New to me. Model 15 U.S.A.F. marked

[Allen-frame]

Found this at the local show Saturday. it is a U.S. Air Force model 15 .
It was destroyed in England in 1996. That is all I know.
Except that for the man bringing it back it had to be in pieces.
They welded it back together here.

Let's not have this happen here in the states.
At least not any more than humanly possible.

Are you a member of the N.R.A.?
If not, please join today.

Regards
Allen

The rack number confirms that this was an actual U.S.A.F. gun.
K910664 is in the serial range for the 5000 shipped to the USAF.

Ouch!

 

[alaskavett]

That's a criminal act for sure! At the least it is pure stupidity at its best.. I would love to have one of these in shooting condition. What a shame this was sanctioned by a "Government"...Here a picture is worth 1000 words. Thanks, Kyle

 

[papajohn428]

Takes the breath right out of ya, looking at stuff like that. I think I'd rather see a puppy get kicked than a Smith get smooshed.

 

[fyimo]

that's a sad and tragic but England has lost her way being doing what they believe is politically correct.

 

[BubbaBlades]

Allen
After seeing this gun in person, I think that it would be a fairly simple job to restore it. The only problem that I see is refinishing the grips. Bring this by my workshop and I will have it back to you in a couple of hours ............................or........................... get a S&W letter confirming its great history and use it as a unique paperweight.
Bubba

 

[WC145]

NNNNOOOOOOOoooooooo!!!!!! MY EYES!!!!!!!! IT BURNS!!!!!!

 

[murphydog]

Unfortunately, it has already happened here, with "decommissioning" of military guns (Aircrewmans and 1911s that I have seen personally cut into little pieces) and the results of "gun buy-backs". What a waste.

 

[kennyb]

wonder if it will buff out?

 

[Ashlander]

Allen: I gotta say -- you have bought better looking guns.

 

[MajorD]

the SCSW states that most if not all AF issue revovlers were cut up/destroyed by the gov. an occaisional USAF mod 15 comes up for sale from time to time in good condition. Wonder how they escaped captn crunch!
Most of my military time was Army but during my brief stint in the Air Force Reserve the one time we went to the range (arely 1990's) we were issued model 15's to shoot. I recall them being a mix of parkerized and blue and being very nice to shoot.

 

[handejector]

Is that from shooting too much +P ammo?

 

[hsguy]

Is that from shooting too much +P ammo?

Could be, we will have to wait for SP's opinion.

 

[sqhead]

i'll take it!!! good gun to have if you have a mean wife!!the most you have to do is duck when it's coming at ya.

 

[brainflood]

I'd be interested to hear why USAF guns were cut up in the first place? Is this a standard military practise for decommisioning purposes?

If so, were the pieces usually returned to the States, or wouldn't they simply be disposed of in the country where they were destroyed?

I don't feel so bad about owning de-activated S&Ws after seeing these sad pictures of carnage, although I don't expect you to agree!

 

[Ashlander]

Lee: I suspect it was cut up as part of a government program to destroy every handgun the officials could get their hands on -- basically a big step toward totally disarming the British public. Just a taste of what reasonable gun control is all about.

 

[wojeepster]

I was in london and asked a british motorcycle cop if he carried a gun. He got this sick look on his face and said, "The criminals do, let me show you what I have" He reached into his boot and took out what looked like a very thick antenna. It telescoped into a baton. A claw hammer would be much more effective. I showed him my concealed carry card and told him I was allowed to carry "over the pond"

The british don't fool around though. When I first arrived in the country two airport employess grabbed me and held my hands against the wall while two others (one hand outside, one hand inside) carefully checked the lining of my leather coat. My wife thoroughly enjoyed this perhaps thinking they might throw me in chains. I had asked them to hand inspect some high ASA film I was carrying rather then x-ray it for the umteenth time. That leather coat is one I frequently carried a gun in at home. I wonder what triggered the search perhaps some kind of sniffer?

 

[HayesGreener]

USAF Model 15

A Model 15 was my first issued handgun in the USAF. An interesting story about how the USAF ended up with the M15-Gen LeMay was a shooter and wanted a revolver that everyone could learn to shoot accurately (vice the worn out 1911's in the inventory), although he wanted a 45 cal for his aircrews, which he never got. The M15's were standard issue for aircrew, Security Police, and OSI Agents through most of the Vietnam era. OSI changed weapons a couple of times in the intervening years but the M15 was the standard handgun for the rest of the USAF until the M9 was issued around 1986. They were a workhorse and a lot of them had 250,000 rounds through them or more during their working life. Defense Property Disposal Agency takes weapons from the supply system and disposes of them as per policy. If the weapons are serviceable and could be legally handed down to other military units, federal agencies, or state or local government they could be transferred. If they cant be transferred they would be decommissioned (destroyed). Once in the state or local system they could be subject to trade-in and wind up on the market but highly unlikely. We closed a lot of bases in the UK in the 90's and a lot of stuff got destroyed but regargless there was no where in the military system for those M15's and darn sure was no place for them in the UK! Such a sad sight.

 

[Dpris]

I might have carried that one, '73-'75.
Denis

 

[thomasinaz]

Sad to see an old warrior chopped up like that. A lot of Airmen, including me, learned to shoot double action with an M15. I used and shot many M15s during my 8 years in the AF SP. When going to work at one of the indoor posts, we got an M15 with 6 loose rounds from the armory along with 12 rounds of 38 ammo in dump pouches. I think they were 130 grain round nose. Our range guys (CATM) said the 38s were hot loaded, and it felt kind of like +P when we qualified.

It's a real shame that a revolver with it's history, doing it's small part keeping America safe, had to be treated to the big government crusher to make us "safer". These wonderful guns burned through a lot of ammo, with the SPs, Aircrews, OSI, etc, shooting the snot out of them and using them for 20+ years. They were very accurate and held up great, only to be crushed after many years of service.........

 

[mkk41]

About 5yrs ago , I passed up a fairly decent shape Model 15 for $255 because I thought the U.S.A.F. looked like it was hand stamped and bogus.


Yeah , I know , I know!