Which handgun would you pick?

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Say you're a cop in the early 1960s, working the area you currently live in. You are allowed to choose the handgun you carry.

So what handgun do you choose, and why?

 

[Bell Charter Oak Holsters]

I imagine the selections of your hypothetical question would be limited to handguns in production at the time. Since the majority of agencies were using wheelguns then, I'll select a revolver, assuming autos were not approved equipment. I'm also assuming your talking uniform patrol, not plainclothes assignment.

My first choice a S&W Model 25 .45 Long Colt 5 inch.
Potent caliber, reliable design, accurate weapon.

Second choices, Colt Python or S&W Model 19 .357
Potent caliber, reliable design, accurate weapons, intermediate size, easy to handle.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

Well, yeah, I guess I kind of meant guns in production at the time, but no, I don't want to place too many restrictions. Plainclothes? That's fine if you want. Autos? They were carried back then (sometimes).

I want a genuine idea of what our membership would have preferred.

 

[walnutred]

Deputy Sheriffs in this area were mostly carrying Colts and Smiths in 38 Special. However there was one that carried a Model 58 and one a 1911A1. Given the choice of what was available and apparently allowed either of the last two would have suited me fine.

 

[keith44spl]

THe first couple of weeks on the Sheriff's Dept. I carried a Colt SAA in 44Spl.

The Sheriff at the time told me I could purchase a S&W 357 and it would be deducted out of my pay each month...

Oh, got a Model 27 3 1/2" blue.

Su Amigo,
Dave


P.S. The little M-37 was carried in my left front pant pocket.

And I still wear this rig sometimes,[note new cuff case] just to let the young guys see what real leather looks like...

 

[Glock 'em down]

Like Dave said, I would go with the model 27 in three and a half.

Hell, I'd carry one today if I could find one in "shooter" grade that didn't cost a thousand bucks!

My boss "makes" me carry the department issue Glock 22. Sometimes (when he's not around ) I'll ditch the Glock and carry my Smith & Wesson model 12-2 snubbie or maybe my short snouted Colt Cobra.

I just get sick and tired of seeing these kids in their ninja turtle "uniforms", slick headed, wearing $100 sunglasses, with all that crap hanging off their belts...ASPs, pepper spray, Tasers, tactical thigh holsters, yaddida, yaddida, yaddida.

Back in the day, law and order was achieved with the .38 caliber revolver and the leaded, leather sap. We didn't need Tasers and the like. Why can't we go back to those days? Seems to me we had less problems then.

Am I alone in this?

BTW...that's a good lookin' rig you got there Dave! Is that BUG a model 36 or 37? Did you carry it in an ankle holster? Or in your pocket?

 

[Joe Kent]

In the late 60's I chose a 4in. Model 19 "blued" .357 mag backed up by a Model 42 snub carried always in my jacket pocket. I also carried an M1A1 Carbine and an 870 12GA. in the car. We rode two men to a car and I had a great teacher as a partner. The dept was staffed by combat veterans of both WW2 and Korea so there was very little BS taken or given. If you were right, command would go to the wall for you. It was a good time to be a young and new policeman. Times have changed.

 

[Glock 'em down]

In the late 60's I chose a 4in. Model 19 "blued" .357 mag backed up by a Model 42 snub carried always in my jacket pocket. I also carried an M1A1 Carbine and an 870 12GA. in the car. We rode two men to a car and I had a great teacher as a partner. The dept was staffed by combat veterans of both WW2 and Korea so there was very little BS taken or given. If you were right, command would go to the wall for you. It was a good time to be a young and new policeman. Times have changed.

Yup! And NOT for the better!

That's an awesome story. I too was trained by the old timers who had been thru the bowels of hell. Only my teachers were Vietnam vets instead of WW II and Korea. Still, they had the same values as their fathers.

I miss those days of law enforcement. I had a DA that wouldn't file A&B on a peace officer. He would charge them with resisting arrest, but never A&B. His theory was, if they resisted arrest, then they got what was coming to them.

