Blue Bloods

[Sharpsdressed Man]

Remember those winged knobs on louvered storm door windows? A friend had his S&W Model 66 in a Bianchi X-15 shoulder holster; triggerguard partially covered. Well, he was moving into an apartment past the door, and the height of the knob was perfect for snagging his partially exposed gun, and set it off, in the holster; he was hit in the thigh.....in and out. Freak thing, but it wasn't all that difficult to do. Any kind of freak thing can happen, but trimming away a guard, well, guards less against an accident.

 

[Colt46]

Know a retired cop

In the early 80's he ordered an S&W .41 mag with a wide trigger. First day he had it he loaded it and pushed it into his clamshell holster. The wide trigger caught on the lip of the holster and he cranked one off into his thigh.

The bullet traveled into his femur and then pretty much followed it all the way down and stopped at the knee.
A whole bunch of pins, screws and rehab were in order for him to get back on the job. He ended up getting hooked on pain pills to add to his woes.

 

[saltydog452]

Trigger 'shoes'

Trigger shoes used to be semi popular in the NRA Outdoor Pistol Bullseye Matches.

I liked them. That said, I needed all the help that I could get and still play the game according to the rules.

salty

 

[Japle]

When I was a kid in the late ‘50s – early ‘60s, we had shows like The Virginian where integrity was valued by the characters. Not many of those around now, but every episode of Blue Bloods always seems to have a message about the importance of integrity.

I remember an episode of The Virginian in which a young man got in with the wrong bunch and ended up being involved in a murder. In jail, just before he was about to be strung up, the Virginian told him, “You made a man’s mistake and now you have to pay a man’s price”. That’s not a line you’d hear from the current crop of Hollywood writers.

 

[Archie]

Yup...

That is a Buckheimer holster - as mentioned by Denster. I just remembered the same design was made by Safety Speed, during the same time period. I cannot remember who made it first. I remember it because this one is mine - I casually collect old cop holsters as well as old cop guns.

The revolver is more than likely a brother to this one: a Colt Detective Special. Mr. Selleck's has a silver colored metal medallion in the upper grip, signifying the grips are probably wood, rather than the plastic I have. Wood was the original material, then Colt used plastic from 'after' World War II to about 1954 or so, when they resumed using wood. The shape of the butt frame and the grips was pretty constant, however.

I know this will cause some modern shooters both immediate horror and perhaps some sleepless nights, but the cutaway trigger guard was rather popular for a number of years. The serious objection to the practice was based on possibly bending the trigger guard against the trigger, making the revolver inoperable as a firearm.

Caution: Old Guy History Lesson follows: There was a time prior to collapsible batons and various chemical sprays, when plain clothes officers employed a sidearm as an 'impact weapon' for those instances when a suspect was resisting arrest not amounting to lethal force. Note the chip on the bottom of the left side grip on my revolver.

The cutaway trigger guard was not considered so dangerous as to preclude the use of such revolvers. In those days, 'safety' was more an issue of personal accountability and responsibility, and not so much an issue of 'doo-dads'.Here endeth the lesson.

The sample Detective Special (sometimes pronounced 'Dick Special') shown was originally sold in the Los Angeles County area. I bought it used in 2009 or 2010 or so for my 'cop gun collection'. It bears up to its heritage as a Colt Double Action revolver by being so out of time it won'd index and fire reliably. Due to the modifications, I have every reason to believe it belonged to a local peace officer in the Los Angeles area; but no 'actual proof'.


Salty Dog: You are correct about trigger shoes on NRA Bullseye competition guns. I used one or two myself in my day. However, most Bullseye pistols were never holstered, so the 'danger' of pulling the trigger in such was minimized. I do remember several holster makers issued warnings about using trigger shoes on sidearms (usually always revolvers) in their holsters.

 

[ClydeFrog]

Off topic, but....

In Pittsburgh PA; the "world's strongest cop" shot himself in the thigh with his Glock sidearm during a re-qual.
He won several bodybuilder and weight lifting events. His muscles were huge.
Ouch!

 

[Glenn Dee]

Those holsters were pretty popular in the 60's and 70's. Most of the people wearing them were "house mice" Officers assigned in uniform to work inside the stationhouse. They were made by several companies. In my local they were made by the Jay-pee company. I have worn one while on stationhouse duty. They were made for both J frame guns, and K frames with two, or four inch barrels

Tom Selleck plays the Police Commisioner of NY. The Police Commissioner is a civilian. And he can carry what ever he wants. But he needs a carry permit.

This show, while enjoy it... Is far far from reality.

As far as the Fitz special... While detective specials of every vintage were authorized off duty guns, a fitz special would never ever ever be allowed. The real danger of hitting someone with the det. special was bending the exposed, unsupported ejector rod. Once bent the gun would no longer function.This issue once cost an officer his life... The story is the officer and his Sgt were eating in a resturant. There was some kind of a dispute over a woman involving the owners wife. The Sgt and officer became involved. The Sgt attempted to subdue the owner who had armed himself with a gun, used his Det Spec hit the owner over the head while the officer attempted tp wrest the gun from the owner. The owner threw both officers off and aimed at the Officer. The Sgt aimed and tried to pull the trigger but the gun failed due to a bent ejector rod. The resturant owner shot and killed the officer. Other responding officers subdued the resturant owner and, and he went to jail.

I did not post this for examination or criticism of the cops technique, or tactics. I recant the story only to demonstrate the failing of that vintage of the Colt Detective special.

 

[UncleEd]

Besides a perceived ability to be faster with a cutaway trigger guard, I also imagine some might have thought of it as a way to still use winter gloves where the normal guard's would block use of them.

 

[Archie]

Mr. Dee...

Were standard Colt revolvers of that era allowed for duty use?

They ALL had exposed and unsupported ejector rods. The Police Positive Special, Police Positive, Trooper, Official Police and so forth. The Python which didn't appear until the 1950s had a covered ejector rod, but it was very expensive for local cop budgets.

The 'Fitz' modifications were - in the case of a Detective Special - a cutaway trigger guard and a bobbed hammer. A non-modified Detective Special was just as likely to bend an extractor rod as a modified one.

 

[Glenn Dee]

Helloooo Archie...

NYPD officers must purchase their own service, and off duty guns so they have some choice. Not a whole lot... but some. As I remember the colt choices were.
Colt Commando
Colt Official police
Colt metropolitan (.38 version)
These were the authorized service revolvers.
Colt detective special
Colt agent
Colt cobra
Colt police positive special
These were the authorized off duty revolvers. With adoption of +p rated ammo the aluminum framed revolvers like the agent, and the cobra became unauthorized along with the Smith model 37, 38, and 12.

The service revolver as well as service pistols are NOT meant to be used as a club. This was a weakness of the colt revolvers as dropping one could have the same effect. The NYPD duty holster protected the ejector rod from abuse during normal activity... Like I said I've only heard about such a problem once, and never actually seen it happen.