My "new" Missouri Combat Masterpiece

Now you will need to set your sights for an IL State Police 5" with the heavy barrel.

Yes, H Richard
I have already been thinking of that. My grandson was over last night and we talked about that very thing!
The Illinois guns were actually K-38 Masterpiece revolvers, instead of the Combat Masterpiece. Not only did they have the heavy barrel, they also had the flat frame corners at the boss where the barrel threads to the frame. One of them would, indeed, make a nice companion to my MSHP revolver. Now I just need to find someone who has an example he'd be willing to part with!

Jack
 
I went thru the MSHP academy in 1979. They did the state mandated training for smaller departments around Missouri. Bergman was a Lt. then and a conducted the firearms training. He was also a heck of a shot. They said he shot the FBI course somewhere, maybe Quantico and had the highest score ever. He slicked up this rookies 4 in 19-4. I can still see him reducing the mainspring with an old stone. I used that gun to set a record for highest score ever in the recruits class and shot it hard until the forcing cone split. Nice memories

Good memory. Roy Bergman was trained by S&W and there were no spring kits or other bull used in a factory type of duty action. His action jobs were very good, and 100% reliable for duty use with any ammo. He used to put on a little show for every recruit class. It went something like this:

The class would be shooting B27s and invariably one recruit would say, "my sights are off" as an explanation for why his group looked like a shotgun pattern. Roy would stop the line, call everyone over and have the recruit repeat the excuse. Roy would say, well let me see, after which he would have everyone put on ear muffs so he could fire the recruit's issue revolver. He would hold that weapon out one handed in the old target shooter's stance, and he would slowly stroke that trigger, in DOUBLE ACTION, and fire a complete cylinder. As no hits were observed on the target, the recruit would generally give it the old, "I told you so," with all heads nodding. Imagine the embarrassment when Bergman would flip the switch, run the target back from the 25 yard line and, as the target approached the shooting position, all of the recruits would notice the 6 holes clustered all together in one ragged hole in THE MINIATURE B27 SCORING REFERENCE IN THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER. I never would have believed it had I not seen it myself.

At Bergman's funeral, his good friend, Paul Corbin said that Bergman could "shoot a gnat out of your hands at 75 paces, and I [Corbin] know because I used to hold the gnat."

The story about Bergman shooting the highest score in the history of the FBI National Academy program (the one that local Chiefs or other officers get to go to) is true as far as I know, although I am not sure if the record still stands. When that story is told, a second part is usually added, to the effect that J. Edgar Hoover was so upset by this feat that no member of the MSHP was invited back to the National Academy program until after Hoover's death. The second part of the story is NOT true, as I understand it.

Bergman's abilities with a revolver are attributed, in part at least, to the size of his hands. His hands were powerful and almost as big as Bill Jordan's, whose hand size is legendary (I mean, who else in the world really has to add a filler BEHIND the backstrap so that the revolver can be held properly straight in line with the forearm, and still have plenty of finger leverage left so that controlling that double action trigger is effortless.)

Bergman is on the right. Picture was taken when we had lunch together just a few months before his very untimely death. May he rest in peace.
 

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About 1959 IIRC - from the online MSHP history, which is excellent.

As recently mentioned in another thread - left handed troopers were required to wear right hand holsters for uniformity .. and all wore long sleeve shirts in the summer.
 
Shawn,
He did EXACTLY that B 27 thing in the class! He also had a bad shooter hold the gun while he pullled the trigger in single action. After a nice tight group he looked at the guy and said, you're jerking the trigger. The guy would just look dumbfounded. :) Nice pic of Bergman.
 
Resurrecting an old thread here. That is a beautiful revolver you've got. My Great Uncle carried one just like that as a Trooper down here in Troop G in the late 60s early 70s after he got back from Vietnam. He said it was the best pistol he ever shot and had similar praises for his issued 71 Fury lol.
 
