dabney
Member
The Colt Official Police versus the S&W Model 10, Battle of the Service Revolvers!
In 1971 when I first entered law enforcement the PD contract battle between Colt and S&W had already been decided. The S&W Model 10 had won, and by a large margin. From what I have ascertained, several reasons led to the Official Police going from first to last. The pre-war Colt OP was leading in PD and civilian sales and in the post war years that flipped. The training for law enforcement, after the war, changed and no single action shooting was done anymore which was beneficial to the M&P. The M&P trigger was a smooth delivery on double-action shooting whereas the OP had a "stacking" issue at the end of the double-action trigger-pull, which was off-setting to some. The price of the OP was going up and up, much more so than the S&W blasters. The OP trigger-workings had to be "hand-honed" and "hand-fitted" by an advanced craftsman. This was a time consuming and expensive process for Colt, but this alone didn't drive the cost up as much as the labor cost. The labor union had Colt in a strangle hold in post-war years and labor cost "soared" at Colt driving the cost of all Colt firearms up and up! Are you getting the picture? True, the stacking trigger of the Colt Revolver didn't help but the labor costs was the ultimate knockout shot! Management at Colt committed its share of blunders too along the way adding to the companies woes. Colt started losing PD contracts on service revolvers and in 1973 when Ruger entered into the police revolver business, that was it! By 1975 most large contracts was going to S&W with Ruger getting most of the rest. This, I believe, led to the battle between the Colt Official Police and the Smith & Wesson Model 10 being decided, not by quality, but by labor costs at Colt, which led to the victory of the Model 10 over the OP.
I know this is a rather simple mans way of looking at "what" killed off a great revolver like the Official Police but I think that "it-is-what-it-is". I was first introduced to the Model 10 as a rookie cop in 1971. This was our PD authorized duty revolver then and I was issued a Model 10-5. A blue steel finish with a four-inch tapered barrel. In that same time period I was given a Colt Official Police .38 as a Christmas present and for years following I got familiar with both. To this day my "authorized" duty gun is the same Official Police from my rookie year. I also have a Model 10-5 too, just like the one in my rookie year (71), and with good .38 ammo I don't feel under-gunned one bit. I was grand-fathered in with my Colt if the reader is wondering what a cop in 2013 is doing with a .38 revolver in his holster. The very last of the wheelgun guys with no other law enforcement officer in this area packing the old service revolver. The "feel" of an all-steel sixgun in my hand, be it my Colt or my Model 10, would always take precedent with me over black square polymer self-loaders anytime. Thanks my friends!
David
In 1971 when I first entered law enforcement the PD contract battle between Colt and S&W had already been decided. The S&W Model 10 had won, and by a large margin. From what I have ascertained, several reasons led to the Official Police going from first to last. The pre-war Colt OP was leading in PD and civilian sales and in the post war years that flipped. The training for law enforcement, after the war, changed and no single action shooting was done anymore which was beneficial to the M&P. The M&P trigger was a smooth delivery on double-action shooting whereas the OP had a "stacking" issue at the end of the double-action trigger-pull, which was off-setting to some. The price of the OP was going up and up, much more so than the S&W blasters. The OP trigger-workings had to be "hand-honed" and "hand-fitted" by an advanced craftsman. This was a time consuming and expensive process for Colt, but this alone didn't drive the cost up as much as the labor cost. The labor union had Colt in a strangle hold in post-war years and labor cost "soared" at Colt driving the cost of all Colt firearms up and up! Are you getting the picture? True, the stacking trigger of the Colt Revolver didn't help but the labor costs was the ultimate knockout shot! Management at Colt committed its share of blunders too along the way adding to the companies woes. Colt started losing PD contracts on service revolvers and in 1973 when Ruger entered into the police revolver business, that was it! By 1975 most large contracts was going to S&W with Ruger getting most of the rest. This, I believe, led to the battle between the Colt Official Police and the Smith & Wesson Model 10 being decided, not by quality, but by labor costs at Colt, which led to the victory of the Model 10 over the OP.
I know this is a rather simple mans way of looking at "what" killed off a great revolver like the Official Police but I think that "it-is-what-it-is". I was first introduced to the Model 10 as a rookie cop in 1971. This was our PD authorized duty revolver then and I was issued a Model 10-5. A blue steel finish with a four-inch tapered barrel. In that same time period I was given a Colt Official Police .38 as a Christmas present and for years following I got familiar with both. To this day my "authorized" duty gun is the same Official Police from my rookie year. I also have a Model 10-5 too, just like the one in my rookie year (71), and with good .38 ammo I don't feel under-gunned one bit. I was grand-fathered in with my Colt if the reader is wondering what a cop in 2013 is doing with a .38 revolver in his holster. The very last of the wheelgun guys with no other law enforcement officer in this area packing the old service revolver. The "feel" of an all-steel sixgun in my hand, be it my Colt or my Model 10, would always take precedent with me over black square polymer self-loaders anytime. Thanks my friends!
David
