This detective special was allegedly used by a NYPD officer. Lots of surface wear but it's tight and shoots well. The auction link to where I bought it still works. It has pictures.

Guns For Sale - Revolvers For Sale - DETECTIVE SPECIAL - Auction: 9325295 (Ended 09/20/2009, 15:29:16 PST)

Anyone know who the owner "FC" might have been?

Looks more like "JC" no? Probably the PO/Det's initials. That weapon was very popular for the time period. Precinct Anti-Crime, Squad Detective or just simply someone's off duty firearm.

Colt Cobra circa 1957. Identical to the "Detective Special" except for its Aluminum Alloy construction. Aluminum firearms to my knowledge were never authorized by NYPD brass. This cobra was carried by an NYPD MOS upon retirement.

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My trusted partner.....

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Air weight Colts and Smith off duty's were authorized, until we started shooting + P's. I had both a model 36 (steel) and 37 ( air weight) authorized. The air weight was dropped once we went to + P's.

Thank you. Your input is much appreciated. Has anyone on this forum discussed in depth the topic of Air Weights in the NYPD?

I like NYPD guns!!



The 3" is lettered to NYPD, I didnt bother with the 4" but the LGS I got it from said it came from a retired officer.

The rubber grips show wear, its honest wear. To be honest I kinda like it...



This one is a 1946, has the officers badge number stamped in the bottom of the grip. I have his name and date of issue

You aren't far off with this one. I worked in NYC back in the 1980's and your gun could have pachs. As soon as i got out of the PD academy i got rid of those wood grips. I hated them. I for one carried the S&W model 64, 4 inch revolver with black finger knotched rubber pachs. Worked great for me in a gun fight.

John







QUOTE=RM Vivas;135459849]You could have any grips you wanted and nickel up until 1964. A friendly fire incident took nickel and ivory/pearl/stag grips off the table for new hires. Everybody else was grandfathered until '67 when there was another friendly fire incident and nickel was banned all together and wood grips were it.

Pachs were authorized (I THINK< NEED TO CHECK NOTES) early/mid 1980's. There's an ex-LT here who could shed more light on that (wink, wink).

Allegedly the great delay in approving stainless was due to the 'shiny gun phobia'. Early stainless guns ere actually shipped witha frosted matte finish so they would not look like nickel.

RM Vivas[/QUOTE]

My NYPD M&P from 1946
Received history letter yesterday and was very pleased that my gun is a NYPD gun. But there are still some questions open to me, anybody here has a clue what the markings could stand for? I know the number is a factory production number worthless for indication, but the rest? Roy Jinks didn't recognize them. To me it looks like RBf or R3f and below 4 KO.
And, as I am very interested in the history of my gun..is there a way to find out who got it at NYPD, sadly no shield number or anything like that on the gun, only the serial number.
The German proof marks from the city of Ulm indicates that it came to Germany not later than 1983 and then someday to Austria where I bought it.
Sorry for the poor picture, will take better ones from my M&P soon. Thanks for any help in advance!
Best regards from Austria, Haff

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I don't think those stampings on the crane mean anything, they are assembly marks used by the guys putting the guns together. I have similar stampings on my S&Ws.
Funny how that S&W made it's way overseas!

64-3 NY-1 square butt that shipped to One P.P. New York, NY on 6-10-1987,

I was just wondering as in the letter, Roy Jinks wrote he has no idea about the RBf or R3f markings meaning, so they are not as common and easily identifiable as assembly marks like the factory 5 digit number and even the 4 and the Ko he did not mention in the letter.
But still the other question remains, is there any chance to associated this gun with anybody from the NYPD only by serial number. Btw looks if something has carefully grinded off the backstrap, maybe the officers name or shield number, so only got the sn. As searched the forum, the one to know maybe is Mr. Vivas but he seems absent for a while.

Best regards from Austria, Haff

Sorry to revive an old thread but is there anyone still around that know how to track down info using shield number? I have a m&p from 1954-55 with a for digit shield. Was from nypd and came with a holster. I'd like to know about the officer that carried it. Thanks

Contact Robert Vivas at the e-mail address on his website. Link below. I was last in touch with him last fall. He should have records for that time period, at least if the gun was sold through the NYPD Equipment Bureau. He'll need the serial number of the gun.
If that doesn't work, for info via the shield number, you'd have to go through NYPD via a Freedom of Information Act request, and I don't know whether just having the shield number is enough for that; from all I've heard, they don't part with info about individual officers voluntarily unless you can prove that you are a family member.

NYPD Small Arms Page - Issue Guns & Markings - RM Vivas

Upon my moms passing I found paperwork concerning my fathers NYPD off duty Smith 36. The letter (dated 1960) was from his comanding officer granting him permission to aquire and carry the nickel 36. My retired NYPD brother carries the 36 today. I do remember the incident of mistaken identity because of the revolver mentioned earlier on this thread

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There are forum members around who are or were actual NYPD officers and likely have a definite answer.

Until one of them speaks up, I'll throw out my semi-educated opinion that NYPD did not authorize any adjustable-sight S&W revolvers at any point for officer carry. All K-frames were variants of the fixed-sight M&P, up to and including the final NY-1 models.

The .32 Hand Ejector may have been a policewomans. I have a few later than yours, but another one like yours in the photo, pre war I'm guessing and a bit older than yours shown in the photo above, perhaps, with service stocks rather than the Magna type your gun sports. Never had it lettered. It's my best girls favorite shooter and constant companion. Many of them when encountered even today, survived in pretty good shape, especially NYPD or other area PD weapons, because of the way they were carried back then. Consider the time, era. Well protected from the weather in a lady's shoulder handbag, unlike our service revolvers which were subjected to rain, snow and other abuses. If you have familiarity with the type of uniform holsters we carried, you understand they provided little protection from the elements for the service weapon. The uniform coat/blouse or raincoat was about all that covered the weapon, sometimes, if you had thought of it. In most cases, the cover clothing wicked moisture and did more harm than good, to tell the truth. I saw a cop, I think he was either a Housing or Transit policeman, walking with a plastic sandwich bag over the grip frame of his revolver, on a rainy summer day. I told my radio car partner to pull over to see that. Guess he had finished the sandwich the wife had made for lunch!

There was actually a policewomans uniform shoulder/handbag with special compartments for weapon, cuffs, spare ammo.....and the usual ladies other personal equipment, but I don't have a photo of one, nor personal familiarity as you may understand. I recall however, that someone on this forum posted a photo of one. If you can find it, you may perhaps find it of interest.

Cheers;
Lefty

I am retired NYPD. I started with the Model 64 NY-1 model. My off duty was the Ruger SPNY. I am not aware of any adjustable sighted revolver ever issued. I no longer have either revolver. I sold them when I was stupid. When the job went to 9MM, guys were selling their revolvers and duty leather for $100 bucks for the set. Man was I stupid to do that.

I sold my Model 10 HB in 1976 when I moved from NY. In 2015 I bought it back from the person I sold it to in 1976. Good to have it home again after 39 years. Still in excellent condition.