what revolver did police use to carry?

The variety of handguns will always be far greater in areas where police have to arm themselves. Moose, the jackass short-term chief of police in my hometown in Pennsylvania carried a Colt SAA in .45.

In the late 1980s I went to work in Lewistown, county seat of Mifflin County, which had a dept. of about 12 full-time officers. There were a number of smaller township and borough forces around Lewistown anywhere from 1 to maybe half a dozen officers. I got to know many of them well as I was a reporter for the local paper.

Most commonly carried was a 1911. Several others carried Beretta or Smith 9mms, one carried a Colt Double Eagle in .45. Those who carried revolvers invariably carried S&Ws, mostly .357s; one carried a .44 Mag. The most interesting of all was the one who carried his Father's Colt New Service in .45.

Mifflin County has now gone to a regional police force, which standardized on Glock 9mms.
 
Detective Specials were carried by the Detectives of the Palisades Interstate Parkway Police. This one dates from the early 30’s.
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The man who sold me this pre War 32 S&W Long informed me that his Uncle carried this as a Reserve Policeman. Apparently these revolvers were popular with law enforcement prior to WWII. I suspect it was due to the revolver being so lightweight and small. It is not much larger than a kid's cap gun.

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The answer will depend heavily on what department and what specific time period you're referring to. Up until WWII, Colt and S&W revolver in .38 Special were in heavy competition with each other with Colt probably having a slight lead. After WWII, S&W began gaining a greater and greater lead over Colt.

Beginning in the 1960's and continuing on through the 70's, the .357 Magnum began to become the preferred cartridge for law enforcement although many large departments (most notably the NYPD) chose to stay with the .38 Special. In the 80's, Ruger revolvers began to take a large part of the LEO market to the point that they were only slightly behind S&W in the late 80's and early 90's when revolvers fell out of favor for LEO work.

Up through at least the WWII, the New York State Police issued Colt New Service revolvers in .45 Long Colt and in the 1930's the Border Patrol issued the New Service in .38 Special. The NYPD issued S&W Model 10's and 64's until 1992 when they switched to the Glock 19. At that time, officers had the option to keep their revolvers if they chose though newly hired officers were (and still are) required to carry the Glock. The first police agency to use .357 Magnum revolvers in any great number was the FBI who approved their agents to carry S&W Registered Magnums in the 1930's though .38 Special revolvers remained standard issue. The last revolvers to be approved by the FBI were S&W Models 19 and 65 with 2 1/2" and 3" barrels respectively. The first large police agency to switch to semi-automatics en masse was the Illinois State Police which adopted the S&W Model 39 9mm in the 1960's
 
gun

I started out in 1980 with a S&W mdl 19, then later on was issued the S&W 686, then the dept transistioned to auto's. Still love my 19!!!
 
My first duty gun was a S&W® Mdl 10 38 Special; & I carried Winchester 158gr LSWCHP. I graduated to a S&W® Mdl 19 357 Magnum a few years later. I used Federal® Premium™ 158gr LSWCHP+P in this gun. I then moved up to a S&W® No Dash mdl 686
 
In New Orleans is the late 50s and early 60s most of us carried either a S&W model 10 or 15. We had to purchase our own guns. The gun had to be blue steel with at least a 4 inch barrel. They were a few Colts around but mostly carried by the old timers who had been issued them by the department years earlier, when they still did that. I carried a S&W Model 15.

The S&W had a had a shorter hammer stroke than the Colt when using double action. In theory this made the S&W a bit quicker firing than the Colt, hence the reason for more of us carrying S&W.

You could purchase a 357 revolver but but only load it with .38 Special when on duty. This was to prevent you shooting thru someone's house in a gunfight and killing an innocent. That’s what they claimed anyway. Off duty you were supposed to carry also, but there was no limitations on what it was.

By the way we had to purchase our duty bullets too, only got free ones at the range when you qualified and these were some crappy reloads.
 
Jim Keenan said:
BillCA is right about small towns, but the diversity was greater than he indicates. I grew up in an area in PA that had dozens of small towns, and each usually had only one or two cops. The assortment of guns would have made a collector ecstatic.
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The diversity in smaller towns with less than about 20 officers was always interesting. I didn't go into much detail because I didn't want to write another War & Peace novel (to which Mike Irwin is asking when has that ever stopped him?).

I started on the Trooper Mk III which was a sweet shooter. Then I found I could shoot S&W's much better. A new "big city" chief came in, in his early 60's and we figured he'd standardize everything. Just the opposite. "If it works for us, we don't change it." The one thing he did change was to allow us to carry any 4-6" DA revolver .38 caliber or larger that we could qualify with.

One of the officers qualified with a customized S&W 4-inch .44 Special (M24). Another used a 6.5" Model 25 .45 ACP. So I just had to go out and spend a whopping $113 for one of these.
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S&W Model 58, The .41 Magnum M&P

The next thing I know, I'm the lone traffic cop. The other 4 guys stuck with either .38's or .357's (one bought my Trooper Mk III).

