I just did a f2f private party deal for a 28-2 Highway Patrolman.

The guy I purchased it from says he bought it from a retired California Highway Patrol officer who used it as a duty gun.

Seems to have a nice trigger, and some "honest" wear.

It came with a Pachmayr grip on it -- looks like an old Presentation style.

Is there any way to figure out what kind of grips this gun had on it when it came from the factory?

Did S&W ship more than one kind of grip on 28-2s?

The serial number of the gun places it in production in '78 - '80.

I'll post a picture when the 10 day period is over.

I could be mistaken but I think it unlikely such a revolver made in 1978 or later would have been used as a duty weapon by a CHP officer. After the "Newhall Massacre" in 1970 the CHP required all officers to switch to 38 Special revolvers and only officers who had been carrying 357s for some period prior to that time could keep them. It may have been owned by a CHP officer but I doubt it was ever carried on duty due to the time frame.

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No life story has happy end.

Well, the "evidence" I have is the guy I bought it from said so. For whatever that is worth.

The Pachmayr grip has a cutout (not factory done) on the bottom so you can see the serial number on the grip frame.

That seems like something a police department might do and not something a civilian owner would do.

Your message started me looking around the web and I found this table that might be helpful to people here:

California police revolver issue:

Los Angeles Police Department before 1988: S&W model 14 and 15 or K38 masterpiece and combat masterpiece. Also the S&W model 68.
Riverside County Sheriffs Dept. S&W model 64.
Sacramento County Sheriffs Dept. S&W model 13.
San Diego County Sheriffs Dept. S&W model 19&66.
San Fransciso Police Dept. S&W model 58 and 28. Colt Trooper.
Santa Ana Police Dept. S&W model 581.
Santa Clara Count Sheriffs Dept. S&W model 19 and model 686.
California Highway Patrol. S&W model 67 model 68, model 19, model 28, model 586 and Ruger GP100,
These are the agencies that I am aware of in California.

Notice the SFPD with the model 58. I found that interesting.

28-2's typically came with magna grips as well as yours, or that is typically what I see on them. No complaints at all, she shoots like a laser.

Target grips from that era are a possibility also. They didn't cost that much extra at the time, and many departments ordered them that way. Also, if it was a CHP gun I would think there would be some stampings on it indicating such.

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Even older, even crankier....

I may have to Jinks it with a letter.

How much does that cost now days?

I'll check it carefully for some kind of stamping. Didn't see one, but it might be under the grip, I suppose.

Cal44... a hearty congrats!! As a fellow CA resident, I know the challenges that comes with obtaining an "off roster" handgun, so it's especially sweet to score one.

Factory letters are now running $50.

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Conrad
SWCA #1830 SWHF #222

Congratulations on the acquisition of a truly classic revolver, one that will increase in value over the years. The "workhorse" of the N-frame .357 Magnums is one of the finest guns ever made. You are going to love it!

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FBINA, 204th Session

Not sure why a letter would really be needed, and the 28-2 is not a model that would command a letter, I don't think at least. I suggest saving your money and buying ammo.

It will indicate where it was shipped which could be a clue as to whether or not its a CHP gun. Any way you cut it though, they're great revolvers!

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Even older, even crankier....

I think the letter will also tell me what type of grips the gun was shipped with. So I can put it as much as possible back to the original.

I believe your only choices would be the magnas pictured above or Target grips which probably isn't likely. Save the money for the letter and buy the grips.

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Get off my lawn!

Amen and yeah that. Enjoy that fine weapon.

Hi,
May I ask why the Newhall Incident inspired a change from the 357 to the 38? Was the 357 considered to big for the fast action that was needed on that day? Seems as once the officers were pinned down behind the vehicles that the 357 would have ben a better gun to have. Certainly not speaking from expierience on my end , but just wondering.

Twig

The Newhall incident was one of a number of catalyst responsible for changing the way police officers TRAINED rather than what they carried. The last trooper was killed w/a pocket full of empty cases and had five rounds loaded while a wounded suspect walked up on him while trying to load the 6th round. Having begun my police career late 70's early 80's this was relatively fresh. I also have a number of references from professional journals/publications that would indicate that various agencies in CA carried a number of different duty weapons, as has been mentioned. It was also quite common for LE agencies in those years to formally issue a certain type/brand/model weapon while allowing individual officers to purchase and qualify w/their own, in which case there would be no LE agency stampings(mine never were). Enjoy your fine weapon sir. P5

Hi,

So all of the departments training became a standard state wide? Was the idea to have everyone train with a specific weapon(model 10)?

Seems odd that the last officer killed had a pocket full of empties. Wonder why he would have taken the time to pocket the empty casings?

Twig.

Cal, you will enjoy shooting your 28! I have a 6" no dash from 1960. Great looking and shooting gun. Find some someplace or someone that has a N frame with magnas, and targets. Which feels better to you. I have 5 sets for mine. Targets are best for me. Currently, it is wearing Herrett skip checkering (diamonds in checkering) targets. Bob

High profile incidents such as Newhall prompted changes in traing everywhere in LE(at least in this country). He died w/a pocketfull of empties and an almost fully loaded revolver because that's the way he was trained. Qualifications at that time were simply that...qualifying...shoot your rounds(many times done one handed, single action, no time constraints)at a bullseye target....pocket your empties or drop them in the range bucket so as not to clutter the range..load six and repeat.In a high stress situation you will act in a manner consistent w/how you are trained(which is the whole reason to train). LE agencies(like most govm't) move at a very slow pace, and it's almost always outside catalyst that force change. Firearms traing was/is no different. There have always been VERY highly trained/motivated shooters w/in LE communities, but that was/is not the case across the broader spectrum of the profession. Training today simply is worlds apart from what it was then(and from where it will be 30 yrs from now).HTH's. P5

I'm not in law enforcement, so I only know what I read.

