Resurrecting The Roper Grip

The decline in manufacturing in America has put many a man out of work, but in a few instances has initiated a second career in the firearms trade. After 20-something years as a journeyman Screw Maker, 11 with General Motors, handgun grip maker Keith Brown faced the closure of his plant. His subsequent venture into self-employment renewed his lifelong interest in grip making and resurrected the legacy of some of the finest grips ever made in America, those of Walter F. Roper.

Between the World Wars, competitive pistol shooting was an enormously popular sport as were custom pistol grips, the most popular and subsequently best-known grips were made under the name W.F. Roper. In truth, an engineer and designer, Walter F. Roper did not make the grips himself. A virtually unknown French-born craftsman named Mathias Gagne actually crafted Roper grips and departed this earth with little known about him.

A few constants remain in the surviving examples of Gagne/Roper grips: Each and every pair is entirely different, all feel good in the hand even if they don’t fit your hand and each has an artistic quality beyond W.F. Roper’s notion of the practical shooter’s needs.

There is no known information regarding production records, manufacturing techniques or much of anything about Gagne. Roper went on to design target sights, target guns and accoutrements, as well as write magazine articles and books titled Pistol and Revolver Shooting and co-authored Smith & Wesson Handguns. He wrote at length about his theories of grip design that Gagne obviously used, but Roper rarely mentions the craftsman himself.

One enlightening tidbit about Gagne is found in this paragraph by Roper, “I doubt if my experiments with handgun stocks would have gone any further… if I had not met a man who I believe to be the finest worker of wood I had ever seen. To this man, Mathias Gagne should go a big share of the credit for the thousands of stocks I have furnished… while these stocks have been made to my design, it was Mr. Gagne’s craftsmanship that made them possible.”

Premium Walnut

In the past several years Brown has come to some good decisions about reproducing Walter Roper’s handgun grips. Although he will use other species of walnut, Brown prefers Juglans regia, the so-called English, French or Circassian walnut. He believes it makes the best grips because it works well with hand tools, takes finish well, checkers well and offers a better strength-to-weight ratio than other woods, besides many consider it the most beautiful wood in the world.

Brown found it difficult to locate high-quality grip medallions, escutcheons and screws. The pre-war vintage hardware was the best but there was no regular supplier. He finds it ironic that having made millions of screws on Acme screw machines, he now makes his grip screws and escutcheons one at a time on a small shop lathe. He models them after the pre-war fittings, using nickel silver for the escutcheons and stainless steel for the screws. The escutcheons are the early deep-cup type with the screw head sitting well down into the cup and the threaded side deeply dished as well. The escutcheons are made to fit flush with the wood rather than inset like later factory grips. Screw lengths are calculated to match the thickness for each frame size and grip thickness. Some might consider this of minor importance but the appropriate hardware adds a large measure of quality and sophistication to his custom grips.

The medallions can’t be reproduced, as they are the Smith & Wesson’s trademark. Used in factory style or reproduction grips, he prefers customers supply their own medallions. They are usually scavenged from old grips or purchased from those having hordes of surplus medallions. They are not generally used for Roper-type grips.

Measurements

Traditionally custom grip makers request a tracing of the shooting hand for correct fitting to the customer. The hand is traced with the palm flat with the trigger finger spread from the other three fingers. Walter Roper discussed how he interpreted measurements taken from a drawing but did not offer any step-by-step procedure.

Keith Brown says, “There are eight actual dimensions I determine from the hand tracings. Three for the thickness at different locations.” He has arrived at key dimensions based on Roper’s writings, including from the top of the middle finger to the outside of the pinky, that determines the distance from the shelf under the triggerguard to the bottom front of the grip. Measuring from the knuckle of the middle finger, then adding one finger width arrives at the amount of filler under the triggerguard, usually 3/8″ to 1/2″. The palm is measured from a line across the knuckles to the palm of the hand at the base of the thumb, determining the thickness of the grip panels. Roper grips are thinner than most others, relying on the different thicknesses to assure a firm and consistent grasp of the gun. They also have an attractive flare at the bottom determined by another measurement.

Brown says, “After seeing as many hand tracings as I have, and with the feedback I’ve received from clients I can judge hand fit pretty quickly and accurately. But each hand tracing presents a picture of how they will be shaped and I determine a specific set of dimensions for each client. ” And just like the original Ropers, each grip is different from all others.

Reading Walter Roper’s treatise on grip making, you might imagine all his grips had an exaggerated palm swell, but in fact this is seldom seen in the original grips. Roper grips are asymmetrical in this way, having the palm swell on only one side but the swell is seldom very large. This is one of two places where Keith Brown grips and original Roper’s differ. Brown asks his clients and most prefer to have the grips made with equal swell on both sides—or ambidextrous if you will. The grips look better that way and, in the event of a lefty ever using them, will work as well. This is not the case with thumb-rest grips as they are always asymmetric because the thumb rest is on one side and the palm swell on the other.

Brown also uses much fancier wood than most Roper grips ever had. And why not? Many a grip collector has wondered why original Roper grips exhibit straight grain walnut, a question that will never be answered. In my experience, fancy wood is much more in demand these days than at any other time in firearms history.

Brown uses shop-made jigs to route the grip blanks to almost match the frame size. The grips are then fitted to an actual revolver frame with small chisels precisely inletting to the “stock circle.” Next, a revolver frame guides drilling the stock-pin hole. Brown tries the grips on several frames to insure they are neither loose nor difficult to install.
“The grips go on and off of the frames dozens and dozens of times during the process,” Brown says.

Extra wood is removed to match frame contours then each grip is individually shaped using hand tools and hand-held power tools to dimensions determined from the clients hand tracing. The grips are then hand-sanded to 400 grit in preparation for finishing.
Brown prefers to checker the grips prior to applying stock finish. The checkering is accomplished entirely with hand tools in Brown’s interpretation of Roper’s ribbon-and-diamond checkering pattern with most being 18 to 20 lines per inch as were originals. Roper’s checkering has always reminded me of the “art deco” style of the 1920s and ’30s. Brown’s own checkering design has evolved slightly by changing the bottom from a straight line to more of a fishtail. Accomplishing such small panels is very difficult but Brown accomplishes it with aplomb.

Keith Brown’s stock finish varies between a 3-part proprietary concoction he mixes to replicate authentic S&W finishes to an oil-modified polyurethane for a glossier and more bulletproof finish.

As a testament to Brown’s complete quality, I’ve been a professional custom gunmaker for more than 30 years and have made several grips for myself. I have two sets of KB Grips and two more sets ordered, the first set exceeded my expectations for quality or craftsmanship and they fit my hand like my shooting gloves.

The majority of Keith Brown custom grips are in the Roper style for Smith & Wesson revolvers, although he makes other styles for other guns. He produces some 150+ pairs of grips per annum and maintains a steady backlog of orders. Each set is entirely custom made and sell very quickly when they rarely appear on the used market. Approximate cost is $350 for Roper-style target grips. Prices vary by options and grade of walnut with current delivery time about five to six months.

There has been a tremendous resurgence of interest in classic revolvers; the resurrection of Roper-style grips is just in time.

Author Hughes would like to thank Lee Jarrett for supplying original Roper grips for this story. Custom gunmaker Steven Dodd Hughes has written three books and hundreds of articles about custom gunmaking. Find more info on the subject at: www.finegunmaking.com.

Keith Brown Grips
3586 Crab Orchard Ave.
Beavercreek, OH 45430
(937) 426-4147
www.kbgrips.com

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