44 mag. law enforcement

olskool

olskool

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did any police departments across this country ever issue 44 mag. guns for law enforcement use? or did any apartments allow there officers to carry them off duty? just wondering, I read yesterday an excerpt from Elmer Keith "sixguns" where he said it would be fine for law enforcement use,,,,,,,,
 
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My agency authorized .44 MAG for duty and off-duty, but the guns had to be bought by the individual. The issued revolvers were either Colt Pythons (4" blued .357) or S&W M66's (4"), and later 686's (4").

Ammunition was initially issued one time for the people carrying .357 MAG, but you had to buy your own duty ammunition in any other caliber.

I knew quite a number of guys who carried 4"-6" .44's on-duty (and a smattering of .45 ACP or Colt).

I eventually knew a handful of other guys who had worked for different local agencies who had previously approved the use of .41 & .44 MAG revolvers during the older revolvers days. One of them used to ride motors at his former agency, and he really favored his S&W .44 MAG duty revolver.

I never got around to buying a Buscadero rig to carry one of my own .44's as a duty weapon (costly, even back then, as they were custom-made), but I did carry one or another of them as off-duty weapons. I used .44 MAG factory ammo when I took one of my guns to the range, which I bought, as the only qualification ammo available was some locally reloaded .44 SPL loads. Nasty enough clouds of smoke, and smudged cylinders and frames, to make me think they used Unique for their reloads. ;)

As time passed, and the heyday of revolvers for duty use were far back in the rear-view mirror, we finally started to frown upon authorizing big bore Magnum revolvers for off-duty (especially when the new .500 & .450 S&W MAG guns were appearing). I don't think they'll approve of anyone carrying anything for off-duty chambered in anything more powerful than a medium-bore .357 MAG or .357SIG nowadays.
 
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I can only pass on what I read yrs ago . The individual claimed that a lot of the motorcycle officers in Ca. yrs ago carried model 29's , 4" barrels . He added a very interesting statement . He said those guys were always first on the crime scene and tough as nails . He related them to being like early swat .
I don't personally know any of those officers to confirm his statement . Maybe " Fastbolt " can give more details as he has a lot of knowledge about that subject .
 
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Florida has over 500 State, County or Local Law Enforcement Agencies. Then you have the Federal agencies in addition to that.

A very small number of Law Enforcement Agencies actually "Issue" firearms.

As Fastbolt mentions above, even if your Agency issues firearms, you can often purchase your own

Most Law Enforcement Agencies have a guideline and if you can qualify with a firearm that is in the guidelines then you can carry it On Duty

That guideline does change with time and Administrations
 
My buddy that use to work for Compton PD (now LASD contract) used to carry his own model 29 on duty (I think this was in the 70's).

My Agency would let us carry whatever we wanted as long as we qualified with it.
 
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Gallatin County Sheriff

The Gallatin County Sheriffs office, in Montana, had a list of approved guns that deputies could choose from. I know of one Deputy in West Yellowstone that carried a 44 mag...

This would have been late 70's early 80's...

Of course these guys were more concerned with buffalo, elk and bears than bad guys...
 
wow I didn't except that many if any at all carried them. I guess when you think about it in a township or country county out of the city they would be very appropriate, interesting,,,,,,,,
 
Before semi autos took over, my agency (625 sworn officers) approved revolvers .38 caliber and larger with at least a 4" barrel. Pretty liberal guidelines, so we had a handful that carried Model 29's, mostly with standard .44 Special loads. Our issue at the time was a 4" Model 19. Then came the horrible Smith 5906 (I was on SWAT, so I had a Sig P220), followed by the Glock 22 which is still the issue sidearm.

I retired from there in '08 and I carry a newer Glock 22 where I work now.........:)
 
I worked for a sheriff's office and for a city (33,000) police department. The SO allowed .44 Magnums and the PD allowed 9mm, .38 special or LARGER. Officers bought their own sidearms.

I worked with several officers that carried 4" M29s. I carried a 5 1/2" Ruger Redhawk for a while.

I knew a Alabama State Trooper that carried a 6 1/2" M29 and 14" M97 Winchester pump shotgun.
 
I know an old retired S.L.E.D. agent "SC law enforcement division" officer. he is a good friend of mine. he told me one of the men he worked with carried two 38/44 HD in a shoulder rig. this would have been in the 60s-70s he said he knew how to use the to,,,,,,,,,,
 
A friend of mine recounts stories of Sedgewick County, Kansas deputies carrying .44 Magnums back in the day. They could carry whatever they could qualify with.

I carried one on SWAT duty. One thing that is probably almost forgotten is that back in the late 70s, Remington made a reduced load .44 Magnum load for LE duty. It was a 240 grain bullet at around 1000 fps. Can't remember exactly what the velocity was reported to be, but relatively similar to the .41 Magnum LE load.
 
The Tennessee Highway Patrol issued S&W 25’s for several years before S&W 19’s were issued. I seem to recall Georgia State Patrol doing the model 25 at one time also. I don’t know of a single department in my area that ever issued a 44 Mag, but I think almost all allowed personal weapons at one time or another.
 
While not specifically authorizing a 44 magnum for off duty our department issued a directive in the mid 1980's regarding off duty weapons. That directive authorized off duty carry of revolvers only of .38 special caliber OR LARGER. That's all I and another officer who already owned model 29's had to know. We promptly qualified with our 29's and submitted the paperwork for approval. That paperwork only listed the serial number and model number of the firearms we had qualified with. Since the Captain who signed off on this did not know a model 29 from a cucumber, we were approved. While not practical to carry in most cases, I did a few times in a shoulder rig. It was mostly an exercise in exploiting a poorly written directive.
 
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Carried my personal 29-2 on and off duty in Detroit PD in the late 1970s. They issued a 5 inch model 10 or Colt OP in 38 spl, but authorized personally owned Colts and S&Ws in certain calibers. Seems that I heard of a Texas Department or one of the Carolinas that issued the S&W 44 Magnums. Several departments issued the 41 Magnums in the model 58.
 
I was a member of the New Mexico State Police during the 70's-80's and the .44 Magnum was authorized for use (4" barrel only) and I new a couple officers who carried one and a couple more who carried a .41 mag.
 
The Dirty Harry Syndrome

Highhawk1948 said:
I ran into an officer in a small southern town in the 70s where an officer couldn't wait to show me his S&W 44 magnum. Don't know if it was issued or just his choice. He was sure proud of it.
Click to expand...

You can attribute that to the Dirty Harry Syndrome that was so prevalent in the 70's and even persists today because one will blow your head clean off.
 
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