MODEL 640

[.38SuperMan]

I bought my 640 no dash new sometime around 1994 best I can remember. The prefix on the SN is BPW if anyone can give an approximate ship date. It's still in new condition although I shoot it occasionally and carry it from time to time. I have a belt pouch it fits in perfectly.

I replaced the grips but still have the original rubber boot grips and have the Bo's and all the paperwork including the price tag.

No chance I'm going to get rid of it either.

 

[Retired W4]

Gotta' love "Our Everyday Low Price".

 

[Narragansett]

My NYPD Midel 640 looks just like yours and it shipped in March of 1993. It has that same frosted finish that the Job mandated. Surely isn't a bigger East Coast PD out there. They were authorized for off duty use until 1996. Guys who had them could keep them but no new revolvers for new hires after 1996. In 2018, the Job mandated the remaining 200 or so who still carried a duty revolver would have to switch, but they couldn't mandate you to give up your off duty so they kept ammo on hand. They should have let them keep the 4" service revolver. You would have had to have 26 years on the Job by then. They all would have been gone in a few more years. Those who still had them weren't on the street anyway. For whatever reason, the cops who kept their duty revolvers didn't take the free 9MM and three days off patrol to transition.

For giggles I went back to the police range last year with a couple of NYPD 5946's to have the range guys take a look under the hood. I also brought my 640. The range guy said "I don't know how to service that relic".

I sold my off duty 640 like a dope many years ago. Guys were selling them for really cheap, like $150, to buy a new off duty 9MM. But I found another one just like it from the NYPD and it resides in my safe. I carried my 640 in my pocket on patrol on the Brooklyn mean streets in the 90's and rode many a subway car at night with it and never felt unarmed. Bernie Goetz used his 5 shot Model 60 to end the night of the three guys mugging him so they still have their uses.

Good old Bernie. " You don't look like you have had enough, BAM, here's another one for ya "

 

[kbm6893]

Good old Bernie. " You don't look like you have had enough, BAM, here's another one for ya "

Yeah. That comment didn't help his situation, but the jury didn't care. Did a year in Rikers for the gun, I recall. I also recall how the general public supported him since they were tired of the lawlessness in the subway. How times have changed! A Marine is on trial for putting a lowlife who was threatening people in a headlock!

 

[demkofour]

... How times have changed! A Marine is on trial for putting a lowlife who was threatening people in a headlock!

Wait a minute there- all of the local stations here in the Metro NY area say it was a CHOKEHOLD… are they not reporting the incident accurately?

Welcome to the Big Apple.

 

[RM Vivas]

Good old Bernie. " You don't look like you have had enough, BAM, here's another one for ya "

I saw him once on the subway a few years after his incident.

Seemed like a fairly mild-mannered guy. Taller than I thought. Was flanked by a couple transit cops who i think were not there by coincidence. The man had a very distinct look; if you saw on the train, you --knew-- it was -him-. I think the cops figured if they were in the car with him it would prevent problems.

 

[kbm6893]

I saw him once on the subway a few years after his incident.

Seemed like a fairly mild-mannered guy. Taller than I thought. Was flanked by a couple transit cops who i think were not there by coincidence. The man had a very distinct look; if you saw on the train, you --knew-- it was -him-. I think the cops figured if they were in the car with him it would prevent problems.

Yeah. He was a nut. I remember something about him breeding squirrels and the few times he ran for mayor. Never figured out how he lived in manhattan. I think he lived with his mom in some rent controlled apartment. He might have been riding that train just waiting to be messed with for some payback, but the truth is those three recidivist felons were about to rob him and I have zero problem with how Bernie dealt with them. The "here's another one" comment was stupid. He should have just thought that comment instead of speaking it out loud.

 

[Banjo 10-79]

I thought Bernie used a humpback model 38? As far as the actual shooting went I would have acquitted him, which is what the jury did. He should've hired a lawyer and kept his mouth shut or just not turn himself in. His post shooting comments sunk his reputation.

No brass left behind and I don't believe they had cameras everywhere back then. He was only found guilty on the gun charge. Bernie isn't a hero perhaps but the media and race pimps like Sharpton ruined his life because he had the audacity to defend himself. I feel sorry for the guy.

 

[demkofour]

Just to continue the Thread Drift on Roy's post of his excellent Model 640, If, AND ONLY IF, my memory serves me right, Goetz was a fugitive for several days after the incident and ultimately traveled to New Hampshire where he apparently was looking to get with Massad Ayoob and the Lethal Force Institute. Goetz ultimately surrendered and Ayoob, who is a trial expert in the use of DPF, was part of his defense team…?

And FWIW, Wikipedia shows that the pistol used was a S&W Model 38…

 

[demkofour]

My only current 640 was also an NYPD gun, which I purchased a few years ago from a cop I worked with. He was a former NYPD MOS and from what I was told, he had purchased the gun privately from a gun shop, not from the Equipment Section, since the 640 was on the "authorized list".

 

[kbm6893]

My only current 640 was also an NYPD gun, which I purchased a few years ago from a cop I worked with. He was a former NYPD MOS and from what I was told, he had purchased the gun privately from a gun shop, not from the Equipment Section, since the 640 was on the "authorized list".

Maybe the job allowed private gun shops to order NYPD guns, but you couldn't just walk into a gun shop and buy any 640. It had to meet the job requirements. I had another 640 a few years ago and the finish was totally different, and they were only made about 8 months apart.

As for Goetz, I remember reading Model 60, but all that matters is it was a S&W snub nose 5 shot .38, and Goetz successfully ended the nights for the three thugs who tried to rob him.