I generally am not a fan of nickeled guns, but I’m a big fan of police/agency marked guns. I was fooling around on a lesser known auction site and found a nickel, 5” barrel Model 10-5, the pictures were lousy, and the auction stated, “police marked on butt”, though no pictures of the marking were provided. I immediately assumed one of the Detroit PD marked guns. It was cheap, so I went after it.

What I got was a bit of a disappointment, It was marked “R.P.D. 20”, not the Detroit PD revolver I was after, it also had space for a lanyard loop which was hidden by the big fat Pachmayr grips that were on it.

Additionally, it showed no evidence of having been fired, no burn rings on the cylinder, however it did have two very deep scratches on the cylinder (tastefully rotated so as to not disturb the picture), the front sight was painted orange, and the finish was (and is) foggy in some places.

I found a pair of grips, and scrounged a nickeled lanyard, and felt pretty good about things and put it away. Anyhow, while lettering something else, I got a wild hair and sent one in for this as well.

Anyhow, pictures and the letter are below.

Attached Images

	RPD (1).jpg (170.6 KB, 315 views)
	RPD (2).jpg (63.1 KB, 254 views)
	RPD (4).jpg (163.9 KB, 261 views)
	RPD (6).jpg (92.9 KB, 290 views)

Maybe it's just me, but that barrel looks longer than 4" - have you measured it?

Here is a Model 67 - K frame .38 with a 4" barrel for comparison.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

It is definitely a 5" barrel.

I suspect it was carried by a foot patrolman . . . 5" barrels were less favored when patrolmen started spending most of their time in patrol cars. But, of course, this is speculation on my part, and some departments continued using 5" barrels for quite some time.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

I recognized that gun as soon as I saw the pic... My local Roanoke City PD carried the 5” nickel model 10 for years before the swivel holsters became hard to get and then they did go to 4” nickel prior to the move to Glocks. The 4” nickel 10 was selected over the model 64 due to cost. I submit the letter stating 4” instead of 5” is a typo.

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S&W factory revolver armorer

I guess if it had returned to Smith for the barrel change that letter would have indicated it?

No. Dr Roy shows the shipping info, not any trips back to the mother ship.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

I have a nickel 10-5 and they could be twins, except mine has Wayne County on the backstrap

Either a typo in the original records or in the letter, I'll betcha.

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You're shy a few manners.

I think it‘s a clerical issue too. A barrel change would make little sense since it would be in the wrong direction, 4“ to 5“, considering ken158‘s input.

If it‘s important to you, you can always send Roy a picture of the gun and a copy of the letter with the 4“ highlighted and ask him to double-check. If he discovers a mistake, you will get a corrected letter.

I’d love to be able to chat with that old trooper and find out how it served in Roanoke, VA then traveled all the way to Colorado? Was it one sale to a distributor and then a big jump, or did it make its way West through many hands and duties?

Froggie

I'd sure get the letter verified. It doesn't cost anything and you've already spent the money to get a letter.

Nobody changed the barrel. Typo in the letter. When you hear hoof beats expect horses not zebras.

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