallions added.

I recently purchased some Altamont Ropers for a couple of K/L and N frames. The k/L's fit and finish is great; very much like mm6's. The N frame, however; not so much. The finish is very light and the fit is off in a couple of places.

I'll bring them to the NEOhio get-together this weekend for anyone to check 'em out, if wanted. They will never come close to KB's Ropers. But for the price, they're acceptable IMO. -S2

Thanks for providing the backstory about Mr. Enright. It’s good to know about him. Sadly, he left us much too early. Nice looking stocks you have there.

Well, I had just about decided to order a set of walnut Roper style Altamonts as a result of this thread. As luck would have it, I was in the Philly area this weekend for a wedding and had the opportunity to visit the gun show at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center. One of the vendors had just the set of grips I had planned to order displayed on his table. Needless to say, they’re going back to VA with me tomorrow!

Froggie

I shortened mine, ground off the finger bumps, and roughed them up with 80 grit. They fit me much better now and don't slide around nearly as much. Sorry Altamont, but as they say, "sometimes a man's got to do what a man's got to do".

Attached Images

686 plus 3.jpg (187.7 KB, 211 views)

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Foster Positivity.

I need to do this with the Altamont boot grips I have...

Could you give us a shot from the rear as to show width and length?

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S&W Accumulator

Could you give us a shot from the rear as to show width and length?

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S&W Accumulator

THOSE GRIPS ARE VERY DISTINCTIVE, AND LOOK BEAUTIFUL ON YOUR REVOLVER......

COUPLED WITH YOUR HOLSTER, ITS A VERY ATTRACTIVE PACKAGE......

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'Nam 1968-69.DAV,VFW,NRA Inst.

I saw speedo2’s grips at the NE Ohio Bunch on Saturday and they looked great in person. S2 had a few different colors and they had decent grain in them. Way cool look to them. Keith Brown was there also with some Roper grips he made, WOW. Had a set with Birdseye maple, nice.

Froggie, were the grips you bought the Ropers displayed in this thread?. Need a pic of them mounted. Larry

No Larry, my grips are made of relatively plain grained walnut. This of course is in line with the practice we see in many of the original Ropers. There are several other differences between the originals and the reboot version... fit is not quite as precise, the edges are a little more square with the thinner profile, and there is virtually no “coke bottle” swell when viewing the rear profile. However, for what are really mass produced grips at mass market prices, they are quite nice. See picture below.

Froggie

Attached Images

609DB856-407D-4653-8233-8D23BDE8EC46.jpg (57.9 KB, 232 views)

Beautiful. I love olive wood, for the appearance and the feel.

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Oh well, what the hell.

Mike, Please look above, already posted.

I'm wonder whether I can do a little modification on mine... the first step would have to be removing all of the finish so I don't have patchy areas where I've removed wood. I specially want to take the sharp edges off of the extension behind the trigger guard and maybe clean up some of the other curves.

Also, I'd kinda like to stain them with a little more of a reddish tone then refinish with something of a matte or semi-gloss coat. Has anyone stripped the glossy finish from a set of these Altamont grips?

Froggie

I got some Altamont's for my Model 10-11 which had a beat-up rubber grip. For the price they are a great looking grip however they don't fit well. As you can see from the photos the area at the top of the frame is square and uncomfortable to shoot with .38 Special. I filed and sanded to get a smooth transition from the frame to the grip. Then polished with automotive polish to almost match the Altamont finish. The "finish" is all the way through the grips, the wood is impregnated with the polyurethane. Roughing it up with sandpaper will dull the finish, dye or stain would not penetrate.

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Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

Altamonts seem to be good value for the money.

I've read that they are typically made of layered birchwood that is impregnated with polyurethane. The wood names, like rosewood or super walnut, are just used to describe the colors available - not the actual material.

But on the "premium" Roper-style grips, the olive wood, and the other option, walnut, look like the real thing. Anyone know if they are real olive wood or walnut, not the laminated birch?

Someone earlier mentioned they like the palm swells... which are not found on the Roper homage grips. Altamont's web page says these are available on their premium "S&W K Round Conversion 'Coke Bottle' Target American Walnut" grips.

Thanks

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S&W Rover

Both pair I’ve bought from them came with 3 screws.

My Walnut Roper grips actually appear to be made of Walnut, not some stained, recolored imitation. The only two things I don't like about them is the flat, no-swell sides and the somewhat sharp edges in places where I feel they should be more round. When asked whether they would make a set of the Coke Bottle Targets with the Roper style checkering pattern, they politely said, "No." For the price though, they are hard to beat. Would I pay a little more to get just what I want? of course! But you can't expect custom hand work on mass produced products at mass produced prices.

Froggie

Thanks for the response -- that confirms that the "premier target collection" Altamonts for S&W revolvers are made of actual wood - olive wood or walnut. The Roper-style grips look great; the distinctive "finger ribbon" sets them off from other styles, too.

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S&W Rover

For the price, the Roper style grips are a decent and very attractive alternative.

However, it seems Altamont should be able to do a better job of machining the upper area of the backstrap grip panels to more closely match the contours of the frame in that area. As mentioned above, it can be uncomfortable to shoot a string of hot loads when the web of your hand gets torn up by the uneven edges of wood back there.

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FBINA, 204th Session

Beautiful grips for a beautiful gun. Thanks for showing it.

I was glad to see this thread this morning. I just ordered a set of the Ropers in Walnut for my 19-8 last evening. They should be here middle of next week.

I already have a set of the "cokes" for an N-frame. Really nice grips for the money.

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John 3:16 .

Thailand !! Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

(actually this piece currently wears, inferior fitting, Altamonts )

I have altamonts on a few of mine. I had one set that didn't quite fit properly, I contacted them and they sent me a new set no questions asked.

Why haven't the users who complained about poor fitting panels done that? Just asking.

Really like your grips! I also picked up some Altamont Target grips that I think look excellent, but I also have some wood combat grips that are sooo comfortable. I'd like to get everyone's opinion on which grips you think look better (see pics):

Target Grips.jpg

Combat Grips.jpg

I don’t know whether you would consider my comments on fit a complaint, but for the price they are a good enough fit that I would feel bad complaining or sending them back. If they were custom grips with a custom grip price I would feel differently. I tried to make that clear. If they had come in warped or truly misfit, then by all means even less expensive grips like these would go back. It’s all in one’s frame of reference.

Froggie

Can you elaborate on the "fit" issues? Any pics available?

Thanks!

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Lorin