Skeeter-ize Your Smith

Skeeter Skelton was born in 1928, served in the Marine Corps and joined the Amarillo Police Department in 1949. In 1951 he joined the Border Patrol and served as a sheriff from 1957 to 1961, went broke in the cattle business and went back to law enforcement with US Customs. From 1970 to 1974 he was with the DEA, then retired from law enforcement to become a full-time gunwriter. He died much too early in 1988.

In terms of accessories for his beloved sixguns, Skeeter is especially remembered for his double-action stocks. Today they’re still the most sought after design for shooters of S&W K-, L- and N-Frame sixguns.

In the 1930s Walter Roper designed the target stocks found on the S&W .357 Magnum. Skeeter liked the original Ropers but he did make a slight modification to fit him personally — a little flare at the bottom and rounded edges. His friend Steve Herrett custom-made Skeeter’s stocks. In the early 1980s Deacon Deason of Bearhug Grips contacted Skeeter and was given permission to duplicate his stocks and market them as the “Skeeter Skelton” design. Deacon passed in 1994 but fortunately he’d shared his stockmaking skills with Tedd Adamovich, who formed BluMagnum Grips, receiving permission from Deacon’s widow — as well as Sally Skelton — to produce Skeeter Skelton Style Stocks.

In the late 1990s Tedd began supplying Skeeter Skelton Stocks in both the original style to fit square butt S&W sixguns as well as to convert round-butt Smiths to the square butt configuration. After some interruptions in the early 2000s, BluMagnum is once again up and running and producing Skeeter’s stocks.

BluMagnum believes in the 3 Fs: Function, Feel and Fit. They also realize there’s no such thing as “one size, or style, fits all.” Of the Skeeter Skelton Style Tedd says:

“Skeeter’s original design has an open backstrap, plain front and slim sides. His design has a slight palm swell with a hint of a flare and rounded edges at the bottom strap. Variation on the original, at your request, can eliminate the swell and/or the flare, leaving just enough wood to give a convex look and feel.”

BluMagnum Skeeter Skelton Stocks are made to your individual hand pattern and are offered in all grades of walnut and other exotic woods. They go a long way to improve both the function and form of your favorite sixgun.

BluMagnum
Ph: (719) 632-9417
https://gunsmagazine.com/company/blu-magnum/