What unusual or unlikely guns have you seen used buy LEOs?

[SteveA]

Had an attempted suicide by cop case recently in a smaller county. The officer had a 1911 type sidearm (a Phillipino import I believe) and for a rifle (which was used to shoot my client and put a nonfatal end to the nonsense), a semiauto AK-47 clone.

 

[medic15al]

Not as LEO, but when I was a young rookie paramedic I was also married to a girl that came from an upper-middle class family where no expense was spared when getting their wants. That was very rough on me until she matured a bit so I moonlighted as armed security for a number of years. I saw a Rem 1858 cap-n-ball copy in .44, various Phoenix/Ravens/RGs in .22, .25, and .32 autos, starter pistols, gas pistols, even a 1911 Crossman pellet pistol! As you can surmise, pay was pathetic, but it helped me out a lot. I started with a blued Taurus model 66 with Federal 125gr magnums and after a while by hiding money in a separate savings account obtained my first real gun. A Model 19 blue 4 in! Boy I felt like I was somebody in the guard world. Then a guy had to show up with a 5904 and it has been down hill since...

 

[Bullseye 2620]

I knew a court bailiff in Baltimore County, Maryland who carried a Model 52-2 as his service weapon. He used handloads in it -- 148 grain HBWCs -- seated flush, but reversed, and he hot loaded them to around 850 fps. I never did see the point, but I sure wouldn't have wanted to have been on the receiving end of one of those rounds.

 

[squidsix]

I know a guy who was a town cop in Greenport, NY and carried an early Sig P210 in a fancy duty rig. Later he carried a 9mm Colt 1911. Retired when I was in high school and shot them both at the local club. He was a fine pistoleer.

 

[robvious]

I was at a machine gun shoot with friends out in the middle of nowhere Nebraska... the local LEO stopped by with his squad rifle and let people try it if they had ammo that would work... vintage M14!! I had brought my M1A and plenty of ammo even used my own mags... I got to run 3 mags... the sheriff then took grill duty and cooked us lunch... it was a great day...

 

[Lonestar57]

Browning BDM's. And actually I like this gun.

 

[Muley Gil]

Well, I have been known to carry old, odd guns to work. I carried my Old Model Ruger Blackhawk .45 Colt every now and then. I also carried my S&W .32-20 while working at the county jail.

I worked security at a local motel that had a lounge for over 7 years. I carried a Webley & Scott .455 MKV converted to .45 ACP/.45 Auto Rim at times.

One time, I was going into my bank and the security guard was standing outside. He had no Sam Browne belt and didn't appear to have a firearm. I asked him if he was armed and he pulled a Raven .25 auto out of his pocket.

 

[SG-688]

Colt Police Positive Special 32-20 circa 1973.

(Not me.)

 

[Tom Kent]

Back in the early '70s when I started in law enforcement there was a deputy in a small county in North Carolina who carried a Luger he had brought back from Germany.

 

[pawncop]

Years ago (late 70's early 80's) while I was with the local sheriff's office, my partner and I responded to a disturbance call in one of our smaller communities. They had a town marshal who carried an off brand single action 44 magnum revolver (possibly a Virginia Dragoon). He basically stayed out of the way while we handled the call, but recall he wore the revolver slung way low.

Did not project well and never saw him again.

 

[Leslie Sapp]

Many years ago, we were stopped by a FHP roadblock. There had been an officer shot and killed and they were hunting the killer pretty hard . One of the troopers was carrying an M1 carbine in a paratrooper stock with a 30 round magazine in it.

 

[murphydog]

Not seen by me, but a current thread in the Antique section:

help requested 44 S&W unk age

 

[stykshooter]

A decade or so back I had a new basic academy on the range. There was a very nice, and very small female in the class from one of our local county agencies. I saw that she was carrying a revolver and had one of my instructors pull her off the line as I knew her agency issued Glock G-21's. I told her she had to train and qualify with her issued weapon. She produced a letter from her sheriff stating that this Colt .32 caliber revolver was her issued weapon. I reluctantly allowed her to continue on in the class. Story was that she couldn't shoot or qualify with the .45 but was deadly with her father's old Colt double action. The county had scrounged up every .32 round that they could lay their hands on to come up with the 1,500 rounds she needed for the class.

