Through a fortunate trade with a good forum friend, I came into possession of this very nice Model 19-4. It was the Bureau-approved, personally-owned weapon of an agent who retired before I came into the Bureau, and has since passed on. It serves as a good example of a gun used by a gun-savvy agent who is still greatly respected in the Bureau - a hump agent.

In Bureau parlance, a hump agent is a guy who worked (humped) cases his entire career. Many agents only work cases for a short time before moving up the supervisory chain, or into a specialty that doesn't necessarily require contact with the criminal element. It was always one of the great mysteries of the Bureau to me that a person would go through all the trouble of becoming an agent, and then basically stop doing agent stuff at the first opportunity. I have a friend who says its so they can walk from their car to the house with their coat off and impress the neighbors, but not have to deal with dead people and informants and smelly criminals and court. Maybe that's it.

I was a hump agent for 25 years, and so was the owner of this gun. We also trod the same ground - Indian Country. He was in Gallup when he bought this gun, working the same Navajo rez I did.

He was also the case agent on this caper:

Desperate for a Child : On a Muggy Summer Day, Darci Pierce Decided She Would Kill to Have a Baby - latimes

Enough blather, here's the gun:





He bought it for $202.20 at a gun shop in Gallup on 10/10/79. This was the midpoint of his career. He shipped it off to the gunvault at Quantico per Bureau regulations, where it was inspected and put onto his POW list.

It being a product of the Bangor Punta era, a few things were done by the vault - they fit a new sear, "adjusted" the double action, corrected a push-off issue, adjusted the strain screw, adjusted the cylinder, and test-fired it. He got it back on 01/21/80.

He must not have been happy, because it was back at the vault in May of the same year. This time they fit a new hammer, fit a new combat (smooth) trigger, adjusted the strain screw again, and test-fired it. He had it back on the 28th.

All was ducky until 02 of 1989, when it was back at the vault. I suspect this is right before he retired. It was common practice to send your POWs back to Quantico the year you retired, just to have them checked over and freshened up. This time they cleaned lead build-up from the barrel and forcing cone, chamfered the forcing cone, installed new exterior guide pins (you got me), installed a new locking bolt, and test fired it. He had it back on 2/22/89.







The gun was sold with target stocks, which are still in the box. Like many agents, he preferred magnas and a grip adapter. Usually you see the Pachmayr adapter, because they sold them for a few bucks in the little PX at the Academy. This one has a Tyler-T. Black on black sights, no red ramp or white outline.





The end label is properly upside-down. I have no idea what the SW-232 means. If you know, please let me know.







The action is a joy. Not particularly light, but very smooth. The timing is perfect.

I took it to the range today. All I had ready to go was a box of GI M-41 ball from 1966 and some Fiocchi 148 grain JHP. It shot well, and put the Fiocchi pretty close to the point of aim at 50 feet. There are five shots in the group - three are bunched together.



It means a lot to me that a forum member made a great effort to get this revolver to me, though I'm sure he could have gotten a better deal elsewhere.

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