This pistol came from Nevada from a 3rd generation officer. He told the man I bought it from (also an officer, I'm an officer too) that it was his grand fathers when he was a railroad cop back in the 20's and 30's. The grandson knew nothing about the information written inside the grips. I looked up Perry and all the information on his official records match, so I know I have the right guy, should have his records from the archives next week. the pistols serial is also written inside the grips in pencil. The serial is 586336, would anyone be able to help me with the date of manufacture?

1915 to 1942

The experts will be by in a couple of minutes. Hopefully they can narrow it down a little bit.

You didn't buy a gun...You purchased a part of history.

Congrats!

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S&WCA # 2045

My guess would be late '20's for a manufacture date. Nice looking M&P.

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Cheers!

Sounds like he purchased it when he became a railroad cop. Getting it lettered might show it shipping to a store near where the man worked. That is a fantastic piece.

there is a date on the one grip 1-1-28, don't know if that is when he bought it or what it could mean. What ever ink he used removed the nickel so there is a reverse image on the frame. I love police pistols you can hold them and imagine what it was like to be an officer before the lawyers and bureaucrats took over, guarantee you this one has seen some action judging by the grooves worn in the grips from his fingers.

Awesome piece of history. Cherish it.

Hmm, purchased on New Years Day 1928? Or first day on the job? I almost bet a letter would come back with a ship date of late 1927.

Its very early 1928 , or very late 1927. I doubt anything was shipped in Jan 1. Maybe that was the first day
of being on the job. The gun was probably shipped very late December. Shipping dates are all we have; S&W
did not keep track of the manufacturing date.

Mike Priwer

You probably already know this, but from Wiki:

The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known as the Big Four Railroad and commonly abbreviated CCC&StL, was a railroad company in the Midwestern United States.

In 1906, the Big Four was acquired by the New York Central Railroad, which operated it as a separate entity until 1922.

The question is whether the CCC&StL retained it's identity after 1922 (to 1928/9). Would a grip be marked CCC&StL or marked NYCRR at that time? There is a transportation museum in St. Louis that might help you in determining that through period documents, schedules, etc. You should be able to find out quite a bit about the RR police for that line -- there are RR collectors out there almost as passionate as we are.

I have a "close" piece -- a 1947 caboose from the Illinois Central Railroad (ICRR). The railroads were practically neighbors -- some of the track ran parallel to each other. I'd love to find a similar weapon -- documented to the ICRR, of course -- that I could display.

Fred

I have found a list of CCC and St. L commissions and found Perry listed as working for them in 1934. The lady from the archives says she found a bunch of records some of which are the 3 year commissions signed by the governor back to at least 1931. I'm looking forward to getting them.