That young lady was a remarkable shot with that Colt. The .32 may not pack much punch but she had no problems putting them all where they would do the most good. She was going to be an administrative assistant and work in the office, not on the road.

 

[Marshal Tom]

That is some scary stuff when you think of what some folks staked their lives on for protection. When I was in a boarding school in New Marlboro Mass back in the late 60's, the local Chief of Police in the small town was packing a 4 3/4" Ruger Blackhawk .357 as his duty gun.

 

[sniper]

Ruger Mini-14s used by French Police used during the terrorist incidents last year.(?)

 

[ExRanger714]

Town cop .32 in his pocket no sidearm

Town cop thumb rest target grips on a S&W revolver

Town cop Colt MKIII J frame Trooper Pachmayrs force fitted on an original Trooper (looked really odd) (Tyler trigger shoe too)

Town cop 6" M-27 S&W

Highway Patrol Sergeant carrying a Colt Cobra (my Grandpa)

Park Ranger carrying a Python for a sidearm and a S&W 2 1/2" Model 19 with Bianchi Lightning grips in a Bianchi suede iwb at about 4:30 for backup (or in jacket pocket for a shoot-thru in winter) (me)

Park Ranger carrying a 4" M-19 with shells rusted in place in the cylinder (not me!)

Navajo Tribal Police carrying HK P7 pistols.

 

[Buford57]

In the early 80s the local security force, or Merchant's Patrol as they were known, had one member who carried a brass-framed cap and ball Remington copy. The motorcycle officer in the next town down the road carried a 6 1/2 Ruger Blackhawk .357.

One of my coworkers carried a COP as an off-duty/BUG, another a Buffalo Arms .357 derringer and still another a Luger. In my early days when money was short my BUG was a Nazi-marked Browning 1922 in .32 auto until I was able to dig up a 1903 .32 HE. Don't get me started on the assortment of dirks, daggers and impact weapons we carried.

 

[31FordA]

My first county job I was partnered with our Chief Investigator. While getting settled at my new desk he asked what I'd be using for a gun, so I tell him a Model 19. I then asked what he was using, to which he replies "S&W Sport". I looked at him for a second, then asked "Um, the .22 pistol?". He proudly responded "Yep, head shots, always go for head shots". I smiled, while thinking that I needed to transfer as soon as I could.

Oh, the 22 Sport had replaced the Beretta he used to carry. The .25 Beretta.

Met two guys at firearms qual with Daewoo .40 pistols. They both needed new guns by the end of quals.

At a prison a few years ago I saw a nickel .38 Hand Ejector still in use. I asked to look at it, cartridges had turned green.

Not LEO, but unusual. In 2nd grade my class walked around town to different businesses to learn about careers. One stop was the local tire shop, where the counter man carried a Browning Hi Power in a shoulder holster (it wasn't a great neighborhood). He politely answered all our questions, including the ones from my friends and I about the Browning. When the teacher asked at the end of the day what jobs we might like when we grew up my friends and I all said we wanted to work at the tire store. The teacher, confused, asked why. "You get to carry a big gun!" we all replied.

 

[C J]

A friend of mine who works undercover keeps an M4 that weighs about 4.5 lbs in his trunk. It includes a silencer and it's full auto. That is one impressive piece of hardware.

 

[Wyatt Burp]

Couple years ago I made a Colt SAA holster for a Texas cop who wanted it to match his black basket weave duty belt. I figured for off duty hiking, etc. Turns out he's the Sheriff of an east Texas town who carries and qualifies with his pair of Colt SAAs. One cross draw, the other strong side that I made. He still wears them as we speak most likely. I have a picture of them but it's his photo so shouldn't post it without his OK.