FBI GUNS & HOLSTER

[crazyphil]

I've been reading an excerpt from EYE WITNESS TO J. EDGAR
HOOVER'S FBI, by Richard C. Coffman. You can Google it if
interested.

The author served in the FBI from 1950 to 1980 (30 years).
At the time of his training (1950) He says they had a choice
of the Colt Official Police or the S&W Military & Police (later
designated model 10). Both with 4" barrels. He chose the O.P.

Page 291-292 He describes the issue holster in detail, but does
not name the maker. From his description, I believe it is the
Heiser model 459.

The OP had been around since 1927 and became FBI issue in
the mid 1930s. turnerriver has said Heiser's 457 was in their
1938 catalog "designed for the FBI". So apparantly by 1950
the "dog ear" was added, making it the 459.

Sorry if this minutia makes your head hurt. I know there are
at least a few others as interested in it as am I.

[Alk8944]

The gun that was the "Official Police" was around for quite a few years before 1927, that is just the year that the "Army Special" was re-named as the O.P. Same gun, same calibers except .32-20 and .41 Long Colt chamberings didn't last very long past the re-naming.

[rednichols]

I think I can add to your minutiae Phil :-). Heiser catalogue no. 32 (when the 457 appeared) is 1939, and no. 50 (when the 459 appeared) is 1951. No. 32 is jammed in amongst the many anniversary catalogues several of which are dated; which effectively forces the 1939 date on it.

My theory is that no. 50 was meant to be 1950, and Ewald Heiser being killed in mid-1949 and Denver Dry Goods sudden sale in 1950 of both the company and the building it was in, caused no. 50 to be released in '51 -- and without an address therefore (No. 51 has the Cherokee address; so far no information that would allow us to date it in the period before no. 52 appears in '57).

Though an announcement in '55 of a merger of Keyston and Heiser added to the confusion, I do now have proof that Keyston acquired Heiser by the end of 1950. The former must be the reason that a Heiser-Keyston catalogue (no. 52) didn't appear until 1957.

[crazyphil]

CBQ27 here is another short thread that kinda supplements the other 2
we have been discussing. Here, below on the left, is the original issue
Heiser model 457. 2nd from left is the 459. Same holster with dog ear
added. Crump shown 3rd from left was in competition with Heiser for
the FBI's business in the early 1950s.

[crazyphil]

That makes perfect sense Red, because the author I mentioned
received his holster and OP from the FBI in 1950.