For those who’ve been with us a while, you know about our colleague Tiger McKee. A firearms martial artist, serious student of the craft and arms artisan, we lost him unexpectedly last spring.
He’d withdrawn a bit from training to focus on another passion, customizing firearms. He’d gotten a license and had been working on various gun projects for the past few years, settling on converting S&W revolvers to 3-inch, round butt guns with combat sights.
While he’d done at least a few 2 ½” adjustable sight guns, some J-frame guns and even one or more Highway Patrolman revolvers, he’s known more for the S&W M&P revolver – Hand Ejector of 1899, et. seq., through the Model 10/Model 64 Military and Police guns and Magnum counterparts.
He did one for me, Chopper #75. Originally a stock Model 64 with Hogue Monogrip stocks, I prevailed upon him to leave it a square butt. He said it was the first square butt chopper. With a smooth action, rendered DA only, with an XS front sight, it’s wonderfully finished.
The Chopper 75 story I linked above ran one year ago this week.
So much has changed.
On his Shootrite Firearms Academy Facebook page, December 19, 2022, he ran the following post: “The final Chopper completed for this year - early Model 10 - in square butt. The cylinder and small parts are parkerized. Frame is in Gun Kote "AK" black. Now, it's ready for adoption.”
It’s a pre-Model 10 M&P from around 1948. A skinny barrel gun, he’d still trimmed it back to three-inches and cut his distinctive side-flutes in the barrel. He added a skeletonized ejector rod shroud, something not seen on the M&P line. The only production skeletonized ejector rod shroud I remember seeing on a production gun is the Kimber K6xs lightweight 38 +P revolver.
It was popular on the social media platform, the last Chopper -- #83. He began the project last October. Like #75, it’s a square butt; he said he’d been talked into leaving it SB by his apprentice, Ben. He’d stippled the backstrap, added “Magna-“ style stocks, these from Altamont, bead-blasted, and he added a Tyler T-grip grip adapter.
All-in-all, it was as if he set it up for me.
Early this year, he contacted me about the gun. Apparently, the interest in the gun had faded. He was looking to move it along. We discussed some pricing, but I’ve been down-sizing. Additions were not on the agenda.
We notified you on Tuesday, April 18, of his passing.
In the succeeding months, Jim and I had contact with Gretchen and friends of the McKees who were helping her settle everything up. Chopper #83 was there.
Now it’s not there.
The M&P with the “C” prefix serial seems to have left the factory in 1948. The barrel was chopped. The top of the box – he kept copious notes written on the white cardboard boxes – was highlighted *SQUARE BUTT* -- something that apparently bugged him some. The trigger guard was thinned and the frame “melted,” excising sharp corners. The hammer was bobbed, trigger radiused, logo etched and a front sight base fabricated and installed.
The cylinder flutes were relieved and rebated, giving a very distinctive look. A crane lock was added to this five-screw gun. He did a moderately shiny metal finish on frame and barrel, which he coated in Gun Kote “AK Black,” a deep color – and in contrast to his “service” frost-blasting mostly seen on Choppers. The cylinder, which was parkerized along with small parts, was bead blasted. The thumb latch is radiused.
It has a wonderful feel and a classic look. I’ve done a little dry practice with it; the action is wonderfully smooth. I’ve not yet fired it, don’t know if I will.
But I won’t forget where it came from and who built it.
— Rich Grassi