I found a 3954, comes with a mystery

GHEN · May 31, 2022

Hello all,

There are few things in life I like better than:

- Skinny guns
- 9mm guns
- S&W 3rd generation autos
- DAO

So after scratching my itch with everything else I could find I decided to start looking for a 3954, and with less than 1000 made it has been a lengthy search. This one came up on a popular gun auction website and it was so trashed I felt I had to rescue it.

Looking at the "non-factory" markings, it appears it was in law enforcement custody for awhile. These are the markings:

DUST COVER:

STOP Task Force
P.O. Box 676
Cleburne, TX

RIGHT SIDE:
"T23-95-048.001" (This might be a case number?)

LEFT SIDE:
"N1960035"

The task force referenced has a phone number that is no longer in service, and the entity currently using that name in Texas is not a law enforcement agency, but instead an outreach program/charity for human trafficking victims.

The serial number of the pistol is TJB22XX.

So, can anyone help me out? I am going to mail a letter to that post office just in case but I don't have a lot of faith I'll get anything back.

Thanks in advance...ALL THEORIES ARE WELCOME.

GHEN

jsbethel · May 31, 2022

The 3954 serial number prefix is probably TJB, not TJ8.

GHEN · May 31, 2022

You are correct Sir, thanks...post updated.

GHEN

toddimusnimski · May 31, 2022

Good Gravy, reminds me of that Far Side cartoon of the cowboy pulling his branding iron out of the fire that reads "THIS COW BELONGS TO DARYL JONES SO HANDS OFF" and all the cows are staring wide-eyed. Shame they had to deface it like that. Glad you were able to rescue it.

TxShooter · May 31, 2022

The markings are unfortunate. STOP is still a program run out of Johnson County and formed from an earlier multiagency drug taskforce. I can’t imagine why they’d engrave the address into it, but it has all the earmarks of an evidence gun that was forfeited to the agency.
My SO auctions off property, including evidence guns, every year or two. We don’t deface them; the manufacturer’s serial number suffices for case ID.

quikdraw67 · May 31, 2022

You may want to change the title of the thread.

I was going, what the hell is a 3952?

GHEN · May 31, 2022

quikdraw67 said:
You may want to change the title of the thread.

I was going, what the hell is a 3952?

Sorry, multitasking got the better of me.

GHEN · Jun 1, 2022

I just noticed they engraved the magazine as well.

GHEN

GaryS · Jun 1, 2022

"Stop Task Force"... from mutilating perfectly good guns!

GHEN · Jun 1, 2022

This is what I found out

The gun was seized by the task force in 1995. It was forfeited through legal action to the agency, and when the original task force disbanded/reorganized, it was remanded to Hood County, TX Sheriff's Office for disposal. It was sold at auction in 2011. I bought it from a GB seller out of Austin, TX.

Because the task force deal primarily with narcotics, it was most likely seized incident to arrest as opposed to being actively used in the commission of a crime.

That's what I have for now.

GHEN

Model 10-8 · Jun 1, 2022

A unique pistol history. Good for you.

quikdraw67 · Jun 1, 2022

Well, now you have a story to go with the pistol.

Kind of cool IMHO.

DUSTYDOGDAN · Jun 1, 2022

I was watching and bid on it as well. It got above what I would want to pay for it but I thought someone might be able to massage it and then cerakote it black and it might turn out pretty nice. I hope you have fun with it.

I found a 3954, comes with a mystery

GHEN

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