I do recall them going to the 135 grain Speer, but I find it hard to believe they issued those for the 4” guns. Fixed sighted K frames shoot point of aim with 158 grain ammo. Although by the time they switched to the 135 grain, there were very few 4” revolvers in service so maybe they didn’t really care. Duty revolvers were no longer authorized on 8/31/2017, but off duty revolvers are still grandfathered. The job stopped authorizing off duty revolvers in 1995, so there are definitely guys who still have them, which means stocking ammo for them and running qual cycles. Just for the principle, I would be the last person to give up my off duty .38. I’d laugh as I stood alone on the firing line to qualify with it.

The last cop carrying a service revolver would have been hired in 1992. The youngest guy still carrying it would have had 25 years on the job. There were less than 150 left when they forced those left to give them up. They would have all been gone on their own in a few years, and I would bet that 95% of those who still had them weren’t patrol guys. Mainly bosses and detectives or guys in details and off the street. For whatever reason, they refused a free 9MM and three days off patrol to get certified. That should have been respected. They still had to have ammo for the off duty guns and run qual cycles for them so what was the real problem?

By the way, going rate for a used DAO revolver was $100, and that included the duty holster, speedloader case, speedloaders, and belt. The 9MM was free but you had to pay $80 for the night sights and you had to buy the belt, holster, and mag pouch. The rig was probably $200 or so so guys had to fork over around $300 so selling the revolver was common. Funny thing is the only buyers were new guys who never had the .38 who wanted to feel like “hair bags”. When I sold mine the rookie cop I sold it to immediately put it on and went to check himself out in the mirror. Model 10’s went for slightly higher because they had hammers.