HA! Those days are long gone, I tell ya!

 

[mississippi revolverman]

When I started we all were straight out of college and they threw us into undercover. Not much OJT then. Later as a topi side agent carried a 4" model 19. M1 carbine and 870 in the trunck. My favorite weapon is a Stevens double 16 ga with #2 buck. Barrell shorten to 18 1/4"

LEO has changed a lot since then

 

[venomballistics]

theoretical arms of choice ....
1911 with a heater in the trunk.
common, and solid caliber between side arm and tommy gun.

 

[Glock 'em down]

theoretical arms of choice ....
1911 with a heater in the trunk.
common, and solid caliber between side arm and tommy gun.

Ahhh! The "Chicago Typewriter" huh? Damned thing weighs 37 pounds!

But it's a helluva lotta fun to shoot!

 

[JamesArthur60]

I'd choose a S&W .357 magnum.

 

[straightshooter1]

In 1968 and for several years after that, the "good" Smiths, like the Model 19, were hard to find.

Our department required us to purchase our own firearms, gunbelts, holsters, etc. and the guns had to be revolvers ("those autos jam") in 38 Special or 357 Magnum.

I started with a 6" Model 28 but it was very heavy and awkward in those old "Border Patrol" holsters. When you sat down in the car, it jammed the butt up into your ribs.

I kept the 28 for Bullseye competition, and got a Model 15 until I found a new Model 19 in 1970, which, of course, I still have. I went through a lot of other guns, Pythons, etc., but always came back to the 19.

Off duty, I carried a Model 36, then a Model 37 with a bobbed hammer. The 36 rode in an ankle holster on duty.

It was easy to get to when seated in the car. We wore those old "bus driver" hats, so when approaching a car in an uncertain situation where it might not be exactly right to draw my Model 19, I'd take off the hat, concealing the 36 inside it and talk to the subject with the 36 hidden from his sight.

As a Detective, I chose a 4" Police Positive since I like the idea of the longer barrel and it was light and concealed well.



Bob

 

[Alpo]

I believe I'd either carry a 1911 or a DA45 cut to 4 inches. If it was later than 1964, I think I might try a Model 58. Seems like the DA45 would be best, though. Loaded with 255 grain 45 Colt lead bullets, in Auto Rim cases, with 230 grain ball in half-moons in the drop pouches.

 

[Muley Gil]

My choices would be:

1) M24 .44 Special in either 5" or 4"

2) Colt Commander .45-back before there was a steel frame option

3) M21 .44 Special in either 5" or 4"

4) Colt 1911 .45

5) M26 .45 (Colt or ACP) in either 5" or 4"

6) M22

 

[feralmerril]

1965 a 6" colt officers model match as "studio cop" for universal studios. Knowing what I know now, it would have been either a model 24 4" .44 special if available and allowed, or just a model 19 or 4" colt 357 trooper which I did carry later.

 

[jimmyj]

Hi:
In 1962 I started with a used Colt Trooper 4" in .38spl. (traded a 1915 DWM German Luger for it). Later I purchased a S&W Model 10 4" .38spl though the Agency for $48.80. Even through I was single I could not afford a Model 28 at $85.00.
Jimmy

 

[Damn Yankee]

This is what I carry.

 

[jag312]

In the early 60s if I was to pick a gun, my father would have taken me to a gun store and picked a gun for me. I know his choice, and it would have been a Model 10. I think he would have let me choose between a 4" and a 6" barrel. I think he might have approved of a Model 15, but never a Model 19. He thought a .357 Magnum had more power than anyone ever needed. To the best of my recollection, most Police Officers carried either S&W Model 10, Model 15, or Colt Official Police revolvers. A few carried Model 19 or Model 28 revolvers. I once asked a Police Officer about a Colt Python. He told me that although he wished he had one, he just couldn't afford one on his salary. The factory suggested retail for a Python at that time was $125, and cops at that time were not highly paid.

 

[paladin42]

I carried a 4" model 65 until I got a 3" model 66. Model 36 as a backup.