What "Odd" Guns Have You Seen Used On Duty By LEO, Security Guards, Etc.?

Way back when I was a young lad, the Lieutenant of our police force (3 man force at the time) carried a Luger in 9mm parabellum that he had brought back from WWII. He also carried that Luger in the original German military issue holster, not exactly a good choice for a fast draw. Good thing it was a small town and that about the only task for the Police was enforcing the speed limit. It was a small town and Lieutenant was the highest rank at that time, later on as the town grew he became the Captain and then he transitioned into a new S&W 19 in nickle in a proper Sam Browne.
 
In 1977 I was flying my plane from california to my folks back in wisconsin. I was forced down by the weather at murdo south dakota. I had to spend 3 or 4 days on the ground untill the weather let up. Somehow I got hooked up with the county sheriff, and I think at that time it was just him, no deputys. He was a big heavy jolly old guy kind of like slim pickens. Seemed to me his name was "Mac Mcfarlen" or something close. We rode around in his old red comet for a couple days.
He packed a old first generation nickle colt SAA .45, and a old single barrel shotgun. It was a pleasant experiance rideing with mac in his comet with springs busted out of the seat! Someplace in storage I think I have a picture of him standing by my plane as I was getting ready to leave.
 
I was a guard at lockheed from 1965 to 2,000. I never wore a auto. We were issued colt offical police,s, then s&w 586s, then ruger speed six,s. Most of the time I carried the colt while the other guys carried the smiths and rugers. I was about the last of the guards that stayed with the colt. We could only carry .38 specials anyway, and the colt was noticably lighter and less bulky. I was happy with it.

Gad am I getting old or what? I just read this old thread from the start and see I posted the same story way back!
 
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In the late 70s a security guard who carried a Walther P-38. (He was a very good shot with it).
Strangest of all was when I was reporting with an ALJ (Administrative Law Judge) (I won't name the agency, nor the state or county) in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.
One day, using the local courtroom for hearings, the ALJ glanced down below the bench and saw a large (5" diameter) black button. He thought to himself, "I wonder what that's for," and pushed it.
About a minute or so later, front and back doors of the courtroom fly open, and we're looking down the barrels of several Winchester 97 Riot Guns.
The ALJ apologized for the mistake and thanked the officers for their prompt attention profusely. Later at lunch he admitted it was one of the stupidest things he had ever done (he was in his sixties), but added that being on the road for five or six weeks doing these hearings was enough to addle anyone's mind.
 
20 Years ago I knew a Deputy Sheriff that was about 65 at the time who was carrying a personal Ruger Single Six. He told me that he had arthritis so bad that he couldn't qualify with any thing bigger than a .22 LR. He was limited to serving paper, checking VIN numbers and desk duty so I guess the Single Six was all he needed. He retired at the age of 70 still carrying the Single Six. .......... Big Cholla
 
In the early 1970s I was an Air Force investigator in up-state New York. I had to interview a security guard at a private marina and he was carrying a long barreled Ruger .357 Blackhawk in a cowboy type rig.
 
I knew a Deputy Sheriff in a small Tennessee town back in 1975 who carried a Llama small frame auto in .32 ACP.

My father in law was issued a High Standard .22 snub revolver which he still has when he was an air crewman assigned to plane maintainence in the Air Force in the 1950's.

I also worked with a guy who carried a Charter Arms Bulldog .44 Special in his pants pocket as a backup gun when he worked for the Winchester, VA police dept. back in the 70's.
 
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mrmike7189 said:
i worked for wackenhut in 2000 and they still issued revolvers....in 2008I visited florida and all the wackenhut guards there had new stainless revolvers.....ahhh wackenhut!
not bad company ..but way behind in technology.
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There is nothing wrong with revolvers for LE or Security work. Technology is not the issue. Revolvers will work just as good as Autos and are easy to use.
 
Local (in KY) deputy sherrifs have been seen carring the following:
RG 44 Mag
Raven 25 auto
Hi Point autos in 9mm, 40S&W & 45acp
Broom Handle Mauser in 30 cal

I have seen security guards carring the following:
Jager Arms 22lr AR 15 copy.
RG 22 cal revolvers
Nickle plated Lugar with white plastic grips
Clerk 22 and 32 cal revolvers
 
Started work for the local S.O. in 1982 in corrections. My Corporal who had worked there many years was going to transport an inmate to the hospital for medical care and his handgun was in the front gun box. He directed me to get his handgun and carry it around to the sallyport. The only handgun in the gun box was an old RG 38. The cylinder was rusted shut and the visible brass on the shells was green. I took it to him and later told him I didn't think it would be safe to fire. He told me " Baby boy, I ain't gonna shoot nobody. I just carry it in case I need to hit someone with it". I would have been ashamed to even hit someone with it.
 
In 1975 Pinkerton Security was arming its guards with very old Colt Police Positive in .38 short.
I knew some police in Houston that carried Single action Colt and Rugers. One carried an 8 3/8' .44 mag.

One guy carried an auto-mag until his Lt. told me no.
 
I wasn't carrying the auto mag. The Lt. told me he told the Officer not to carry it anymore.
 
While on guard duty at Ft. Dix, NJ in the early 70's, I carried an M-16A1 with three loose rounds in my pocket and no magazine. I guess that's two better than Barney Fife! One night I found a door to a old warehouse open, called the duty office from a pay phone, no radio. Area was swarmed with MP's and cops. Never did know what was in those warehouses.

At the same time there were stories of guards getting jumped and killed/injured for their weapons by gangs from Philadelphia.
 
