Correct grips for this 28-2 sfpd

[Andreabert]

Hello guys
Im andy from italy
Im buying a 28-2 marked sfpd
The serial is n 25460 and it have black old pachmayr grips.
My doubht is abouth grips. Seller told me they are right for yhr model adopted by the sfpd. But... is it true?
Anyone can help me??

Thanks
Andy

 

[Kansasgunner]

Hi Andy,
Welcome to the forum. Your Model 28-2 most likely shipped from S&W with magna stocks. And it was common practice in the 1970's for many to replace the factory stocks with Pachmayers.

 

[Andreabert]

Hello Tim
Thanks for the reply.
Where can i buy a magna stock??

 

[murphydog]

They are readily available here in the USA; you would need N frame walnut Magna stocks, flat bottoms, with black stock washers.washers. Import laws regarding gun parts may make them difficult to send to Italy, however. Good luck in your search.

 

[bananaman]

Try ebay. Welcome to the FORUM!!! Bob

 

[Watchdog]

Andy, welcome to the forum. You can learn a lot here.

Look at the attached photographs. These are the style grips that would have shipped on your 28-2 from the factory, although some were shipped with the checkered target stocks.

As others have mentioned, you can find these for sale on auction sites and sometime on this forum.

Your revolver, by the way, was made sometime between 1975-1977.

And show us some photographs of your gun when you get it.

Good luck with finding the proper grips.

 

[Watchdog]

Looking thru the Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson p. 230 records the 28 was sold with magna or target grips with the s/w medallions and diamond inserts.

Well, now...I don't have a SCSW, but this still raises an interesting question for me. And I don't doubt it says what you say it does, okay?

I'll show these grips I have again. They shipped on a Model 28-2 that I purchased brand new on June 7, 1973. I still own the gun and its original box. As you can see, there are no diamond inserts on them. It's a N-numbered gun, by the way, and the grips are not numbered to the gun.

This gun has never changed hands (except between my dad and me), never back to the factory, never worked on. Shortly after I purchased the gun, I bought a pair of factory checkered target grips for it and put the originals away. The targets don't have diamonds, either.

So perhaps earlier 28s shipped with magnas with diamonds, maybe pre-28s or 28s with S-numbers, but I don't believe the later ones (like mine) did.

I'd be interested in hearing others' opinions on this...if anyone's following this thread.

 

[scooterfiend]

I won't speculate as to which stocks might have been shipped w/ the OP's gun.
Here's a pic of my MDL 28-2, S/N N125XX. I have box, docs and the stocks are numbered to the gun.
As you can see, no diamond magnas.
I'm thinking this one shipped in '71 or '72.
I may be wrong about that.

 

[Lee's Landing Billy]

Well, now...I don't have a SCSW, but this still raises an interesting question for me. And I don't doubt it says what you say it does, okay?

I'll show these grips I have again. They shipped on a Model 28-2 that I purchased brand new on June 7, 1973. I still own the gun and its original box. As you can see, there are no diamond inserts on them. It's a N-numbered gun, by the way, and the grips are not numbered to the gun.

This gun has never changed hands (except between my dad and me), never back to the factory, never worked on. Shortly after I purchased the gun, I bought a pair of factory checkered target grips for it and put the originals away. The targets don't have diamonds, either.

So perhaps earlier 28s shipped with magnas with diamonds, maybe pre-28s or 28s with S-numbers, but I don't believe the later ones (like mine) did.

I'd be interested in hearing others' opinions on this...if anyone's following this thread.

I believe you are dead on the money.
I had a Pre 28, 5 screw in my hands Friday here on the Range. It had all the papers and tools and paper work. It had Diamond Magnas on it.

 

[brainflood]

My SFPD 28-2 came with Magna (non-diamond) grips.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[153]

FWIW I saw alot of SFPD revolvers in the mid-1970's and nearly all had Pachmayr grips ....

 

[Muley Gil]

"Looking thru the Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson p. 230 records the 28 was sold with magna or target grips with the s/w medallions and diamond inserts."

If you look at page 231 of the SCSW, 4th edition, it states that the grip diamond was deleted in1968.

 

[SFShep]

Just acquired an old Model 28-2 marked "S.F.P.D." myself. S&W tells me that this one was manufactured between 1974 and 1977. Around the time that the Dirty Harry films "Magnum Force" and "The Enforcer" were released.

Feels like I'm holding a real historical artifact that hearkens back to the days of the police call box and the straight wooden baton (which ironically SFPD still issues to this day).

Mine came with Pachmayr grips too. I'll probably replace the grip screw though since it’s rusted.

Wish there was a way to know if these are the original Pachmayr grips installed by the officer who carried this gun, or if they were installed by a private owner after the gun was retired. I could ask the seller, but don't know how many times the gun has changed hands over the past few decades.

 

[cmansguns]

My 4 inch 28-2 shipped 1974 and has original Magna (no diamond).

The Magna's do make it a bit of a handful under full load Maggie recoil so maybe a lot of LEO's changed to Packy's either Agency issue or their own buy. Hard to tell after all these years but from the above posts it appears that the SFPD had a heck of a lot of them.

 

[EricR]

Well, now...I don't have a SCSW, but this still raises an interesting question for me. And I don't doubt it says what you say it does, okay?

I'll show these grips I have again. They shipped on a Model 28-2 that I purchased brand new on June 7, 1973. I still own the gun and its original box. As you can see, there are no diamond inserts on them. It's a N-numbered gun, by the way, and the grips are not numbered to the gun.

This gun has never changed hands (except between my dad and me), never back to the factory, never worked on. Shortly after I purchased the gun, I bought a pair of factory checkered target grips for it and put the originals away. The targets don't have diamonds, either.

So perhaps earlier 28s shipped with magnas with diamonds, maybe pre-28s or 28s with S-numbers, but I don't believe the later ones (like mine) did.

I'd be interested in hearing others' opinions on this...if anyone's following this thread.

I understand the phase out of the diamond grip. But what I find interesting is your brand new in the box '73 HP having magna's not numbered to the gun. My '72 HP has non-diamond magna's numbered to the gun but my '75 HP has non-diamond not numbered to the gun. The magna's fit like a dream but numbers don't match. But in my case god only knows who had mine or whom might have swapped grips. But they sure seem to match the frame.

 

[kthom]

I think it's a good bet that either the Officer carrying the revolver or the Department replaced the magnas with the Pach's. During the 70's, I'd say that a very large percent of the OEM grips that were replaced on S&W or Colt Revolvers carried in Law Enforcement got a new set of Pach's on them. Mine did! Most likely the Magnas were replaced by the Officer (with permission of course!!!)

 

[calcifer]

I do own a S.F.P.D. mod. 28-2 too, and even my one has the same pachmayr grips. I've seen pictures of other SFPD 28's , all with the same grips, so this lets me think that the pachmayr were in effect the standard service grips for this gun in the SFPD