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He said it was the best pistol he ever shot
All I can say is this old "Trooper" is a delight to shoot. It is one of several K frame guns I own with a 5" barrel. I have a strong preference for that length in K frame revolvers.

had similar praises for his issued 71 Fury
I remember when the police in my home town growing up drove the Plymouth Fury, also. My first ride in a police car was in one of them (and no, I was not under arrest nor in any kind of trouble!).
 
The 5 inch balances very well, and that barrel length was probably more popular than you realize during that era.
I was reading once again through this old thread and noticed this comment by Shawn.

To illustrate his point, I thought I would point out one fruit of my long period of research on immediate postwar M&P revolvers (S and SV prefix units). There are approximately 15,000 units in my database. Organized by barrel length, 4" is the most common, followed by the 5". 2" guns are far behind, with the 2 RB being the least common. If you group the 2" RB and SB together, the 6" is the least common.

Since there isn't one in this thread, here are two pictures of the MSHP revolver that is the subject of this thread, wearing period correct Magna stocks that I put on it about 9 years ago.
jp-ak-albums-k-frame-target-revolvers-picture11787-mshp-left-2-800x565.jpg

jp-ak-albums-k-frame-target-revolvers-picture11786-mshp-left-1-800x600.jpg
 
Good memory. Roy Bergman was trained by S&W and there were no spring kits or other bull used in a factory type of duty action. His action jobs were very good, and 100% reliable for duty use with any ammo. He used to put on a little show for every recruit class. It went something like this:

The class would be shooting B27s and invariably one recruit would say, "my sights are off" as an explanation for why his group looked like a shotgun pattern. Roy would stop the line, call everyone over and have the recruit repeat the excuse. Roy would say, well let me see, after which he would have everyone put on ear muffs so he could fire the recruit's issue revolver. He would hold that weapon out one handed in the old target shooter's stance, and he would slowly stroke that trigger, in DOUBLE ACTION, and fire a complete cylinder. As no hits were observed on the target, the recruit would generally give it the old, "I told you so," with all heads nodding. Imagine the embarrassment when Bergman would flip the switch, run the target back from the 25 yard line and, as the target approached the shooting position, all of the recruits would notice the 6 holes clustered all together in one ragged hole in THE MINIATURE B27 SCORING REFERENCE IN THE UPPER LEFT HAND CORNER. I never would have believed it had I not seen it myself.

At Bergman's funeral, his good friend, Paul Corbin said that Bergman could "shoot a gnat out of your hands at 75 paces, and I [Corbin] know because I used to hold the gnat."

The story about Bergman shooting the highest score in the history of the FBI National Academy program (the one that local Chiefs or other officers get to go to) is true as far as I know, although I am not sure if the record still stands. When that story is told, a second part is usually added, to the effect that J. Edgar Hoover was so upset by this feat that no member of the MSHP was invited back to the National Academy program until after Hoover's death. The second part of the story is NOT true, as I understand it.

Bergman's abilities with a revolver are attributed, in part at least, to the size of his hands. His hands were powerful and almost as big as Bill Jordan's, whose hand size is legendary (I mean, who else in the world really has to add a filler BEHIND the backstrap so that the revolver can be held properly straight in line with the forearm, and still have plenty of finger leverage left so that controlling that double action trigger is effortless.)

Bergman is on the right. Picture was taken when we had lunch together just a few months before his very untimely death. May he rest in peace.

I went through the NRA Law Enforcement Handgun/Shotgun Instructor's course at the police range in Northport, Alabama in May 2004. Roy Bergman was one of the instructors. He was a fine gentleman. RIP.
 
Thanks for reviving this thread. I won an auction for an ISP K-38 a while back and I think the 5" barrel makes it just right for balance. I guess I just "get it" as the above post says. I like it so much that I had a boogered-up 8-3/8" K-38 cut down to 5" to use as a shooter. Thanks again for this post. Maybe some day I'll find a MHP 5-incher.
 

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