Howdy
Rant mode on:
I really dislike the term "back in the day". Completely meaningless. When are we talking about? 1950? 1900? 1880? 1776? If somebody wants to know something, why can't they state a date, rather than use an inaccurate term that could be interpreted many different ways?
Rant mode off:
This Colt Army Special chambered for 38 Special was made in 1921. By the mid 1920s the military was not buying many revolvers, in fact they were not buying much of anything. But lots of these revolvers were being sold to law enforcement agencies. So in 1927 Colt changed the name of this revolver to the Official Police model. The Official Police model was produced until 1969, and more than 425,000 of them were made. I have no idea how many were sold to law enforcement, but I suspect a lot were.
I bought this S&W Model 10-7 about 15 years ago. It was manufactured in 1968. I have always assumed the number hand stamped above the trigger is a police armorer's inventory number, stamped there to keep track of the guns he issued. This is an iconic police revolver.
This is a J frame S&W Model 36. A compact, five shot 38 Special revolver. It was made in 1961. Prior to 1957 this model was known as the Chief's Special. Perfect for a plain clothes policeman to carry in his coat pocket.
The large revolver at the top of this photo is a S&W 38 Military and Police, basically the same gun that became the Model 10 in 1957. The diminutive I frame revolver below it is a S&W 32 caliber Regulation Police. The 32 Regulation Police was a six shot revolver chambered for the 32 S&W Long cartridge, a cartridge that would be considered to be under powered by today's standards. However from 1917 until 1942 thousands of these were made. After WWII they were made again from 1946 until 1960. In 1957 the name was changed to Model 31. In 1961 the frame was changed to the J frame, the same frame as the Model 36. Production ceased in 1998. There was also a five shot Regulation Police model chambered for the 38 S&W cartridge, not to be confused with the 38 Special cartridge.
I would say that with a name like Regulation Police, a lot of these were sold to law enforcement agencies, despite their lack of power.