S&W.45 Colt on Duty

[SGT ROCK 11B]

... any departments that issued the 25-5 as a duty weapon, but can't find it, so started a new one.

In California the 45 Colt was always an option in some Departments but as far as I know not issued but private purchase.

I had a letter from my Chief so I got a 25-5 four inch from the S&W Distributor but I never carried it. I did carried a S&W 1937 (Brazil) 45 ACP because it had a better selection of JHP than 45 Colt.

 

[Yendor357]

Anybody that carries a 45 revolver is my kind of guy. I’ll wager his hit probability is high.

I’ve never been shot at, so my opinion doesn’t really count. “One shot, One kill” is still my motto. 17 rounds of 9MM is a recipie for a lot of stray bullets. A rifle is better than a handgun.

 

[Doug M.]

If one searches, you should be able to find the posts from "Nyeti" about his 25-5 in police service in SoCal. His unit was composed of cops hunting serious bad guys, and they tended to the .45 Colt for a reason.

 

[oink]

There were a few guys with my S.O. that carried Smith Colt 45s. Also a few that carried Smith 44s including me. Most guys carried 19/66s, or 686s. Several 38s also. Now everyone carries a mandated Glock 17 or 19.

 

[boykinlp]

My wife and I spent a day on the island as part of a 2 month “across the country” trip. Bicycled around the place. As you said, it’s like going back in time.
Even groceries that are brought to the stores in town come by ferry and then are taken to the stores by horse drawn wagons!
For anyone going to the island, you might as well keep going to the UP and the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. Stunning scenery. Michigan is a beautiful state.

Sounds like a very COOL place to live. Is it a place where properties are just basically passed down from generation to generation, or is it completely money driven? Hopefully, not the second because that can ruin it. I’m sure carrying a 4" S&W .45 with a 12 round belt slide for reloads will work fine for the Chief, maybe with another box of ammo close by. Does the island have its own bank, or do you have to go to the mainland to do your banking? Being an island makes “getting away” much more difficult.
Larry

 

[moosedog]

The wild end of Mackinac Island has a pretty good population of wolves, maybe that explains the 45 Colt revolver.

A friend from church, in his college days backpacked the length of the island. At night, you could look out from a campfire and see the red reflection of several sets of eyes!

Ivan

I think you have Isle Royal confused with Mackinaw Island. These are no wolfs on Mackinaw Island, and certainly no camping or open fires allowed as almost all the structures on the Island are wooden construction.
Chief Topolski is a former member of this forum. Good friend of mine, he started out in Detroit PD and then went to Dearborn PD where he retired from before becoming Chief on Mackinaw Island. He's a good man. As a matter of fact, we met on this very forum many moons ago.

 

[LazarusLong]

There's a good interview with an Officer Bob Stasch with Chicago PD on YouTube. He got in something nuts like 8 shootings in his career. Has a story about how his partner shot a drug dealer who was coming after him with a butcher knife. Partner had a Model 25 loaded with silvertips, emptied all 6 into the guy with no effect, then he draws his back up J frame and emptied all 5 points blank into the guys back. No effect. Then Stasch shows up and empties his model 29 into the guy and the last shot takes the guy's knee out and drops him. Guy died in the hospital days later!

Apparently the Model 25 was very popular at Chicago PD

 

[moosedog]

Hard to do when the adrenaline is pumping, but shot placement is king.

 

[LazarusLong]

Hard to do when the adrenaline is pumping, but shot placement is king.

Vast majority of hits were center mass with hollow points from calibers that start with "4" and the only shot that did anything hit him in the knee... I'd say shot placement isn't always a guarantee.

 

[skwchock]

Thanks for sharing. Very informative and interesting.

 

[Model 15-4ever]

There's a good interview with an Officer Bob Stasch with Chicago PD on YouTube. He got in something nuts like 8 shootings in his career. Has a story about how his partner shot a drug dealer who was coming after him with a butcher knife. Partner had a Model 25 loaded with silvertips, emptied all 6 into the guy with no effect, then he draws his back up J frame and emptied all 5 points blank into the guys back. No effect. Then Stasch shows up and empties his model 29 into the guy and the last shot takes the guy's knee out and drops him. Guy died in the hospital days later!

Apparently the Model 25 was very popular at Chicago PD

I emptied my salt shaker reading this tale....

 

[jcs266]

Several officers at my PD carried the M25-5, both 4" and 6".

I bought a new 4" blue one in 1980, round butted it, and carried it for a few years. I sold it to my LT, who carried it, off and on, for a number of years. I bought it back from him in 2008. He passed the following year.

It won't be sold again!

We'll be needing a PIC to substantiate this story!

 

[MajorD]

There's a good interview with an Officer Bob Stasch with Chicago PD on YouTube. He got in something nuts like 8 shootings in his career. Has a story about how his partner shot a drug dealer who was coming after him with a butcher knife. Partner had a Model 25 loaded with silvertips, emptied all 6 into the guy with no effect, then he draws his back up J frame and emptied all 5 points blank into the guys back. No effect. Then Stasch shows up and empties his model 29 into the guy and the last shot takes the guy's knee out and drops him. Guy died in the hospital days later!

Apparently the Model 25 was very popular at Chicago PD

While we can hedge our bets with theoretically better performing calibers or bullet designs and get good shot placement under stress, human ( or animal for that matter) targets simply don’t always react like we expect.
For every story of a caliber “failure” there are lots of stories of expected performance.

