BAM-BAM,
I note with interest your post #17 in which you state: "a minus on a duty gun worn on the belt for an 8 hour shift".
Then, in post #19 you state: "But if I want a .357 magnum on my person...it's either a 3" 66 or a 4" 686".
There appears to be a contradiction between your two posts. I will leave you to reconcile that one, if you so decide.
Here is my duty gun experience, as both a carrier and a commander. About a year after the introduction of the L frames, the Bill Davis Co, actually Bill himself, offered our department a straight across trade, our 4" S&W 66s straight across for 4" 686s. We only had to pay state sales tax. Our record with the 66s had been less than stellar. When I went though the two week FBI/POST Range Officer course in 1980, by the time I finished I was on my third 66. By time the L frames were introduced I had promoted and was the department patrol division commander. I jumped at the offer.
From the time they were issued on, I never heard of any negative feed back or complaint on carrying the 686 vs the 66. Like most agencies, we had all sizes of deputies, both male and female, so the full range of people to be fitted. At the same time I too made the transition. On my duty belt, with all the other equipment, I could not detect a difference.
I did have one deputy who did object to the change. He said the 66, speed loaders and holster were a single system. We had done some holster testing and determined that the K frame holsters would easily stretch to accommodate the 686s. We did of course change speed loaders, to the far superior Safariland Comp II.
This deputy liked, whenever possible, to be the lone voice of justice opposing the administration at any apparent opportunity, so he was adamant. I am sure he was disappointed when I made it clear neither of us would die on that hill; me as a dictator or he as a martyr. We still had plenty of 66s left, since I had only gotten the 686s for my own division (which did not make the other divisions happy, but they were not mine). So I just directed our Admin Div to let him keep his 66. No one else was interested in doing that.
A couple of years later, when this deputy and his family had gone to town to shop, his home caught fire. One of the items destroyed in the fire was his department issue revolver. It was recovered and sent to me. It was a 686.
Sometime after all this grandstanding he had changed his mind. But there was no way he was going to lose face by capitulating that maybe my idea wasn't too bad and was for the benefit of my troops.
Sometimes one learns about integrity in unexpected ways.
I note with interest your post #17 in which you state: "a minus on a duty gun worn on the belt for an 8 hour shift".
Then, in post #19 you state: "But if I want a .357 magnum on my person...it's either a 3" 66 or a 4" 686".
There appears to be a contradiction between your two posts. I will leave you to reconcile that one, if you so decide.
Here is my duty gun experience, as both a carrier and a commander. About a year after the introduction of the L frames, the Bill Davis Co, actually Bill himself, offered our department a straight across trade, our 4" S&W 66s straight across for 4" 686s. We only had to pay state sales tax. Our record with the 66s had been less than stellar. When I went though the two week FBI/POST Range Officer course in 1980, by the time I finished I was on my third 66. By time the L frames were introduced I had promoted and was the department patrol division commander. I jumped at the offer.
From the time they were issued on, I never heard of any negative feed back or complaint on carrying the 686 vs the 66. Like most agencies, we had all sizes of deputies, both male and female, so the full range of people to be fitted. At the same time I too made the transition. On my duty belt, with all the other equipment, I could not detect a difference.
I did have one deputy who did object to the change. He said the 66, speed loaders and holster were a single system. We had done some holster testing and determined that the K frame holsters would easily stretch to accommodate the 686s. We did of course change speed loaders, to the far superior Safariland Comp II.
This deputy liked, whenever possible, to be the lone voice of justice opposing the administration at any apparent opportunity, so he was adamant. I am sure he was disappointed when I made it clear neither of us would die on that hill; me as a dictator or he as a martyr. We still had plenty of 66s left, since I had only gotten the 686s for my own division (which did not make the other divisions happy, but they were not mine). So I just directed our Admin Div to let him keep his 66. No one else was interested in doing that.
A couple of years later, when this deputy and his family had gone to town to shop, his home caught fire. One of the items destroyed in the fire was his department issue revolver. It was recovered and sent to me. It was a 686.
Sometime after all this grandstanding he had changed his mind. But there was no way he was going to lose face by capitulating that maybe my idea wasn't too bad and was for the benefit of my troops.
Sometimes one learns about integrity in unexpected ways.
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; but since mine was made in the Performance Center by one of the PC gunsmiths who made the originals, alongside Jimmy Rae, to the same specifications, does it still count?
