Hi Guys,
I had my 10-5 lettered (just received it yesterday). It was shipped in '67 as one of 200 for Boston PD. It's a snubbie, but the letter says it shipped as a 4". Did police often change out the barrels on revolvers?
If the factory changed the barrel, would there be a stamped letter mark somewhere?



Thanks!

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If you take the left grip panel off look on the frame for a stamp like 372 which would mean March 1972. I don't know when they stopped stamping them like that.

Looking at the comparable use wear as visible in your photos, the switch would have to have happened fairly early in its service career.

So I would entertain the possibility of a typo in the letter. Send a PM to Don Mundell (Forum name: Club Gun Fan), describe the issue (link to this thread so he can look at the photos), and ask if he or Roy can double-check.

Thanks, Bama,
I took off the grips and did see a number, 96473. However, the same number is stamped in the crane. Is that just the parts number?

Hi Absalom,
The letter actually says the barrel was changed after shipping I've attached it. But I could still request a recheck. I attached another pic.



The letter also states that a copy of the invoice was enclosed, but nothing beside the letter in the envelope, so I need to touch base with them and ask for it.

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That's interesting that a shipment for Boston PD went through American Arms in Wareham. I remember that store and the owner - Marshal Bugg. He had a side room which was "for police only" where he sold uniforms and duty gear. I bought a couple of guns there back in the 70's.

Very cool! I thought that odd as well.

It's interesting that these 200 were ordered right at the height of the race riots in Boston.


I'm in Kingston, MA.

If Don and Roy were aware of the barrel discrepancy, then double-checking is unnecessary.

I still find it odd. It’s not like a large PD like Boston had to scrounge its equipment. If they wanted snubbies, they’d have ordered some and not gone through the trouble of barrel changes shortly after buying guns, I’d think. But then again, I’m just using common sense

The sentence about the invoice may have slipped into your letter accidentally. Usually, only SWCA/SWHF members are entitled to those, a benefit of membership.

Hey, I just had a thought. It is strange these guns went to Wareham. Do you recall if Marshall Bugg (what a great name!) was an armourer, or did the do serious smithing at American Arms? Maybe for some strange reason they had the guns re-barreled there.

Exactly! And Wareham's 60 miles away from Boston. There probably exists an invoice for 200 2"barrels shipped to American Arms

I don't remember him doing any serious gunsmithing there. It was more of a retail operation. Unfortunately all the old timers who would have better knowledge than me are gone now.
I suspect there were a number of armorers at BPD that could re-barrel a Model 10 for an officer especially if they moved up to Detective and wanted to keep a particular revolver albeit with a shorter barrel.

It's possible that Boston PD had to purchase from the lowest bidder and American Arms got the bid. Then again, it's Massachusetts and it may have been a case of someone knew someone in government...

The armorer for the Baltimore PD was a highly skilled gunsmith and did the occasional barrel change. Most cops don't really care much about their issued pistols. It's just another 2 pounds on the already weighty gunbelt. That said, those that gave a hoot gave a big hoot and might make such a request.

The Boston PD definitely would scrounge to fix any gun they had-cheap comes to mind. The 4 inch probably got bent somehow and a gunsmith attached a 2 inch barrel from a seized/turned in gun.

As to the Wareham dealer getting the deal, the Dept probably owed money to every other dealer within a 100 mile radius, so he was next up to get boned.

I saw something similar done with some model 64's. EBRSO (East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office) took a bunch of 2" round butt model 64's and swapped out the 2" barrels for 4" barrels. I had one and sold it and got a regular 4" EBRSO model 64. I talked to their armorer and he told me that they still had the 2" barrels but they couldn't sell them unless they had an auction or disposed of them in some other legal manner.