Across the delta region, nearer to Stockton with it's "big city" crime, one of the town's two cops carried a Colt SAA in .44-40 and was a crack shot with it. His boss carried a .32 Colt Police Positive (.32 New Police). With a 2 man force, if you encountered a desperado who shot back and fled, you didn't pursue terribly hard. Just report it county-wide and a larger agency or CHP would find him.

I was dragged to my first steel target shoot in Stockton around '74. Most were using .38's with ammo that we'd call +P today. My first shot didn't drop the target even though we heard the *blang!* of the steel. I aimed higher, the target waited a second and fell over. The RM stopped me after the 2nd target dropped with some real authority. Seems my hard cast LSWC reloads were punching right through the mild steel targets unless I hit high. Oops. :o :D

Being in a delta/boating community meant lots of silly summer gunplay by drunken sailors in the delta waters. We'd call the USCG for them unless they came ashore in our burg. When it was on land (mostly shooting out across the water), we'd show up, ask them if they were "shootin' safely", chat guns a bit and if they were intoxicated collect the guns, cite them and tell them to pick up the guns tomorrow. We had almost no trouble with them. If we did, Clint Smith's statement that nothing changes a man's mind like a big bore muzzle pointed a his forehead turned out to be true. :cool:
 
My dad owns a S&W Model 64 (full-sized, stainless steel, heavy 4" barrel .38spl revolver with fixed sights) that he bought used in the 1980's. It has a stamp on the butt identifying the issuing PD that used it before he bought it.
 
My experience

The NPs issued me a S&W M15 w/ 110gr +P+ ammo in 1983. I changed parks in '84 and was issued a M10 heavy bbl, same ammo. Changed again in '85 and drew a second HB M10, same ammo. Transfer #4 netted me a M66, again +P+ 110 ammo, 1986.

In 1988 I landed at my current duty post and was issued a M686 Lframe. By this time there had been some duty shootings w/ the +p+ 110 and results were not entirely favorable. There was a rapid move to .357 mag, 125 JHP and the L-frames were entirely suited for same. Many of the old M19 and M66 revolvers that had been around a while, did not last long under quals and training w/ mag ammo. Pachmayer and Hogue grips became instantly popular.

The Park Service began the switch to auto's in the early 90's, when auto's were pretty common w/ the rest of LE. I figured we'd go to auto's about time the rest of the world went to laser's, but I was wrong!!!!!
 
Baltimore PD issued some Colt OP's in the 50's and early 60's. After that, it was strictly S&W model 10 in 4" HB. As the 64 became available, they were issued as well. I carried a M10 until I made sergeant, then the armorer (also a Sgt.) tuned up a M64 for me. Original ammo was the 158 gr LRN. Moved to 158 SWC and finally to the 158 SWCHP +P. Glocks arrived in early 80's. My old 64 below. Detectives were issued the Colt DS, then the S&W M10 in 2", followed by the M64. Detective Special shown below M64.

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From the 80's

As the post above states, the S & W 19 or 686 were pretty typical for LE carry in the 80's, but the Ruger Speed Six was also popular. All three are .357's, but no one I knew would use .357 rounds in the S & W's, as they were not quite built for a steady diet of these.
 
My dad carried a 6" Python as his duty weapon. His backups were a Charter Arms snubby and a 4" Llama, both in .38 Spl. Go figure. ;) He was a sheriff and small town police chief in Nebraska; a firm believer in RKBA. Only drew his weapon twice in his career, never fired it.
 
Hit the street in 1978 and was issued a Colt Trooper III in .357, issued carry was .357 Remington and we used .38 SWC to practice and qual. Carried that boat anchor untill mid 80's when we went to 9mm semi autos. I was near the first in my dept to carry a Smith 469. They would not let me buy the Colt from the dept when they called them in and they burned it. Also when we started we had drop pouches and were inspected to make sure we did not have a speed loader on us, (kept them in the cars and brief cases). Sheriff was afraid of public reaction if they saw us carrying speed loaders :confused:
 
thanks...i found my dads today. just were he put it about 8 years ago. still loaded. the grips fill huge on it.
 
US law enforcement DA revolvers..

I'd say BillCA covered the topic well.
For the most part most US police-law enforcement issued the S&W model 10 .38spl. I'd say the only real issued DA revolvers for many years other than the model 10 were the S&W model 19/66 or the 686.
My county's large(1200 sworn members) sheriff's office used the S&W L frame 686 4" barrel for a long time before switching to the Beretta 92F/FS 9mm. I can't recall ever seeing a uniformed sheriff deputy now with a 686 .357magnum but I do see a small # of older/senior deputies carry the 92FS.

I really liked my NYPD surplus Ruger GPNY. I got a few big scratch marks on it that were hard to fully remove. Ruger made GP100s and SP101 revolvers for the NYPD. Many used .38spl DA only sidearms are on the US market.
 
I started in L.E. back in 1991. We were issued Smith Model 10s. However, I was allowed to carry my personal revolver, a Ruger GP 100 357 mag stainless, with a 4" barrel. Would still carry it today.:rolleyes:
 
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