I stopped in to Cabelas last night and this old M&P caught my eye. Normally it probably wouldn't as I'm more a N frame person than K but something made me ask the guy in the gunroom to take it out of the case. As I handled it, I saw the Saint Louis PD markings on the backstrap.

I took the "Cabelas Gamble" - that it would have good lockup and timing, etc. purchased it and got it home to find that indeed it is smooth as butter with no push off, great lockup and perfect timing (and a really nice trigger). Better yet no return markings on the grip frame and matching service stocks to boot.

It is S#532116, blued with a 5" barrel and according to Mr. Jinks shipped in October 1927 and is a "neat police revolver" so it will be in the next letter request. It's all matching and in pretty darn good condition for a revolver getting near the century mark. No factory return markings, appears to be original finish with typical holster and police wear - but not bad. It would have been there throughout the depression, prohibition, and gangster eras. I am really growing to love the lawmen revolvers, the stories they could tell. This one has an excellent bore still.

Using the search feature I've seen a few of these on the board reported in the past. Many numbered earlier than this one have an issue number on the backstrap along with the PD markings. It seems somewhere before or around the time this one was made they dropped the issue number and just had the PD markings as I saw at least one reported after this one that also has no rack/issue number stamped.

Earl

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Earl Battey