And it is consistent with what pistol5 said.

A retired CHP officers personal site I found said he worked during the 70's.

He was issued a K frame, but it became his personal property and CHP officers in that time frame had some freedom of choice in weapons so he sold it and bought a Model 28, used it for a few years in the 70's and then replaced it with a Model 27 and then retired just about the time the department changed to bottom feeders.

Very well said Pistol5.

When we took away the gallon can for the empties you could see shooters looking around as if they'd lost something trying to find the can to dump their brass. It was funny to watch but a sad realization about our training. Training took a radical change after Newhall and some really had trouble adapting. It became more realistic.

I carried a Model 28-2 six inch when I first started. Heavy and cumbersome but very accurate and made firing .357's really fun. I painted the front sight and had a white outline rear sight blade installed after I broke the original on the edge of a car door. I added S&W target grips after breaking the right magna grip going down to the sidewalk making an arrest.

At that time it was routine for CHP to train and qualify with 38 Special ammo in their 357s. Then load with Magnums to go on patrol. The review determined that the officers were unable to deliver accurate fire from their Magnums due to being unfamiliar with the heavier recoil. The edict came down that all training would be done with the same ammo carried on duty. It was decided that hot 38 Special ammo was a good compromise. Officers who had carried a 357 for some time (5 years, 10 years, something like that) could keep their Magnums but only the department approved 38 ammo was allowed. They also went to a 6" barrel to maximize 38 performance. Prior to this time 4" guns were authorized.

I have no doubt that 28s were used by individual CHP officers, but I don't think one made in 1978 could have done so because of the timeline. The previous owner may swear that's what happened but my recollection gets faulty at times and I suspect it happens to others as well.

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No life story has happy end.

Some newer info has come to light that the officers actually did not have empty brass in their pockets. At least this is what FBI's FTU at Quantico is explaining, as they use the Newhall shooting in their Firearms Instructor Recertification. Also, here is a snippet from Mas Ayoob's American Handgunner article:

Thank you to all fr the informative posts.

Everyone here always has great input into my questions.

To the O.P. , That is a great gun and you will love shooting it. I hope my questions did'nt hijack your thread, as this was not the intention. My Highway patrolman was made in 1959 and works as nice as the day it rolled off the line.

Twig.

No problem. I enjoyed all the posts also.

Happy rest of Thanksgiving.

Dave

In 1976, I went to work fulltime as a sheriff's deputy in a small East Alabama county. In 1977, when we did our qualification, an FBI firearms instructor was in charge (both the sheriff and the chief deputy were FBI Academy grads). My duty gun was a M27 converted to .44 Special. However, since the SO issued .38 special full wadcutters for quals, I used my 6" M28.

I filled my drop boxes with ammo and the rest of the 50 round box went into my strong side trouser pocket. Once the drop boxes (some deputies used 12 round loop carriers; none had speedloaders) were empty, all reloading was done via the pocket.

My score that day wasn't very good; upper seventies if I recall. It turned out that my .357 handloads were much more accurate out of that M28 than those wadcutter rounds were.

We WERE required to dump the empties on the ground.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

tried this once before but new to this so i think i lost my first attempt. you are indeed a lucky man. the chp 38 k frame is a sweet hand gun. we continued to issue this weapon well past 1989. chippies cared the guns on duty untill a new s&w 4006 was issued. the turn over took awhile so iam. not sure when all chippies started to field the s&w 40's. i carried one on duty and knew others had better weapons. but my partner and i never felt unsafe. speed loaders and training helped. but thank god and s&w for the 40's. we only could use woood grips. pachmires were never allowed on any weapons that i know of. i. hope this helped sorry i could not be more informative. enjoy the gun it served the people of California weel and loved mine.

In 1978 I was stationed at Coast Guard District 12 Office in San Francisco, and I was living in Concord, CA. I wanted to join the Concord PD Reserve unit and was advised to acquire a pistol revolver similar to what was being carried by most of the officers there. They wanted their reserve officers to have compatible ammo and speed loaders. I was given the option of either a Model 19 or a Model 28 as I wished. They were insistent it be a Smith & Wesson as that is what everyone was familiar. I went to the local gun shop and found the Model 19 would bite my wallet hard above $300.00, whereas the Model 28 would only set me back a very reasonable $225.00. Easy choice for me.

While I passed the physical exam and endurance PT aspect of the process there were some things which kept me from joining the department. #1. If I was injured while performing my reserve duty, I'd better have enough leave time on the books to cover my down time. And #2. If I didn't have enough leave time on the books, I would be subject to punishment under the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) articles. That could result in brig time. #3. If my injuries resulted in a disabling condition I would not be able to get VA compensation.

Even though most of the duties required of the reserves was such things as traffic control, guard duty in the jail, Officer presence at local functions there was still a likelihood of being called to assist an officer(s) if there was a situation where gun play was involved. Not my idea of a process for early retirement with no benefits. I wasn't worried about getting hurt, after all I volunteered for VN, it was the no benefits retirement which ended my aspirations. A year later I was guaranteed a position at the CHP academy by the officer in charge. I had to turn it down because I was 12 years in service and going to be making E7 in three months. I often wonder where I would be today if I had quit the CG and gone into the CHP.