A Tale of Two Badges

[dscampbell]

My Uncle Elmer Watson served during the Late 1960s to mid 1970s. He carried a shotgun in his vehicle and a two shot derringer in his pocket.
I served 1973 to 1979 and carried a four inch S&W revolver.


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[kbm6893]

My Uncle Elmer Watson served during the Late 1960s to mid 1970s. He carried a shotgun in his vehicle and a two shot derringer in his pocket.
I served 1973 to 1979 and carried a four inch S&W revolver.


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We're those the actual duty weapons? I miss my duty guns and never should have sold them. They were just plain old guns, but they walked the beat with me and I wish I still had them. I still have my cuffs and nightstick though.

 

[dscampbell]

We're those the actual duty weapons? I miss my duty guns and never should have sold them. They were just plain old guns, but they walked the beat with me and I wish I still had them. I still have my cuffs and nightstick though.

Yes both the badges and the guns are the real deal actual items my uncle and I carried.
I wish I had his shotgun as well. It is a Winchester model 1897 trench gun with bayonet lug from WWl. I still have my duty belt cuffs and baton. The belt no longer fits me as it has shrunk over the 40+ years.

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[kbm6893]

Yes both the badges and the guns are the real deal actual items my uncle and I carried.
I wish I had his shotgun as well. It is a Winchester model 1897 trench gun with bayonet lug from WWl. I still have my duty belt cuffs and baton. The belt no longer fits me as it has shrunk over the 40+ years.

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Yeah. My duty belt and dress uniform shrunk while they were hanging in the closet too!

 

[K Frame Keith]

Mine too. Low bid government contractors no doubt.

 

[kbm6893]

Mine too. Low bid government contractors no doubt.

Keith, where are you in Pike County? I'm in Milford.

 

[cmj8591]

So let me get this straight, leather gear is now made out of nylon and duty guns are made of plastic? Wow! No wonder the world is going to ****!

 

[moosedog]

Thanks for your service. I still have all my original duty guns and equipment.

 

[dscampbell]

Thanks for your service. I still have all my original duty guns and equipment.

And thank you for your service


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[fuzzymcnab]

Duty guns, great post

My department issued stock colt series 70's. They day after I was sworn in I went out and bought 2 new colts. A gold cup and a lightweight commander. I immediately hard them hard chromed.
Hey, seemed like a good idea at the time. Still have both of them.
May God bless our brothers in blue.
fuzzy

 

[snowman.45]

Amazing how those uniforms and duty belts shrink. I recently found my original leather duty belt from 1977. No way that 32" belt is going to fit me today. I also found my SWAT duty belt made from nylon and plastic laminate (Safariland leg holster). I even had a set of handcuffs still in the handcuff pouch. I was able to adjust that one out an "inch or two" and got it on; just couldn't see the buckle. In the same bag, I found my old entry element uniform, as well as my sniper element gear. Neat old stuff. I wish I still had some of my old revolver holsters. I found several duty holsters for the Glocks, but none for my Gen. 2 and Gen. 3 S&W semi-autos.

It was a great ride from 1977 to 2014. Glad to be retired, though. Things are changing in ways I never thought possible. Thanks you all for your dedication and service.

 

[dscampbell]

Handling our old gear brings back many memories.


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[rwt1405]

Keith, where are you in Pike County? I'm in Milford.

I grew up, and still have a lot of family, just north of you, in Wayne County.

I head back up there as much as possible.

 

[elm_creek_smith]

When I moved a year and a half ago from a desk to captain of the security detail for a government building, I lost about 30 pounds. With all the **** I have to carry on my belt, my old black basketweave duty belt, once adjusted, didn't have room for it all. So I have a bunch of BBW accessories on a new nylon duty belt, not that it matters because you can't see the belt for all the gear on it. My duty gun is an issued S&W Model 686-6 that I'll give back when I retire. My off-duty and BUGs are mine. I'll be 65 in July, but I'm not planning to retire for a few more years.

