Can anyone ever have too many Ropers?

[weatherby]

Caleb since you like that set maybe I can make up some ground in that envy thingy

Some old pictures and one at an angle to show trigger guard.
It's by far my favorite set as even I shoot great with them.

If you look close at the set in my flap holster.
You can see it has finger grooves like combats.

 

[fleabus101]

Roper Grips You Can Custom Order Today..

I like the look of Roper Grips very much too !!
I'm just glad we have a very talented craftsman
among our group that still takes commissions
and will craft members terrific Roper style
stocks/grips..I've kept him busy cause I can
afford his reasonable work and effort he puts into the type I like..I like the Roper style with
a bit wide bottom ribbons flowing upwards to thinner ribbons at the top..with nice bottom
flare and nice thick palm swells..
The originals are very nice..but I cant afford
the online prices for originals..esp having ones
I can tailor to my specific taste for handling and looks...
I few pics from member Curt's work for
me.. ..Scuse my amatuer pictures..
edit for my spelling errors..

 

[JJEH]

I was waiting to see boots but the grip pictures still didn't disappoint

 

[PALADIN85020]

I love the look of Ropers, and I think that forum member Curt Harlow (44magget) does a fantastic job of recreating them. Here is a set that I'm proud to use on this Model 27.

John

 

[lihpster]

I would also like to sing Curt's praises. I have 2 pairs of his grips, some service style stocks he made for me. Right now he's finishing up a pair of Ropers for me in bubinga. Curt has been a joy to work with. I was even able to pick out the exact piece of wood I wanted. If you're looking for a pair of high quality wood grips, 44magget is your man. Pics of the grips when I get them.

 

[RKmesa]

Caleb - your collection of Ropers is impressive and I love how you've paired them with specific guns (of course subject to change...). I also believe that there is a special connection between KSTs and Roper grips... kind of a marriage made in heaven.

 

[lestert357]

Forgive me for posting an example from the dark side, but it's the only Roper/KST combo I have…….

First with standard double ribbon Ropers…

and then with wrap around double ribbon Ropers…..

"CP" is scratched inside both sides of the wrap around Ropers so my guess is that they were originally made for a Camp Perry Model which is the same frame size as the Officers Model…..

I think you can click on the photos for a closer look.

 

[Modified]

Caleb - your collection of Ropers is impressive and I love how you've paired them with specific guns (of course subject to change...). I also believe that there is a special connection between KSTs and Roper grips... kind of a marriage made in heaven.

Hah, my collection is impressive? Coming from you that is quite the compliment. Your posts have fueled my captain ahab-ing about for Ropers and other such stocks in no small way.

I'm glad you enjoy my hobby of trying to pair stocks to guns. So often the original stocks were lost long ago, and with my taste in guns replacing them with a set not numbered to the gun just doesn't seem quite right. It's certainly fun to me, but I find that my tastes are well..my tastes. I'm kinda weird

I do wish I could have acquired more than the 3 KSTs I have found. They are a lot harder to come by for me than other lesser king examples.

On the issue of mating the "correct" stocks up to guns, I really do like finding high quality unknown (or simply more rare/less collectable) stocks to the "right" guns. Here a are a couple of my favorite examples:

Unknowns on a King worked 38/44 Outdoorsman (found the gun in a pawn shop wearing pachmayrs for cheap because they couldn't figure out what it was, got me addicted to looking for King stuff.)

Poulin grips on a 1917 that has been re-finished (and the US Military markings scrubbed), then equipped with a nice king front sight, target rear sight, and a Registered Magnum hammer (making the action weirdly snappy).

Forgive me for posting an example from the dark side, but it's the only Roper/KST combo I have…….

Man, I really like the wrap around set. It's valuable to see a set like that even if it's on a Colt and doesn't technically belong here.

I think the '86-'61 forum is kind of the home of D.W. King / Roper / Kearsarge. So when you have the whole package (like you do with your wonderful gun there), no one should get upset when it's added to such a thread.

