LAPD Model 14-1

[larry21556]

These pistols are occasionally discussed on this forum and I thought it would be interesting to see one. This one was issued to a friend of mine on Oct 29, 1962. He carried it until he retired in 1982. It saw a lot of service including the Watts riots, and the Symbionese Liberation Army Shootout while he was assigned to SWAT. It had its single action notch removed from the target hammer but escaped the order to have its barrel cut down to 4". Very few Model 14's in service at that time escaped this modification. Looking at the invoice you will notice that it was shipped with a "beefed up cylinder", for which I can find no technical specifications, and "less stocks". When issued it bore standard S&W checkered Magna grips which were replaced with custom grips by John Hurst.

 

[larry21556]

More Pics

More Pictures

 

[larry21556]

Grips

Grips, Stocks, whichever you prefer to call them

 

[Pine_Worker]

Nice piece of history!

 

[handejector]

Seems odd to buy Target Hammers that cannot be cocked!
Do you know why they were ordered "Less stocks"? Did the LAPD buy Hurst stocks for all of them?

 

[larry21556]

Hammers were modified after an accidental discharged resulted in the death of a suspect that resulted in the Watts Riots. Just a guess but the no stocks was probably a cost cutting policy as they had crates of surplus grips. LAPD never provided custom grips. Hurst at that time worked at the academy range staff.

Clarification... In the mid 70's when women were assigned to patrol duties some pistols were fitted with grips that would accommodate smaller hands.

 

[Jim Watson]

"Beefed up cylinder"

Measurements vs ordinary K cylinder would be interesting.

 

[handejector]

Thanks.
I love the grips. I bet they feel great.

 

[UncleEd]

Target hammer may have been sought so
user could slightly and more easily ease off
the locking bolt to hand turn, test that the
cylinder had no binding by high brass, primers
or perhaps grit under the ejector star as well
as a slightly bent ejector rod.

This was a practice advocated by Bill Jordan
as a precheck of the loaded revolver.

I've never liked spurless hammers for the
above reasons.

 

[Jim Watson]

Or maybe Smith didn't know the PD was going to neuter the guns.

But I do like the ability to roll the cylinder to check for binding.
I did that in CAS, in spite of all the experts telling me what I had long before read Skeeter Skelton to say; load 4, skip 1, load 1.

 

[UncleEd]

....read Skeeter Skelton to say; load 4, skip 1, load 1.

That's novel.

 

[Keith Brown]

Very cool gun ! Looks like it’s had some rounds run through it which is pleasing. The six inch heavy barrel is my favorite postwar gun. The “grips” are a treasure, thanks for showing.

 

[stansdds]

"Beefed up cylinder"... hmmmm... the cylinder flutes look a bit shallow to me. Maybe that's the beefed up cylinder? Less metal removed for the flutes which would add a tiny bit of weight, but not really improving the strength of an already more than adequate cylinder.

 

[NOTREDAME]

14-1 also riding the nearby streets

Here is another 14-1 that was shipped 5 months after the OP’s gun. I bought this off Gunbroker just because it had a 3 inch barrel. Almost all my collection is 3” barrels or shorter. It looks like another barrel was cut down and installed with a cockeyed hammer. I was hoping it would letter to the Downey PD.
Once I got it home, I pulled the stocks off and noticed the frame was cut, and I knew I had seen this in another post on the forum.
I emailed the seller, and he sent me a little information on the original owner. See pictures. It’s got a great trigger pull, and the grips are a perfect fit.

 

[dobegrant]

Really cool gun and history, nice grips.thanks for s

 

[quinn]

Thanks. We need to be preserving more history like this! One of these days it could be lost.

 

[Doug M.]

For a long time, LAPD had some pretty hard core shooters and standards, and they tended to prefer the 6" barrel. The heavier cylinder would make for faster continuous rotation once started; I have seen this described as an advantage of the N frames. There are books by folks like Scott Rietz that explain some of this history.

These truly were fighting guns, used by people who hunted bad guys with seriousness. For a long time and maybe still true, LAPD SWAT was selected only from those who worked their way into Metro and performed well. This also why some of the cutting edge stock designs and modifications came from LAPD folks.

 

[SG-688]

Here is another 14-1 that was shipped 5 months after the OP’s gun. I bought this off Gunbroker just because it had a 3 inch barrel. Almost all my collection is 3” barrels or shorter. It looks like another barrel was cut down and installed with a cockeyed hammer. I was hoping it would letter to the Downey PD.
Once I got it home, I pulled the stocks off and noticed the frame was cut, and I knew I had seen this in another post on the forum.
I emailed the seller, and he sent me a little information on the original owner. See pictures. It’s got a great trigger pull, and the grips are a perfect fit.

Pistolsmith George Mathews famous for his 3 inch customs was in Downey. The classic Mathews has a vent rib rather like King, but the 3 inch suggests his work.

This Mathews now owned by Joe Kent belonged to an LAPD lieutenant. Grips by academy instructor Art Kanthack.

 

[jpage]

Hope you have a clamshell holster for it....

 

[Keith Brown]

Some very cool lumber being displayed here. And I'm pretty sure I have an old copy of Guns magazine around here that has that Matthews gun in it or one very close to it including the grips. The Kanthack name is one I don't know or maybe have forgotten, any other examples of his work out there ?

Great thread !