Revolvers as a duty weapon today?

If you include agencies that allow personal choices of weapon, Then I know a Lt @ a Texas SO that can speed load his .357 Python faster than most can swap mags.
 
I am unaware of any police or military forces that still use revolvers as primary duty weapons. I also know that many officers carry snubs as backups.
 
I believe my local PD issues revolvers to honor guard members to wear during official functions. While officers are "on duty" during honor guard functions, I have never seen an officer carrying a revolver while working the streets.
 
That change took place rather rapidly, in part because the Feds will provide 9mm at under cost, while any department or individual officer that wants to use, say, .38 Special, is on the hook for the whole cost. The result was predictable.

Jim
 
None that I am aware of but some corrections still use revolvers. Illinois Department of Corrections issues the S&W Model 64 double-action .38 Special CTG. revolver.
 
I haven't been for a few years, but revolvers were quite common with law enforcement last I was in Latin America. Local types, not national forces.

Nothing was standard. One guy might have an old Taurus 92, the next a beat to death glock, the third a taurus revolver.
 
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I was through O'Hare in Chicago recently and saw a couple of CPD officers working the airport assignment in uniform still carrying revolvers. I have read travel stories from a fellow law enforcement officer who talks about police in some South American countries still carrying 6-shooters. So, they are still around here and there.
 
USSR said:
New York State Correction Officers still carry revolvers when transporting prisoners.

Don
Click to expand...
Yep, so do Illinois corrections officers. Saw an inmate transportation detail at a Southern Illinois hospital last summer carrying S&W Model 64s.

Also remember seeing a security guard in a Metrolink station in St. Louis carrying a stainless revolver about 8 years ago.
 
Tom-R2,

I suspect those Chicago officers were grandfathered in.

Usually O'Hare Airport duty is considered easy and
a number of vets go there for their remaining time
on the force.
 
My department is a "roll your own" kinda place, however, if need be, we have a 66 that gets issued if you don't have a firearm.

I know several who carry revolvers by choice, but other than IDOC and some security/armored car places, I don't know of any that issue wheel guns.
 
Corrections and some South American and up to having the budget for any kind of upgrade. Plus a certain amount of how strong the union is.
Cops up here argued that a revolver was a health and safety issue. Probably was too. They were not allowed to fix the really crappy triggers their Colts or Smiths with no sights had. Mind you, by far, most of 'em carry anything because they're required to. Lotta horror stories about how unsafe cops are with their issue piece. Just as many about how they neglect 'em too.
 
I see a lot of bank guards with revolvers?
Is that a matter of "less likely that someone gets hurt", while still being armed?
 
“...the really crappy triggers their Colts or Smiths with no sights had...”
Um, haven’t seen any Colt or S&W without sights...and their triggers are usually pretty good.
 
RickB,

I haven't seen a bank guard, armed or otherwise,
in probably 20 years.

Last one I can recall was a young fellow at a
Chicago Michigan Avenue bank near the
Wrigley Building. He had a Smith 659.

But I do recall one many, many, many, many
moons ago at a Northwest Side saving and loan.
As a kid I used to admire his revolver nestled
in its holster while he dozed in a chair near
the front door. :)
 
I see a guard, every week, outside my bank.
It reminded me that just about every time I see an armored car, the crew is armed with revolvers, too.
 
I drive by the Brinks depot in Downtown Cleveland often. Some times, they have the overhead door open to back in a bank truck...other times, they are backing in one of the weird, low 53’ cash semis.
When that door is open, two guys stand outside with what look like Glock 19’s in hand by their side.
 
I think you can safely say that any police department of any size in North America, Europe, or East Asia issues semiautomatic pistols.

I think you could with equal certainty say that anyone who says there are no police departments issuing revolvers in North America, Europe or East Asia is wrong.

I am familiar with some two-, three- and four-man municipal police departments where everyone is still carrying revolvers on duty. This may invite a semantic analysis of the word "issue" because these departments do not inventory weapons that are then assigned to individual officers, instead the officer acquires the pistol and is reimbursed by the department.

I was stopped in a small town in east Arkansas by a municipal police officer who was still carrying a S&W revolver. The reason I was given for the stop was that it was 2:00 a.m., I was driving a restored 1968 Plymouth Barracuda and I slowed down to the speed limit rather than blowing through at highway speed like everyone else. Yes, obeying the law was cited as suspicious behavior. But that's a discussion for inside a courtroom, not a roadside where it would be so easy to be perceived as a threat. Personally, I think he was just bored and wanted to look at the car.
 
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