I know I personally love it when Skilled comes by to post his amazing collection, it doesn't matter that it is primarily Colts. There is a lot of value in seeing different variations of Ropers in particular, but also to a lesser degree various King modifications. I've learned a lot about Ropers by seeing the examples made for Colts.

Hell I have a few myself:

And as long as we are posting Ropers I'll add a couple set that I found pictures of when looking for these other pictures:

This guy did one heck of a job;

 

[Keith Brown]

A heck of a job indeed ! A true master of his craft, I'm still trying to figure out out he did much of the work. He also made the footstool and lamp in that photo, and as I recall this photo was taken less than two years before he died. And as always great photos in this thread.

 

[lestert357]

Caleb, can you provide some further information on the Poulin grips? I have only seen them once before on a Registered Magnum with a Fitz modification.

 

[Tom K]

Caleb, can you provide some further information on the Poulin grips? I have only seen them once before on a Registered Magnum with a Fitz modification.

This is my set, that I wrote about here: Who made these grips? - update Post 32 I should probably update the thread to let people know that Caleb has identified the maker as Mike Poulin.

I had a forum member make some duplicates for me, but schofieldkid81 (Steve Jesse) seems to have dropped off the face of the earth. http://smith-wessonforum.com/lounge/393583-some-stocks-schofieldkid81.html#post138103629

 

[Modified]

Caleb, can you provide some further information on the Poulin grips? I have only seen them once before on a Registered Magnum with a Fitz modification.

Not too much.

About all I could glean from the colt forum was that he was (is?) well known for his ivory work and was (is?) the guy to talk to about getting perfect reproductions of Colt ivory.

As to these targets, they are very nicely made, and I thought quite old when I bought them. I am not sure how old they actually are, but the guy I bought them from say they came off of a registered magnum.

The one thing I know for sure is that his style here is very distinctive, and he did make these. Although if my new baby sleep deprived brain remembers correctly there was a grip maker on the forums here who made some excellent reproductions of his work.

From a perspective of how they function; I quite like them, though they aren't anything as good as Ropers. They aren't especially technical in their features, and honestly provide little more than a decent handful with the rear of the trigger guard properly filled in. Good duty or carry grips, but they could have used palm swell and an angled middle finger rest like ropers, with a bit of a mock thumb rest.

They work well for me on this particular gun, which is a bit of an oddity. I am pretty certain that King did the work on it, and I have another 1917 with the Registered Magnum hammer that I am all but entirely King must have done. I think they did this because it sort of..speeds up? the action, if that makes sense. It makes it snappy. The DA becomes.. not a short action exactly, but something that just has to be felt to make sense. It really makes for a truly great DA gun.

 

[lihpster]

My first set of Ropers. Made by Curt Harlow out of bubinga wood. Pictures don't do them justice.

 

[22shtur]

I was killing time near a LGS in Billings, MT that I never go to, due to their attitude and pricing. I had too much time to kill, so I went inside and they had a pair of grips that looked like Ropers for very little money. I thought that would be the closest I would get to a pair and bought them. Turned out they are real Ropers.
Morale of the story - sometimes the LGS you don't like can make big errors.

 

[RKmesa]

Forgive me for posting an example from the dark side, but it's the only Roper/KST combo I have…….

Terry:

That is a gorgeous KST!!!

I was killing time near a LGS in Billings, MT that I never go to, due to their attitude and pricing. I had too much time to kill, so I went inside and they had a pair of grips that looked like Ropers for very little money. I thought that would be the closest I would get to a pair and bought them. Turned out they are real Ropers.

22shtur:

We could really use a photo or two of these grips...

This guy did one heck of a job;

Caleb:

Wouldn't it have been fun to sit in his workshop and watch the master at work for a day or so...?

 

[65Whelen]

Those Rogers are impressive to say the least. Checkering is truly an art all on its own then to seemlessly blend that skill with grip making is something rarely seen. Thanks to all for sharing.

