LAPD,s approved gun list was/is always changing, mostly dependant on what the Big Chief liked /wanted or what maybe OIC of the firearms unit wanted or could get approved as weapons that were better were developed. I believe it was sometime in mid to late 70s 6" revolvers were again approved, not issued. In 1981/2 the LAPD model 68s came out and a lot of people had them on their firearms card.
When S/W came out with the full lug model 14 many (myself included ) went that direction. I worked with several older guys who had custom model 14s with a 1" or just under bull barrel (no rib) front sight like a Weigand, just not interchangeable. Some were Davis guns or Cheshire Perez. These were approved. Probably grandfathered in when the conversion to 4" happened. My first training officer carried a 5" 38/44 Outdoorsman, that gun stayed on the approved list well into 2000 or so.
No one really paid much attention to who carried a revolver, as long as it was an approved model .This went on until the later 90s when it was discovered that officers who were issued berettas during the Academy and only received minimal BUG training with a 2", were later switching to revolvers , mostly 6", to help their shooting score for the Bonus course or to look older. This later changed and if you came on after 9/89 or whenever LA started issuing berettas you had to carry a semi/auto as a primary duty weapon.All these pictured are approved.
Last edited by CALREB; 08-05-2019 at 02:05 AM.
|