Early K 38 Question

[mikepriwer]

Bob

That picture of Farrant with Walter Shark, and the other two :

Was this Walter Shark a Sgt at the range ? I'm thinking that that is the
name in the letter from Chief Davis. The handwriting is not so clear - I thought
it was Shank, but Walter Shark must have been the name .

The style of the grips on one of Chief Davis's guns is definitely that of
Farrant - with the cut corner of the frame. If Shark preceeded Farrant, then
everything seems to fit, time-wise.

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[SG-688]

Walter Stark, not Shark.

The photo is from a Lee Echols article in American Handgunner and must be from about 1950, give or take a couple of years.

OIF2, we know that Fuzzy and Guy (Joe and I had the priviledge.) are gone. Not to be morbid, but is John Hurst still with us?

Loved your article, especially the photo of Hurst. Now we know who was the model for "Pete Malloy"!

 

[mikepriwer]

Yes - Walter Stark. What is the date of the article in A H ?

Regards, Mike Priwer

 

[OIF2]

John Hurst died last year. He was a good friend and a mentor when I was a young rock-n-roll gunfighter in Hollywood. Here's a set of Hurst stocks on his PPC revolver. Front of the grip frame has been cut. 2nd set is his concealed grips (my favorites) on my 649:

 

[OIF2]

Dan- didn't mean to hijack the thread. I can remember Fuzzy's grips exactly like yours for sale in the LA Revolver Club store in the early 80's. They were available for cut and uncut frames, with or without checkering (or with one grip panel checkered, like yours)and with or without finger grooves. He would also make them with thumbrests, but those weren't allowed on duty guns. Love your K38!
Mike- Yes, Walter Stark was a Sgt at the Academy. He retired before I came on. I met him once in the Armory when he was visiting and BS-ING with the Armorers. He did make stocks...only saw one pair that Hurst showed me.
Bob

 

[Joe Kent]

As an aside, several years ago ,I called the phone number on top of the catalog that Craig has wanting to see if I could order a couple of sets of stocks for one of my sons. The man who answered told me that he was one of Fuzzy's sons and that his father had passed the previous year. I told him that I had a number of sets that I had been using for over 20 years and how much I liked them. He was pleased with the compliment and went on to tell me that he and his brothers all had helped/worked with their dad during their youth on the making of his stocks. It was a pleasure for me to talk to him and I only wished I had the opportunity to meet his father. Craig,SG-688, and I did have the honor to meet and visit with Guy Hoque on several occasions and each of us have a number of his stocks that he custom fit on the spot to our hands. He truly was a heck of a fine man and a joy to spend time with. His company now led by his sons,Pat And Aaron, still continues to make great stocks.

 

[SG-688]

This was the article with the photo of Farrant and Stark.

LAPD NOSTALGIA
Escapades of a Pistol Team by Lee E. Echols

American Handgunner, Sept/Oct, 1981


"Then they had another little sporting gentleman, Walter Stark. They'd acquired him from the Navy and he was a ring-tail- tooter with all three guns. He lacked about a half an inch of being tall enough to pass muster as a Los Angeles Police Officer, but that was alleviated quite easily when they put him in a pair of elevated shoes just prior to his physical examination. This put him up there with the rest of them and gave him a couple of inches to spare.

Walter's stock in trade was bringing a few hen eggs out to the range on opening day. He'd get in a very serious conversation with a shooter and surreptitiously slip a hen egg in one of his front pockets. Then, just as the man's relay was being called to the line, Big-Hands Wheeler would walk by and whack the egg a resounding blow- with one of his huge paws. By the time the shooter would be on the line with his paraphernalia assembled, the egg would be running down the inside of his leg and if you've never tried shooting under a handicap like that, you should try it sometime. I have, and found it totally unexhilarating."


His name is Earl!

"...another black-ring shooter, Earl 'Fuzzy' Farrant."

 

[SG-688]

Just to give this a kick back to the top...

 

[JayCeeNC]

Nice pics, SG-688. I love the clamshell holster in pic #2.

 

[model10]

That hammer is what we use to call the old beaver tail hammer not sure about the grips or ttigger , i have a model19 with both a beaver tail hammer an a wide trigger on it not sure when they add it of it was factory done but it sure is nice looking those are some great looking grips to ,

 

[OIF2]

Great photos! I'm starting to have flashbacks ("6A31, 211 in progress, Sunset and LaBrea, handle code 3..."). That's the Academy combat range, by the way, and it still looks about the same. I shot my last qual there, on my last day on the job.
Bob

 

[SG-688]

One more and I promise to stop. James Arness!

Thank you Dan for the inspiration.

 

[Dan M]

Great Photo, Everytime I see Gunsmoke I think of my Grandmother. My Grandmother would have given all her grandchildren away to spend a 1/2 hour with ole Matt Dillon

When I was around 18 back in the 70's she would watch Gunsmoke and make comments about his cute butt

all I could say was "GRANDMA!!!"

This has been a great learning post for me and I want to thank all who participated.

Dan

 

[OIF2]

THANKS, Dan, for posting a nice K38 with some nice stocks- and thanks to the other posters for some neat photos and info. Love this place.
Bob