 

[SRT]

I had several sets of Ropers and am down to one now. I prefer Keith Brown.

 

[moosedog]

Here's another pair of our Forum's resident grip maker Curtis Harlow (44magget) on the Forum.
They are on my pre 26 that was converted to 45 Colt caliber and next to it is a 1977 29-2 with Herretts that was my old duty gun in Detroit.

 

[Modified]

I'm not a very prolific collector these days, with the kiddos keeping me busy and money tighter I have had to sideline collecting. However when friends send me things... well I just can't not now can I?

As a consequence I am extremely excited regarding this ebay auction I just won, sorry if I beat anyone out. If it's any consolation it looks like there's a bit of repair work to correct on the butt of these. Still, I don't really have any "perfect" ropers, and never really plan to. So for me I'm well pleased and excited to share with the best dang gun forum online.

Figured I would post the pictures from the auction lot, and then get better pictures when they arrive. Interpreting pictures is a pretty valuable things with online buying these days, figure an example is something I can give back to the community here;

That's the extent of the pictures out of the lot.

What I know I see is:

- Fairly typical damage to the butt, and a repair that someone who is good is going to need to correct at some point.

- N-Frame I think (as evidenced by the 44 scratched into it)

- Interesting 489XX.. something number. Maybe an S/N, possibly for the gun the set was made to fit. Will have to get a clearer view of it, could provide a clue to the timeframe these were made in. I have seen S/Ns on other sets like this before.

- Look to be right handed based on the outward swoop on the right panel toward the butt, whereas the left panel doesn't appear to have that. Hard to say for certain without confirmation, but I think that observation will be born out when they are in my hands.

I'd love it if anyone else has any observations from this set of pictures. I'm visiting some family at the moment but these should be waiting for me at home the week after next.

 

[paplinker]

Glad to see you won them.
The damage blown up almost appears like someone forced a N frame gun on a K frame. Maybe they are N frame and someone dropped the gun at some point?

As far as the serial number I have some K frames with five digit serial numbers that start with a 3 or 4 so I think its something that we yet have been able to explain. I have been tempted to start writing down these numbers to look for a pattern.

Look forward to seeing those grips with better pics and maybe Keith's thoughts on the best way to unglue the repair.

 

[diecidecimi]

As a consequence I am extremely excited regarding this ebay auction I just won, sorry if I beat anyone out.

Yes, you did I had the illusion to be the only one to discover them in the lot, but it was clearly evident that someone eyed them Anyway, now you have a pair of diamond magnas to be refinished , a set of white W. Murad Pointer , and several goodyears.

 

[sipowicz]

And I thought you were asking about boots.....

Randy

And I thought he was talking about nerdy landlords.

 

[Club Gun Fan]

Here are a few of mine. I have over 20 pair.

 

[boykinlp]

Here are a few of mine. I have over 20 pair.

Don, those birdeyes maple ones look like Keith Brown's work. Roper didn't use "great wood" very often, did he?
Larry

 

[Club Gun Fan]

Don, those birdeyes maple ones look like Keith Brown's work. Roper didn't use "great wood" very often, did he?
Larry

Larry
They are Ropers. I have a pair made by Keith also. I displayed Ropers at the Columbus Annual.

 

[younggun22]

I don't have as many as most here but I just added these to the collection not too long ago

 

[Llance]

The question is asked: "Can anyone ever have too many Ropers?"

Most certainly one can have too many Ropers, If you have more than me you have too many or I have too few. Now that being a given and since I don't have any Ropers it stands to reason you have too many.

 

[6518John]

Here are a few of mine. I have over 20 pair.

Don, could you post a picture of the second set pictured (with the tape measure) mounted on a revolver? I am interested to see how the design "works?"

 

[Toyman]

A S&W Terrier with Ropers

A Colt Officers model full Roper, front sight, rear sight and grips.
.

 

[skilled]

Can you have to many? Sometimes I wonder.