 

[kaaskop49]

Did anybody else notice the beautiful figuring (correct word?) on the Magna grips on the OP's Model 19? They look to be grips from years ago. You don't often see such beautiful wood on service Magnas. I certainly never have.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

P.S. Looks like a Great Western or Hy Hunter derringer, from the Made in Germany on the bbls. So I'm not the only one who sticks a derringer in his jacket pocket on occasion!

 

[dscampbell]

Did anybody else notice the beautiful figuring (correct word?) on the Magna grips on the OP's Model 19? They look to be grips from years ago. You don't often see such beautiful wood on service Magnas. I certainly never have.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

P.S. Looks like a Great Western or Hy Hunter derringer, from the Made in Germany on the bbls. So I'm not the only one who sticks a derringer in his jacket pocket on occasion!

Those grips came off of a model 67 no dash carried by a buddy of mine in LASO. He liked my combats better and I truly was in awe of of his.


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[TxCol]

In the late 70's my carry gun as a Deputy Sherrif on the Texas Plains was a 1911 or S&W 28 4". Under the seat was a s&w 58.. Over the years several badges and a number of duty guns. Still trying to find that old armaloid s&w 28 i carries and then follishly traded off.very changed world we live in!
Doc

 

[hcso617]

Great looking guns, even better they belonged to your uncle. I have 30 years on with 2 to go. Started with a 686, when we went to colt 1911's I traded my 686 to a dispatcher for an officers model 1911. A few years a go, I contacted him on facebook, he still had my gun so I bought it back. We have the model 66 my wife went to the academy with.

 

[Sgt 127]

I started out in 1984. Carried a basic Series 70 Colt 1911 because all the cool cops carried them in our department. There were still alot of revolvers and a few Brownings and S&W autos.

In 1988 I took a brand new Colt Government Model and sent it to Wilson's along with $700. Three months later, I got my Wilson Master Grade 130 back. I carried that gun and shot IPSC with it for many years.

Somewhere around 1999 or so we were issued Glock 35's. perfectly decent gun but, it had no soul. No individuality. All 200 or so of us had the same gun. Used to be you could tell a little about an Officer by what he carried. Not anymore. We were like a cheap subdivision. One floor plan parked right next to each other in a row.

2016. 32 years later, I retired as a Sergeant. Same dept. the whole time. Carried my original Colt with a full on 1984 uniform, badge and patch at my retirement ceremony. Dept had grown from 125 cops to 260. I was #9 in seniority when I left.

Got a great gig at a University Police Dept with most of my old co-workers. My chief was my beat partner and we spent 12 years together on Tactical at the height of the meth labs in Texas.

And, I'm back to carrying that Wilson Master Grade again.

Good times indeed.

 

[daddy bear]

Commendations for keeping your uncle's memories.

I was fortunate to now own three of my issue firearms, a 28, a pre-war unregistered .357 (originally purchased for the Texas Rangers and later displayed in the agency director's office) and a commercial 1911 that had originally been issued to a trooper, later issued to captains and regional commanders as available. I bought the two revolvers when they were discontinued, and my co-workers bought the 1911 as a retirement gift.
Even though I was retired, I was given the opportunity to purchase a NIB, unissued 220 Sig when the agency switched to .357 Sig. I got careless one night and it and a few other items were stolen from my unlocked truck that I had failed to park in the garage.

I also have all of my badges, trooper through regional commander and a Special Texas Ranger badge to go with the commission issued upon retirement.

I'm debating presenting the pre-war .357 to the Museum. I have the paper trail of the ranger it was issued to, the display in the director's office, and the time that it was issued to me. Then maybe my oldest granddaughter gets the guns and badges.

I never routinely packed the "thirty pound" rigging mentioned above.
Sidearm, ammo, handcuffs ( when I went to work we bought our own so I bought aluminum alloy). On a few special assignments, I carried a radio, but had a serious dislike to do so. I generally used some other troop's radio. During my patrol days, the radio was in the car only.

Lots of memories......

Jack