Dear Ladies and Gentlemen:

My Dad has acquired a S&W revolver mod. 10-5 with 5 inch tapered barrel with nickel finish. Serial number is C781xxx a while ago. The backstrap is marked with "Detroit Police" and numbers "12629", so it is obviously a former police duty revolver. This specimen hardly seems to have seen much service as condition was virtually new at the time he got it. That was surprising, especially over here, in central Europe.

I have used the "Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson - 3rd Edition" for reference. There was some information about this model variation on the low left of page 175, but I could not find an answer to my questions:

Q-1: When did the DPD adopt this model variation?

Q-2: Did DPD issue this model to all member of its service or to a specific branch?

Q-3: Did the DPD buy and issue these revolvers to its members or was it individually bought by officers, maybe from a list of approved revolver models?

Q-4: Was there any particular "tactical concept" behind adoption of such a shiny .38 duty revolver? I can imagine that a nickel plated revolver might draw much more attention in low light conditions than a blue steel gun and that possibly helped reduce having to shoot as criminals would be more likely to give up when they saw the gun pointed at them by a DPD officer. Or, maybe this special version of model 10 helped officers to identify their brother officers much more handily when they were called to a crime in progress a.k.a. "This man holds a shiny model 10 with an (unusual) 5 inch barrel like mine, so quite like he is one of us".

Q-5: For how long did the DPD issue this model variation?

Q-6: Was this model variation "grandfathered" for duty use by older officers when the DPD went to another duty gun?

Please forgive this naïve questions, but information on these venerable old police duty guns is hard to come by over here. We have to rely on information by American enthusiasts.

Perhaps there are a few retired DPD officers among forum members who had the insight when this particular model 10 was issued.

Thanks a lot for your kind response.

karamojo

Hi

Welcome to the forum. There is a DPD thread that is full of information and photos.

Detroit PD gun picture thread?!!!!


A short answer to your question is: Detroit Issued both Smith and Colts. Until the Gocks were issued in 1995 (approx.). An Officer could carry any pistol that was approved. You see revolvers in great condition because they wanted to carry something else like a 9mm or 357. They just put up the issued one. At retirement they could buy their duty gun. DPD sold most of the revolvers when they went to the Glocks.

They still have some mod 10's for training the new hires.
I myself have 4 DPD marked Smith and Wesson’s. One of the 10-5 five inch nickel. 3 two inchers one made about 1948 nickel one 10-7 nickel and one 64-2.

Paul

karamojo, can you tell us where in central Europe you are for those of us curious as to where a DPD revolver ended up there? Thank you.

Germany.

Reportedly, large gun wholesalers in the past imported quite a bunch of them. I have no idea from whom. That might already date back 15 - 20 years. Think, I saw an ad in a pretty old German gun magazine. My Dad got this one from a German gun dealer. Perhaps the previous owner was a collector or something.

I've also owned a M65-2 with Mass. State Police markings for a while, so former police revolvers are not unheard of over here. Just saw a M66 with "S.F.P.D."-markings on the left side of the frame below the cylinder.

Interesting, thanks. I would have never thought US police guns would be found in Europe.

I find the former duty guns to be of great interest to me too. I have a couple of older S&W's on the way that were former duty guns. One is a 64-3 4" 38Sp. +P SB from 1987 issued to an officer(s) in the Ohio Department of Corrections. The second is a 65-3 3" 357 RB that is also about 25 years old. After I get them I will research their history if possible. I also have Police used Glock 23 40S&W with a 9mm conversion barrel. This way I have 9mm, 40 S&W, 38 Sp. +P, and 357 Magnum covered. The only other caliber I would like to have covered is 45ACP and I'm looking at a Taurus 24/7 OSS.

The Glock is marked OPPD and has a badge that reads "Overland Park Police Department - Kansas

Anyway, sorry for the detour. The Model 10 is a cool revolver and I hope you enjoy it and learn more about it. Auf Wiedersehen!

__________________
CCCP = Illinois

how are you i was woundering i have a 1970 .38 model-10-5 just got it with the detroit police symbol on the back is there anyway to track down where it came from and even who it was issued to? also about home much it is worth in good condition? if u can get back to me as soon as possible i would greatly appreciate it thanks