The Greatest Handgun I've Ever Owned

[Ol Sarge]

In 1975 I joined the Fort Lauderdale, Fl, Police Department. At that time officers were required to purchase their own duty weapon. My choice was a S&W Model 27-2, 3 1/2 inch barrel. I was the big man on the block when I walked into the police academy with this gorgeous nickel plated large N-frame revolver. Everyone else was mostly carrying a Model 10 or Model 19. One fellow was carrying a Colt Python. I smoked them all with my Smith. At the range we shot the then standard 50 yard FBI coarse at silhouette targets. My only competition was the fellow with the Python. During practice we consistently shot a score of 100. On the final day of the range we all had to qualify. This was the only score that counted and fellow cadets were wagering on who would take "Top Gun". I scored a 99 with one flier from the 50 yard line. This left an opening for the Python. He just couldn't take the pressure. He qualified with a 80 something. Over more than 44 year in law enforcement I owned dozens of guns, mostly Smiths, but this one I still have and is still my favorite of all time.

 

[mscook]

Old Sarge

You did good and I am proud of you
mscook

 

[usm1rifle]

Great story Sarge, how about some pics back in the day? Or today.

And WELCOME.

 

[BAM-BAM]

Great story.......................

Want to make this a thread?........ What was your "Greatest Handgun"?

My 686-nuttin I had round butted (now /w Spegel extended boot grips) with "Pachmyar Professional" grips and action tuned to butter; it was great in PPC and later I used it to qualify with my Security Dept. LOL could outshoot them all accept the Asst Director.....twice a year we ''shot it out" for "top gun" ....usually ended up counting Xs* ........


* We only shot to 25 yds.................

 

[old bear]

Sarge, ya just gotta know, I love "old law dog" stories like this one.

Thanks

 

[Ol Sarge]

There's a little more to this story. Our range master was a S&W trained gunsmith. Upon seeing my 27 he asked permission to "tune it up". I said, "sure." He installed a smooth target trigger and polished everything inside. When he was finished the only thing you felt when you pulled the trigget was when the cylinder stop engaged in the cylinder. Most shooting was done DA. Only the 50 yard shooting was SA. I was (and still am) able to consistently pull the trigger through to the "click", hold my breath and squeeze it off. The action is so smooth I asked him how he got the butter to stay under the hammer. I fired more than 2000 rounds in that 2 weeks on the range and the gun and I just got better and better. I put that gun in my safe and went to a 59 and later a 659 and a 645 for obvious reasons but I've never shot as well with anything since.

 

[Engine49guy]

So you wore the Brown n Tan ; )
A few years back was chatting with an older grey haired officer working the Elbo room detail and noticed he was carrying a beat up old Model 66 in his holster, he said except for one female in the bureau carrying a J frame he was the last of the wheel gun guys on the job.

I worked at station 49 on the beach and we adopted "Kimba" , he had coffee with us every morning,
just retired last Feb....Love retirement !

 

[Ol Sarge]

Yes, I was brown n tan. I worked zones 11 and 12 on the beach in the late '70's and walked the beach for 14 months from spring break of 1980 to spring break of 1981 - all around F.S. 49. I retired 2003 then did 12 years with Lighthouse Point PD.

 

[armorer951]

Great story. I experienced a similar situation at the Academy in 1975. I was shooting a 4 inch S&W model 19, the other officer in contention had a 6 inch Colt Python. Quals were at the end of our 10 week training in March. 104 total officers.....mostly using S&W, with a few Colts and Rugers in the mix.
I ended up with the high score at the end of the morning. Personally, I think I had a distinct advantage using the model 19, even with the barrel difference.

Even though it was wet and uncomfortably cold that day, i still have great memories of that day's shooting.

 

[BUFF]

I went through my state police academy class in 1981 with a 6 inch Model 66, but my sentimental favorite gun at the time was a 5 inch, blue Model 27-2 I'd bought a few years before. I had done a rudimentary action smoothing to it and added a wide, smooth "combat" trigger and a pair of gorgeous smooth Presentation Goncala Alves grips, but thought it was too pretty to get banged up using it as a holster gun. Just because it was so pretty, I wore it instead of my 66 at the class graduation ceremony. My mother-in-law noticed it and nudged my wife and asked her in a whisper, "Why is his gun so much bigger than everybody elses?" The wife laughed out loud but Myrna just looked puzzled.

