CLARIFICATION should be the header - sorry!

I was in the first class that was authorized to purchase this firearm.
After graduating the academy in 1988 we ran to purchase these for off-duty use. Since we were only allowed to use this or our service revolver (mine is a Ruger Police Six S/S spurless .38) off-duty this was the logical choice. The rush was outrageous for these; my class graduated around 2200 officers.
Within the year we were ordered to cease from carrying them and the department was doing a recall for inspection of each firearm. The problem that was found to be defective was the floating firing pin that was found in a scarce few to be breaking.
Mine was returned a few months later into 1989, and once again we were allowed to carry them. Lo' and behold a department directive was issued for us to permanently to cease from carrying the weapon. An offer to replace the spurless hammer with a regular hammer was made to us by the Firearms Training Unit - however since our class was the first to carry spurless .38's we would not be allowed to use them for off duty, but merely for our own personal target practice use.
I found this ridiculous, I opted to keep my spurless M-60 - and to this day, 21-years after I purchased it, it fires fine with no problems.
This is the factual information - if anyone wants pictures of the firearm, as well as a close-up of the firing pin, just let me know, I'll be more than happy to supply you with it.

Best I can do with my camera - I tried to get into the NY-1 MOD 60 Stamp as best I could. You can also see the firing pin we have been referring to - again this firearm had not been altered in anyway from the Firearms Training Unit at Rodmans Neck. A few of the gunsmiths actually wanted to buy it from me - NO WAY.

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The thing to remember about NYPD guns is they really aren't the NYPD's guns. Guns are the personal property of the individual officer. So if tomorrow they decide the 3914DAO is no longer authorized, I can keep mine because I bought it myself. I'm no longer authorized to carry it, but I can keep it for recreational purposes. So it's entirely possible and even common for unauthorized guns to stay in its original form in the possession of an officer.

One of the nicest things about retiring from NYPD is being able to carry whatever you feel like whenever you feel like. For me that's most often a .357 scandium model. One with and one without a hammer spur.

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NRA Life Member

I bought my son (10/90 class) his O/D gun which was a 640 SS bobbed centennial in .38sp. and he is still carrying it.

RET_NYPD_MOS:

Your timeline is interesting but raises a question.

What I thought was interesting about my NY-1 is that it was shipped from S&W on October 17, 1989. At that point, it sounds like the revolver was no longer authorized for off duty carry. Which begs the question, why would the Equipment Bureau still be getting them in from S&W. Maybe mine got the "regular" hammer from the Firearms Training Unit like you describe in your posting. However, I just wonder if by mid October 1989, they were having the remainder of the order shipped with "regular" hammers.

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The equipment section in 1989 started receiving the "Centennial" edition from S&W (internal hammer) - waited for the authorization to start again for the Model 60, and knowing what a scam the contract system is with manuf. and the chiefs at purchasing I held on to little hope. I left the NYPD for a stint in Florida in the first portion of 1990 - at that time the offer was made for us to have spurred hammers put on, or leave the spurless on - but either way - you weren't authorized to carry it. A reimbursement was also offered, and “discount” coupons from S&W were to come along with the reimbursement. The idea was that those who got screwed into this deal would then purchase the Centennial - since I came back in late 1990 the off of reimbursement was off the table to me.
This meant that legally you could carry it, but if you did and got “involved” you were looking at departmental trial room - not a good thing.
I took my chances and carried it when I returned back to the NYPD at the end of 1990 - it worked great on my ankle. I didn't buy another off-duty until 2000 when we were authorized to carry Glock 26 - that's what I got.
It sounds to me that there is a bit of confusion coming from either the NYPD Equipment Section of S&W as it pertains to a shipment in October 1989 for the equipment section resale purposes. These may have either been inadvertently sent, the repaired/inspected weapons being sent back, or replacement for those with defects, and perhaps there were the Centennials being sent.
In Oct 1989 this was the height of the department recall. So is it possible that the bureaucrats in the city were still taking delivery of these weapons, sure - but they weren't being sold to personnel.

Today at a gun show, I showed the Model 60 to an "Expert" - who have me a history about the Model 60 I had - he was wrong about everything. I smiled, took my firearm and walked away.

didn't other people than just NYPD officers get to buy guns from the NYPD equipment bureau? like fireguys and ADA's and feds? anyhow if one of these "Other" purchasers ordered a M-60 it seems that S&W could possibly send them one of the returned guns and then it would letter as sent to NYPD but after it was removed from the approved list for the NYPD....maybe?
Regards,
Rich

No - Equoiment section purchases were for just MOS (Members of the Service - NYPD term for its sworn employees) - what happens is once a firearm is authorized you may purchase it from a licensed store. These firearms were not available to these stores - on the NYPD Equipment section at One Police Plaza - whereas we had to call before coming down just to make sure stock of the firearms, or even any equipment was available for purchase - that's right we had to buy ALL of our equipment, even the pin that held on our shield. Being in highway myself, that got rather expensive.

I bought this from an NYPD Officer. Its interesting in that it has the full hammer. The guy I bought it from was not a gun guy, so, I don't think he had it converted back over. He said at "Gun Day" at the academy, they had the Smiths and the Rugers. He said he picked the biggest one possible as he is a big guy. He originally had a massive set of Pachmyers on it, but had the brand new factory grips to go with it. It letters as an NYPD gun. (I know its a Ruger, but, the title says NYPD Guns Generally!)

From my wandering around on the Ruger Forum, the NYPD Rugers are the rarest of them as the Smiths were considerably more popular. And, all the confirmed NYPD Rugers have a start stamp in the crane. The belief is they were stamped that way by the firearms unit when they passed initial inspection.