Barney Fife's revolver?

[G.T. Smith]

I have been meaning to ask ya'll if anyone knows what kind of revolver Barney carries. They have Andy Griffith re-runs on here all the time in the afternoon and I have never really got a good enough look for long enough to identify it. Sometimes it looks like a Smith to me, but other times it looks like my old Colt OP. I have seen Andy strap on a revolver a couple times and it looks like Barney's to me.
Please help me, it drives me nuts.

Peace,
gordon

 

[Evil Dog]

Barney carried whatever the Prop Department had handy at the time... sometimes a Colt, sometimes a Smith.

 

[Old cop]

To me it looks like a Colt OP .38 spl. At the time Colt's were seen in most movies and TV where cops were involved. In fact my first service revolver, in 1968, was a Colt OP. Many years later it was a Colt DS (which saved my bacon one evening) so I admit to being partial. Hope this helps.

 

[Gun Smoke]

It's a .38 special Colt Police Positive and it will shoot a hole in the floor!!!...

 

[borntoraisehogs]

Weapon retention drill

 

[walnutred]

In one episode I think he is carrying an old Heavy Duty because there is a clear view of the right side as Barny motions a prisoner into the cell with the revolver. The barrel on that revolver plainly has a half moon front sight and a shrouded ejector.

Most of the other times I think it's a mix of common S&W and Colts.

 

[Faulkner]

Doesn't really make any difference, it was never loaded.

 

[G.T. Smith]

Thank you all for your opinions. I thought of a heavy duty too, once seeing the half moon front sight, but since we will never probably know for sure, and the prop dept. probably did switch around some, I am going to call it a Colt 38 spec. OP since I used to have one. hahahaha. I wonder if it had a one shot cylinder?
Peace,
gordon

 

[toocool]

The few times I saw him "load" it, he pulled the cylinder release back, indicating a Colt...but there were times the grip and barrel views I got indicated a Smith, so I'd have to agree..."pretty much what the prop department had on hand..."

 

[m1gunner]

Isn't that a M-10 in that pic?

 

[G.T. Smith]

I just got a PM from a guy who has a colt book that indicated that he sometimes carried a Colt OP 38 special, and sometimes a model 10 S&W.
Sounds right to me.

Peace,
gordon

 

[LedFowl]

Doesn't really make any difference, it was never loaded.

Saw him one time pull that single round out of his shirt pocket and load 'er up.

 

[max]

Several years ago on EBAY they sold a rubber prop gun that had some paperwork indicating it had been used on the show.

 

[Rugskipper]

What if Barney had carried a Glock?
YouTube - Cop Shoots Himself In The Foot!
Oops! I forgot, he does now.

 

[hiram2005]

There was one episode in which the situation was going to get pretty serious and Andy handed Barney a box of ammo and told him to load it up.

I can't remember the details of the episode. But several shows had Barney putting his "bullet" in his revolver. And it always ended the same way. "KAPOW"!!

 

[CajunBass]

I don't know about Barney's revolver, but this thread reminded me of one of those "I shudda said" momments.

A couple of weeks ago, I was telling the people at Bible study that I had gone full time with my former part time job as a security guard (unarmed). One of the fellows started ribbing me and said "They're going to give him one bullet like old Barney."

Later that evening when I got home, I reached into my shirt pocket and pulled out, not one, but six, 38 special rounds I had forgotten I dropped there earlier in the afternoon. I started to laugh, and my wife asked "What's so funny?"

I said "Oh, I wish I had remembered these when 'ol Bob was ribbing me about Barney's bullet. I would have loved to see his face if I'd plopped them down on the table and said 'I've got all SIX of them!"

 

[whitecoyote]

You've got to nip it in the butt!
It's been my understanding the revolver was a Colt O.P.

 

[mtgianni]

The poster on my wall looks like a police positive.

 

[Odinkar]

Back around 2000-2002 on EBay someone sold a prop gun that had been made inoperable. If I rememberd it was a colt. Would have loved to have it, as what cop wouldn't want that on his office wall. I'm not sure how much it sold for, but when I checked on it the bid was around $3000.

 

[feralmerril]

I have tried to research another "Fife" story for real. I know a old man in town here that has the last name of fife. He told me a good story of his uncle that I belive was named Earl Fife. Just going by the old boys age here I suppose this happened in the 1930s or so? Earl was sheriff here. He went to the nevada/utah state line to the west of us to check out a complaint of someone stealing wool from some rancher. Somehow he got jumped by a man and woman that was on the run from back east. At first they discussed killing him but decided against it but handcuffed him around a cedar tree. He was in the boonies and didnt have much hope of getting discovered. He managed to get ahold of a fairly sharp edged rock at the base of the tree. He kept sawing and hacking at the branchs and kept climbing up the tree and finaly dropped out! I think it took him two days! He said the pair was later ran down on the arizona strip. He said the story was featured in some old detective magazines years ago.
I wish I had got better details as to dates etc but didnt as I am not the type to try and embarass people, like I was going to check out their storys to see if they were lieing to me. However I did ask another old timer and he thought he remembered hearing the same story when he was a kid. I tried googeling it and didnt come up with anything.