President Reagan came to Salt Lake City to speak once in his first term and as he was speaking in a county facility, my office drew the local security role. I wore the M-27 to the event and ended up backstage with some of the Secret Service guys. One of them noticed it and told me, "Nice Magnum, deputy."

 

[Ol Sarge]

I misspoke when I said "target" trigger. It is indeed a "combat" trigger. I also added the smooth Goncala Alves grips. We had to hone them out a little to allow the speed-loader to clear. Except for the barrel length I'm sure my 27 looks identical to yours. If I can figure out how I'll post photos of mine.

Just to add a little more to the story, the department policy manual at the time said officers must carry a S&W or Colt revolver chambered for. 38 or .357 with a "4-inch" barrel. The training sergeant took one look at my 27 and said "you can't carry that. The barrel is too short." With that he pulled a ruler out of his drawer and put it against the front of the frame and measured my barrel at 3-inches. When I saw what he did I said, "let's measure yours." Again he put the ruler at the front of the frame of his Model 19 and it measured 3 1/2-inches. I said, "well yours is not 4-inches either." I carried that 27 for five years and never did show him the proper way to measure a revolver barrel.

 

[Ol Sarge]

If I did this right you should see a picture of my Model 27 with the speed-loader in the custom velvet lined walnut display case my brother made. This is a cell phone picture. I'll try to upload a better one later.

 

[fyimo]

Great revolver and a great story

 

[BAM-BAM]

Just to add a little more to the story, the department policy manual at the time said officers must carry a S&W or Colt revolver chambered for. 38 or .357 with a "4-inch" barrel. The training sergeant took one look at my 27 and said "you can't carry that. The barrel is too short." With that he pulled a ruler out of his drawer and put it against the front of the frame and measured my barrel at 3-inches. When I saw what he did I said, "let's measure yours." Again he put the ruler at the front of the frame of his Model 19 and it measured 3 1/2-inches. I said, "well yours is not 4-inches either." I carried that 27 for five years and never did show him the proper way to measure a revolver barrel.

Now that is funny!!!!!

 

[Brian in Oregon]

I misspoke when I said "target" trigger. It is indeed a "combat" trigger. I also added the smooth Goncala Alves grips. We had to hone them out a little to allow the speed-loader to clear. Except for the barrel length I'm sure my 27 looks identical to yours. If I can figure out how I'll post photos of mine.

Just to add a little more to the story, the department policy manual at the time said officers must carry a S&W or Colt revolver chambered for. 38 or .357 with a "4-inch" barrel. The training sergeant took one look at my 27 and said "you can't carry that. The barrel is too short." With that he pulled a ruler out of his drawer and put it against the front of the frame and measured my barrel at 3-inches. When I saw what he did I said, "let's measure yours." Again he put the ruler at the front of the frame of his Model 19 and it measured 3 1/2-inches. I said, "well yours is not 4-inches either." I carried that 27 for five years and never did show him the proper way to measure a revolver barrel.

A friend was disappointed by his department's policy that would not allow a 3.5" 27 to be carried. Fortunately a half inch longer 28 could, but it just wasn't as nice, even though well made.

 

[apollo99]

Dinosaurs like us with the old revolver stories are becoming fewer and fewer. Those were the days. NYPD S&W model 10 4" heavy barrel, didn't miss too many shots during my qualifications, never felt out gunned, used it for a club on more than a few occasions and it fared very well.

 

[Iggy]

I've accrued nicer looking and more popular guns since I left LE, but this old timer and I rode up and down the streets and highways of Wyoming for over a million miles.

We got into some really serious social encounters and the .41 Magnum Military & Police revolver and cartridge did what they were intended to do.

We're both still here.

 

[gman51]

Here you go Sarge.....I lightened up your pic. Hope you don't mind I did this. Very nice looking wheel gun.
I really like your avatar also.

 

[Ol Sarge]

No absolutely no problem. How do I load it larger like the one above? BTW, the avatar is a 1938 Chevrolet Ft. Lauderdale Police Car.

 

[snowman.45]

Great story and a great gun. My first that I entered the academy with was a 4" Model 28-2. I'd love to have it back. It departed as soon as I could get my hands on one of the popular and hard to find Model 19's several years in.

 

[merl67]

Thanks for the story and photos and to all of you who have served behind the badge thank you !

 

[Ol Sarge]

We got into some really serious social encounters and the .41 Magnum Military & Police revolver and cartridge did what they were intended.

