My First RM!!! *Range Update*

You've done good. Now enjoy it for a while. Just remember, you are only the care taker for a short time. Then it becomes someone elses turn to be the curator. The more you fondle the gun, the more you'll want another. I know from hard experience. Its all OK, just don't do it any harm.

And its story time! About 10 or 12 years ago I was negotiating to buy and older SIG P210. I didn't want the gun as much as I wanted the 5 magazines that came with it, and the unrelated 6 boxes of .30 luger ammo (it was a 9mm gun.) Its one of those transactions between a motivated seller and a motivated buyer. The gun had some wear and all I'd offer for the package was $1100. My gun show table partners wife knew the guy professionally, they were teachers. I knew I had the best of the guy when John's wife tore into me for being such a hard trader. And soon the guy was delivering the package to me.

Then he nearly skipped away, the happiest guy alive. I thought maybe I'd bought a hidden defect. But it was nothing bad at all. He was running to buy another gun, an early Python. For the life of me I couldn't get that excited over a Colt, but I was watching the events unfold.

What made him so happy was at that moment he finally owned every gun he had ever wanted or dreamed of wanting. I know, we each have different dreams and levels of dreams. He came back later and explained he wanted 6 guns. He'd been wanting them for years and years, but he also knew with his job and finances, it was only going to be possible for him to own them one at a time. I don't see the guy anymore at the shows. If I were to see him again I'd ask what the other 4 guns were.

There are guns I have wanted and could afford, but put off buying them when I found something I felt was even better. Every gun show I try to take along a wad of cash sufficient to get me in the ball game for a great gun.

In your situation, you've found one. We can't even agree on how many were made, or even what constitutes a RM. I fear for your financial health if you follow the path the rest of us have. One isn't enough. I'd even declared that I had enough and there would be no more. Then a short time later a buddy called. He had one of those Registered guns I kept buying. So to be polite, I asked him for the Registration number an serial. And sure enough, it was one higher than another I owned. You know what they say about good intentions. The road to poverty is paved with them.
 
Very nice.
Just realized that I need to know more about Ropers.

Would they have been something available back in the '30's? They are beautiful, and that's coming from somebody that always wants to see the S&W medallions on grips.....
 
Beautiful RM and i'm in line with the rest of the crowd who REALLY LIKE the Ropers as well. You did good sir. As far as the trading, i'm an old horse trader from way back. I have done this on numerous occasions also. Wish i had all the neat stuff that i have traded, to get something else i just had to have at the moment. But as someone has pointed out we are just merely caretakers at any given point in time. So shoot it and enjoy it and take good care of it so another will someday get the same excitement you now have. Thanks for sharing the photos with us.

Chuck
 
Thanks for the kind words everyone. The RM sure will be enjoyed. I hope to get it out to the range in the next couple of weeks. I have already started thinking about another, but I would defiantly have to cull the herd a little to get another.
My collecting started with stainless N frames then moved to low production/exclusive n frames from the same time period. I have slowly transitioned to earlier guns, though still only buying models of relatively low production. The list of wants is still long (TL, k22 outdoorsman, pre 26 to name a few) but I am young. I doubt I'll ever be done buying though.
 
Old Corp said:
Very nice.
Just realized that I need to know more about Ropers.

Would they have been something available back in the '30's? They are beautiful, and that's coming from somebody that always wants to see the S&W medallions on grips.....
Click to expand...



Those stocks were designed and made by Walter Roper, a gun authority of the day, and yes, they were made in the 1930's and later. Because they employ the name of the designer, Roper is capitalized.

Skeeter Skelton made some minor alterations to the style to get his Skelton grips. I think his were usually a litle thinner. S&W later introduced factory target stocks that superficially resemble Ropers, but they are thicker and clubbier. Early ones were better, and are now called "Cokes" because from the rear, they have a palm swell that resembles the shape of a Coke bottle. "Coke" is a proper name for products of the Coca-Cola Corp., and should be capitalized. This also makes it more clear to the reader what is meant.

This gun and its grips are splendid. It is a delight to behold!
 
Let me start with congrats on the RM. Have one myself 5" and it is one fine shooter. Like the Ropers on that one they go well on the longer bbl I think. The craftmans ship is really speaks for its self.

Thanks Rusty
 
Awesome gun that I'd love to have. I have a refinished non-registerd mag with KB Ropers...but yours is all-original. What I would buy if I got another one.
Bob
 
Congratulations! It looks pretty durn pristine to my
eyes. You have really stepped up a notch on the
collecting scale. The next one(s) should come easier, now
that you have learned the way to find one. TACC1
 
1 is never enough....

Congrats on a beautiful RM. As has been said, I too love the Ropers. I do have to warn you (as the voice of experience) that now that you have one, you will want more. I know... I now have three or four RM's (and a couple of Non RM's) in 6.5" barrel length alone... It is a sickness, for which there is no cure.:)

RM 3150 for reference:

RM3150R.jpg


RM3150L.jpg


Enjoy that beauty!
 
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