Carrying the gun you shoot the best and have the most confidence in, regardless of caliber is the answer. But just because it Carrie’s a large heavy bulllet or the most advanced bullet design available is not going to guarantee it will do what you expect

 

[lawman445]

I saw this and dug out my old friend here to get a couple pictures. I`m allergic to plastic and issued guns in general so I`ve always carried my own stuff and this nickel 25-5 was in my N frame duty gun rotation for several years. I had the target trigger narrowed and smoothed and had the action smoothed up a bit too. I mainly quit carrying it in favor of my engraved 4" nickel 29-2 or one of my engraved 27`s or pre 27`s. I knew one other guy around here who was carrying a blued 4" 25-5 until he retired this year but he was a cranky old #$%& so I never got to know him very well.

Back when I was a kid the state troopers were issued model 681`s but had the option of carrying their own personal 4" N frame (or probably L frame). Most of the ones I saw around my area carried .357`s but I always remembered one who carried a blued 25-5 and it along with his 12 round cartridge slide was glorious. (by policy troopers had to use a 12 round slide but also could carry a singe speedloader on their belt).

I finally picked up a blued 4" 25-5 and carried it some when I first got into law enforcement as a reserve/part timer way back in the 1900`s but I always wanted a 4" nickel one and the only one I knew of for sale was FIVE HUNDRED dollars...an insane amount of money for me at the time especially since I had picked up my blued one for under $400 like new with the presentation case, but they were hard to find. I finally saved my pennies and stumbled into a better deal in the meantime on this one for $450 not counting the stags and T grip.

 

[jimmyj]

S&W Colt .45 Caliber

I saw this and dug out my old friend here to get a couple pictures. I`m allergic to plastic and issued guns in general so I`ve always carried my own stuff and this nickel 25-5 was in my N frame duty gun rotation for several years. I had the target trigger narrowed and smoothed and had the action smoothed up a bit too. I mainly quit carrying it in favor of my engraved 4" nickel 29-2 or one of my engraved 27`s or pre 27`s. I knew one other guy around here who was carrying a blued 4" 25-5 until he retired this year but he was a cranky old #$%& so I never got to know him very well.

Back when I was a kid the state troopers were issued model 681`s but had the option of carrying their own personal 4" N frame (or probably L frame). Most of the ones I saw around my area carried .357`s but I always remembered one who carried a blued 25-5 and it along with his 12 round cartridge slide was glorious. (by policy troopers had to use a 12 round slide but also could carry a singe speedloader on their belt).

I finally picked up a blued 4" 25-5 and carried it some when I first got into law enforcement as a reserve/part timer way back in the 1900`s but I always wanted a 4" nickel one and the only one I knew of for sale was FIVE HUNDRED dollars...an insane amount of money for me at the time especially since I had picked up my blued one for under $400 like new with the presentation case, but they were hard to find. I finally saved my pennies and stumbled into a better deal in the meantime on this one for $450 not counting the stags and T grip.

What was the reason of a 12 round cartridge slide and only a single speedloader ?

 

[Muley Gil]

What was the reason of a 12 round cartridge slide and only a single speedloader ?

Probably uniformity.

 

[6GUNSONLY]

I had a buddy in the Sheriff's department reserve who got a 6" 25-5 as soon as they came out and carried it on duty. I carried a 4" model 57 .41 Magnum for a while before switching to a Series 70 Government Model .45.

 

[lawman445]

What was the reason of a 12 round cartridge slide and only a single speedloader ?

I think Muley Gil is probably right-they`ve always been big on uniformity and wearing their fancy hats and all that. And I suspect they felt the 12 round slide looked flashier (which of course it does) and that more than one speedloader on the duty belt would clutter it up too much for their taste. Actually, I think the speedloader was optional, but if the trooper decided to put one on his belt he could only have the one. I don`t remember a whole lot of troopers even carrying a speedloader back in the revolver days.

I actually only learned that the single speedloader policy about 4 years ago from a young(er) trooper who started talking revolvers with me- apparently the old policy is still in effect and they can choose to carry a personally owned S&W revolver if they qualify with it and he said he`d been kicking around the idea himself just for the heck of it but I don`t think he ever did. A few months after that though I went to a training class in Tulsa and actually saw a fifty some year old trooper there in uniform carrying a 4" 686 with his 12 round slide and lone speedloader- first OHP wearing a sixgun I`d seen in forever that wasn`t part of an honor guard.

I`m mostly retired now and rarely put on a duty belt anymore but when I do and the first coin toss lands on revolver vs 1911 I usually save my 12 round slide for funerals or other dress up occasions and wear a double speedloader pouch on the left and a 6 round slide in front of my gun on the right. The individual rounds in the slide look cool of course- and as an old firearms instructor once told me way back when: "90% of law enforcement is looking cool..." but I figure it`s also handy for being able to top off from if I ever have to just fire a shot or two. And of course I always carry a backup gun with 1-2 reloads for it so I always have more than just the 6 shots ready to go before I have to reload.

 

[Doug M.]

Probably uniformity.

*
One of the stupidest reasons on the planet for a policy direction. The correct answer to such is to fire the command officers involved - it is serious misconduct and a major workplace safety violation. Any decent agency attorney would go utterly bananas as this utterly indefensible.

 

[jimmyj]

When I carried a S&W Model 25-2 4" .45acp I discovered that a HKS Double speedloader pouch would accept four full moon clips (first clip bullet down and second clip bullet up). I also carried a 12 round cartridge slide with 12 .45AR cartridges. I was a lot younger (a lot younger) and the weight was not a problem. In that era I liked W-W Silver Tips. (for werewolves and possible jealous husbands/boyfriends).