You may or may not be aware that the infamous Bill Jordan of the Boarder Patrol and quick-draw artist extraordinaire preferred a S&W .41 Magnum loaded with inverted hollow base wadcutters as a man stopper. This made a hollow point that looked like a thimble and spread out to the size of a silver dollar on impact.

 

[Iggy]

You may or may not be aware that the infamous Bill Jordan of the Boarder Patrol and quick-draw artist extraordinaire preferred a S&W .41 Magnum loaded with inverted hollow base wadcutters as a man stopper. This made a hollow point that looked like a thimble and spread out to the size of a silver dollar on impact.

Yeah, Bill and I spent an afternoon shooting and swapping yarns. I carried that Model 58 at the time. I learned a whole bunch of stuff that day.
I used JHPs as I needed more penetration in dealing cars and such.

This JHP went through the spare tire, tail gate, back of the front seat and into the radio in the dash of a fleeing Ford Bronco.

I dug it out of the radio and still use it as a tie tack.

 

[Maccabeus]

Great stories and a great revolver in the OP.



I don't have a story all that old or a revolver that was all that special, but I started on a revolver when I was hired on in the 90s. The department had already undergone semi-auto transition, but didn't have enough 4006s to go around so all the rookies had to carry the old leftover 681s.



I'm so glad I did. I learned to shoot at the academy on that gun. I previously owned my own 5906 and then a 6906, but could just barely keep my shots on the broad side of a barn. The fundamentals began to click on the wheel gun while shooting ball & dummy.



Learning on a revolver is like learning on a stick shift. If you can drive/shoot that, you can drive/shoot anything else.



While I did later transition to a personally owned 4506, I never accepted a departmental 4006 to replace my 681. Loved that gun. Still kicking myself for not buying it from the P.D. when I resigned to switch careers.

Sent from mTalk

 

[larryofcc]

In 1965, I went through the San Diego Sheriffs Academy for reserves. My eyesight was too poor to get a job with the real deputy's.
My two range officers were long time deputy's and were authorized by the Sheriff to carry weapons off limits to the other men. One carried a M29 and the other a modified Colt M1911A1.
The night of qualifications, both of the range officers fired 149 out of 150 scores to show the newbies how it was done.
With my poor (2200) eyesight, (20-20) corrected, and an old 6" K-38, I bested both with a perfect score of 150. The only one in the class to shoot a possible. Poor blind me. The SDPD would not take me either for the same reason, so I wound up as a career Teamster Truck Driver. I guess it is OK not to be able to see as a trucker. Big Larry

 

[pawncop]

My best of all time would be a Model 19 that was the smoothest action I can recall. Foolishly traded it years ago. Sure wish I had it back.

 

[ggibson511960]

Gordon Liddy

I read a funny story about a 3-1/2 in. M-27 in Gordon Liddy's biography. You might remember that Mr. Liddy of Watergate infamy started his career in the FBI. I don't remember if the FBI issued him his M-27 or if he chose it on his own. In any case one of his fellow agents advised him to file off the front sight so it wouldn't hurt so bad when a bad guy shoved it where the sun seldom shines, offending Liddy with his prized S&W. Liddy also recounts how he one day foolishly and dangerously threatened a suspect by cocking the M-27 and holding it on him at short range.

 

[HDStretch]

I started in 2001 working security at Cooley's Landing in downtown Fort Lauderdale, for Nick Navarro, all we were allowed to carry in those days was a revolver in .38, or a .357 loaded with .38 rounds. I had a S&W model 64 that I carried for about 5 years.

I stupidly pawned it off about 3 years ago when I went with the 9mm. That was one heck of a gun.

I have 3 other S&Ws now. I still trust my life to them.

 

[A10]

That's a great story and a gorgeous 27 Sarge. I'm kinda interested in that butt plate......any decorations on it? I know they were installed primarily as a persuader, just curious about your thoughts.

 

[ISCS Yoda]

Great stories. Love these two lines:

"Why is his gun so much bigger than everybody elses?"

Definitely an out loud laugh there.

This next completed a great story!!!

I carried that 27 for five years and never did show him the proper way to measure a revolver barrel.

Sometimes the only ones with better stories than cops are combat vets. GOOD JOB!!!

It's hard for me to say which of my S&W revolvers is my best or greatest. My 2.5" M686+, however, had an action job done by the best gunsmith I ever knew so it has to rate way up there for smooth and easy to fire. But since I collect these ,38s/.357s I'm hard pressed to pick a greatest but my EDCs are 2" K-frames these days. Especially my DAO customized M64.