Jetpilot007
Member
Nice photos! I personally own 2 Model 1076s that were previously owned by the FBI. Your firearms will be great heirlooms!
TEU serial number pistols were included in the first 250 test pistols sent to the FBI Academy. TEU does NOT stand for Test and Evaluation Unit. TEU was simply the serial number series on the line at the time they were selected for shipment to the Bureau. The confusion may stem from the fact that the group of Firearms Instructors that tested the original S&W and Colt entries in the contract competition was called the Test & Evaluation Group. Other serial numbers have been found among the 250 test pistols. And at the time the FBI 1076s were manufactured the pistol frames were pulled from line inventory with no thought of serial numbers and in fact FBI 1076s bear a wide variety of pre-fixes including among others TEU, TEV, TFE, TFF, TFH, TFK, TFL, TFN, TFP, TFX, THB, and THC. I believe that all of the test pistols had the horizontal lines. The crosshatch design on the grip was set forth in the contract and appeared on the pistols at a later date. I believe that all 1076s actually issued to Agents had the crosshatch grip.
If I may, I would like to briefly address the media coverage of the FBI 1076 at the time it was being selected and issued. As is always the case, not everything you read in the magazines of the day was accurate. Just because something appears in writing does not make it true.
Thanks
D
From what they told me I believe you are correct mine was is a FBI according to smith with the horizontal lines, straight grip and TEU022x.
Still haven't figured out why the grips were yellow when I bought it but it.
The box with it is stamped USED from smith and wesson.
The lowest known number is TEU0042 and the highest known number is TEU0385. I have never been able to find a complete list of serial numbers. I have discovered that writing a book requires the ability to write.![]()
How do you request a letter from Jinks and how much does it cost? Do you send the $ with the request? Thanks
paperboy98
I immediately saw that as well. There are a few grammatical errors in the letter also. Did they mean FBI Contract Variant? It says Variation. Also towards the end, it has "This pistol was returned by from".
He'd probably fix it if you wanted him to but I like seeing some grammatical errors from time to time because then you know you are getting an authetic letter and not something that was simply cut and pasted.
Thanks. I'll keep it as it is enough confirmation for what I was looking for. I would like to see some reasoning as to the marking inside the slide saying MOD 1006. I will be emailing to see if they can bring some clarity to that.