Skeptic 9c said:
Here in FL security guards are only permitted .38 Special, 9mm or .380. There are ammo requirements as well, see your company legal representative for current details. Only interesting thing I have seen is a MAJOR national company switching from Glocks to Ruger 95s for safety reasons.
Geoff
Who notes armed security is extremely expensive almost everywhere.
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In my part of the world, I'm afraid it is not (average billing rate...from some years ago, mind you...was not even in the $15/manhour and the wage for the guard was minimum at that time). Houston has hundreds of licensed guard companies...so many that many don't even get into the yellow pages. For every one of them, there are at least three or four UNLICENSED companies out there. All of this includes the big international conglomerates, too.

Most armed security I run into these days are armored car personnel (which really should be considered 'bonded couriers' and not security guards..the job is different), or guarding high risk assignments (drug/gang filled apartment complexes, seedy bars, etc.).

Armed security here for the most part seems to be dying out. Too much risk and liability in this neck of the woods.

Glad that in my current position, I don't have to even deal with that issue anymore.
 
mgjohn said:
Local (in KY) deputy sherrifs have been seen carring the following:
RG 44 Mag
Raven 25 auto
Hi Point autos in 9mm, 40S&W & 45acp
Broom Handle Mauser in 30 cal

I have seen security guards carring the following:
Jager Arms 22lr AR 15 copy.
RG 22 cal revolvers
Nickle plated Lugar with white plastic grips
Clerk 22 and 32 cal revolvers
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AN RG IN 44 MAG???!!!
Omg....did they even make such a thing?
Talk about carrying a hand grenade! "Freeze or I'll blow myself up!"
 
Faulkner said:
Here's a picture in which I made the local paper a couple of years ago. I was off duty and at home when I got a call from dispatch that one of my co-workers had a felon run from him during a traffic stop not far from my home. Obviously, I was not in unform but I grabbed some gear and headed out to backup the deputy. Included in my gear was my department approved, newly built, Springfield, Inc., M1A1 .30 carbine.

Later, as I was standing on the side of the road a local newspaper reporter snapped a picture of me and later came over to question me about my new fangled 'assault weapon', as he'd never seen one 'made out of wood' before. Obviously, he considered the carbine odd. Although I could appreciate his curiosity, I typically make it a point not to talk to reporters so I referred him to the department public information officer.

51942040.jpg
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I've carried this'n for a while...

M-1Carbine2.jpg


Su Amigo
 
Back when I was still in high school, I saw a Dallas cop carrying a nickled Webley MK VI that had white plastic grips with a floral scene in them. That was in the early 1960's.

In the '70's, saw a cop here with a Renaissance Grade Browning Hi-Power.

Saw a guard with a Ruger Old Army cap and ball gun. Said it was all he owned, and he wasn't paid enough to buy anything more modern. Very sad. Guard pay is still often under $10 an hour. But that's better than some retail sales jobs pay!

I know one guard who is pretty gun savvy. He wears a S&W M-66 loaded with lead HP .38 ammo in his urban job. Uses .357's in more remote areas, including some night warehouse jobs in the past.

I think I'd be tempted to wear a 9mm auto, probably my Beretta. Too many thugs run in gangs now, and backup is highly unlikely. Many guards don't even have radios or cell phones. In Texas, guards have to qualify with an auto to carry one. Qualify with a revolver, and that's what you carry.
Qualifying with an auto lets you have a choice.

I've sure seen a lot of those RG and similar junk guns on guards, too. I think some just don't have enough money for better, and many don't care. They just have to be armed, and don't think there's much practical difference from one pistol to another. I've seen one with a Makarov. Seems like a wise choice for the money. Said he wanted to be able to carry the same gun concealed when off duty. He added that when he has to work unarmed, he gets less respect than when he's armed. The public doesn't take him seriously without a gun..

T-Star
 
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I guess I need to get out more. I have seen some of the ridiculous stuff and calibers you guys speak of when I was a kid in the 40s and 50s, however in my career since 1965 I havent. Maybe a couple of colt new services and s&ws .44 specials but thats it. Lockheed was good about training us personaly when I first hired in and forever before my time I was told. We had old 6" colt officer model matchs to practice with at our own range and we carried 4" colt offical polices when I hired in. What did change was in about the early 70s the state of california came out with guidelines for guards I belive for the first time. We had to go to class,s set up by the state to get our guard and gun cards. Two sepperate deals as there are unarmed guards too. The guard schooling was basicly letting us know we were there to observe and report and it strongly empithised we were crap, and not cops. Seems to me back then it initialy was a week or two of schooling and I had to take it at the local college. Since I was already a guard working at lockheed my outfit was the first to get on the bandwagon. Through the years at requalifications I had many instructors say I had the lowest numbered gun card they had ever seen. I belive it was #511.
We had our own captain that was in charge of instructing us and he was a ex competer for the army etc. In my view we were a lot better trained by our company in firearms than after the state took it over. However we also had a huge department, maybe 300 guards or more at burbank when I hired in.
What was scary was going to requalifications through the years with many guards from other outfits. There you seen it all. I never seen at any of my requals any gun under .38 special. I doubt the state allowed anyone useing anything under that, at least I never seen it, and I was requalifing at least once a year and towards the end before every 6 months was up.
When I got my first guard job, (NOT lockheed) they would hire you in and turn you loose with NO gun training. In california that all ended in about 1973. I would guess california would have been the first state to come out with class,s, but am not sure of that.
 
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