Joe Friday's S&W Snubbie

[Deacon KC]

Watching Dragnet today and it involved our favorite cop with an Officer Involved Shooting. They read off the Serial Number and said it was a Smith & Wesson .38. The number was either 175806 or 1755806 [sorry, I wasn't quick enough]. Any ideas on what model or year it would be, or is it just Hollywood's spouting off?

 

[GF]

I watch that ol' show on Netflix all the time.

Don't know about that particular episode/revolver but this is a period correct holster for LA cops...

GF

 

[JWM]

Got a lot of his shows on DVD. My best guess is a two inch model 10. I can clearly see that it has a round butt with the "flat" style cylinder release latch. You can see him apply thumb pressure forward towards the muzzle to open the cylinder. If it was a Colt, you would have to be pulling that latch to the rear to open the cylinder. No doubt about, Joe Friday is a S&W fan !!

 

[Bob L]

GF,

I really like the looks of your holster. Does that say "Police Special" and then Lewis something?

 

[GF]

Says, " Police Special - Lewis LA Cal." Late 50's thru the 60's, it's a great breakaway holster.

GF

 

[OIF2]

Lewis Leather, Sunset Blvd (where else in LA?), just behind the Academy. We used to run past the place during PT when I was in the Academy. Many older LA Detectives carried their 6" K38s in one. Cool holsters. I have a few.
Bob

 

[Deacon KC]

They said Smith and Wesson on the show, so I'm hoping it might be accurate, Jack Webb was a stickler for accuracy.

 

[s&wchad]

Just the facts....

He used a 2" M&P in in the TV series. If you saw a flat latch, it must have been an M&P Airweight. There's a pretty good photo here, but it doesn't show the latch: http://www.imfdb.org/w/images/d/d4/Dragn67_5.jpg


The serial number doesn't jive. C175806 is too early for an M&P Airweight, it wasn't produced yet. It would date to around 1950 and would have a half moon front sight. There's a ramp front sight in the photo. D175806 would date to 1969-1970 which is too late for a flat latch. Neither of those series went over 1,000,000 so it couldn't have been 1755806.

 

[gboling]

GF,

I really like the looks of your holster. Does that say "Police Special" and then Lewis something?

I have one of those for a 4" K frame that I carried for years. It is stamped:

"Police Special
Lewis
LA CAL K 4"

The one in GF's photo has some additional stamping on it. It looks like, "59" and a "2." The 2, of course, is the barrel length.

These were made by Lewis Leather. I met Mr Lewis once in the 1970's but he closed up shop since then. I never knew just when or why but he was quite elderly when I met him. I believe he was a one man band who sold from his shop.

 

[Bob L]

Thanks GF and All! I'm going to have to keep my eyes open for one of these in the used bins. It just really caught my eye!

 

[Deacon KC]

In the episode we are talking bout with the SN, it never gave a close up, the gun was only seen briefly in his hand as he was shooting. There is no indication whether it is a 5 or 6 shot.

 

[Jack Flash]

I also saw that episode today. The title is "The Shooting Board" as Friday exchanges shots with a miscreant who dies a short time later, causing Friday to have to submit to an internal investigation.

They definitely said it was a S&W .38. I heard the serial number but was too slow to get it all. I know it ended in 806. Must be they didn't think they needed to xx the last two digits.

The date on the show was MCMLXVII (1967). You would assume that a veteran detective like Friday had been carrying the same revolver for years, so my guess would be it should date to the late '50s or early '60s.

 

[s&wchad]

Here's another photo from the episode in question. It sure looks like a six shot revolver to me; notice the cylinder.

http://www.imfdb.org/w/images/9/9e/Dragn67_3.jpg

 

[S. Kelly]

Model 12 Airweight.

 

[turnerriver]

Joe Friday's S&W snubbie

I like the Lewis holsters.
Here's one made for a Colt pocket auto:

The only Lewis shoulder holster I've ever seen:

 

[Rute Boye]

According to the "Movie Guns" website:

"the Smith & Wesson Model 10 snub revolver is the sidearm carried by Sgt. Joe Friday (Jack Webb). In Season 2's "The Shooting Board" (S2E21), Sgt. Friday uses his S&W when confronting a robbery suspect at a laundromat. When asked to give up his weapon for tests, Friday hands it over and the profile of the gun is seen. Friday mentions that it is his Smith & Wesson revolver."

Here's the web page, complete with photos of the episode:
Dragnet (1967) - imfdb :. guns in movies :. movie guns :. the internet movie firearms database

Looks like the bad guy was carrying a New Service!

 

[Old cop]

That was one of my favorite episodes, especially since I'd been the subject of a shooting board investigation myself back in the day. My agency issued both the 2" model 10 & 4" model 15.

 

[ScottieG59]

I watched as a younger person. Still, I liked when he wielded a shotgun and offered to have the bad guy's head roll down (forgot name) avenue. I think that was Sgt Friday, but it's been many years.

Jack Web also played a good drill instructor.

 

[Jack Flash]

I watched as a younger person. Still, I liked when he wielded a shotgun and offered to have the bad guy's head roll down (forgot name) avenue. I think that was Sgt Friday, but it's been many years.

Jack Web also played a good drill instructor.

Click the link in Rute Boye's post, then scroll down to see Friday with the Ithica shotgun. The caption says:

"Flinch and you'll be chasing your head down 5th Street!"

 

[DoubleAdobe]

Guys, I love it.
You fellas get down TO it, good investigatory work.
Those old holsters, do they have spring steel sandwiched between the layers to retain the weapon?
I ask, because I make quite a few holsters, but have never got to eyeball one of these.