Hello all. I recently found out that my Great Grandfather was a police officer in Boston in the 1920's and 30's. I was wondering what type of pistol he may have been issued (brand, caliber, barrel length etc.) Thanks for any help!
Hello Snowman
In response to your questions here, I want to believe in or around the Boston Area The Most Popular Revolver that was carried by Police agencies back in the
1920'-1930's time span would have been
the S&W Revolver. The chosen Caliber back then was
the .32 S&W Long Caliber. Most revolvers chambered in it were small in size and S&W Made a special
"Regulation Police" model Revolver for that Purpose.
Colt did offer revolver's as well, but most Police agencies Bought from Gun Manufacturers that offered special offer Police agency Prices back then, and S&W was very competitive with their prices
compared to Colt's back then with it's
Law enforcement sales, so their weapons were far more
Popular among Police departments than Colts were, as Colt was trying to Captivate the Millitary sales more so than the Public Police agency sector. Some Police Forces Did issue the larger
M&P style S&W revolver's which are the
K-Frames and chambered in the
.38 Special round, but that style and Model revolver became Far more Popular in the
Mid to later 1930's time span, and after
World War II when Consumer Production resumed More were seen as daily carry weapons by Police agencies & The Popular M&P became the Model
10 after
1957
Shown Below is a Police issued revolver of mine, that shipped in
April 1927 to Harry Anderson who was The
Evansville, Indiana Police Chief. He was in charge of & riding in an
Experimental Motorcycle Brigade which consisted of
13 Indian Motorcycles to answer calls in the Evansville city area. Prior to 1927 all City Calls in The Evansville, Indiana area were answered by Police riding
Bicycles. This Gun is chambered in the Then Popular
.32 S&W Long Caliber and is the
"I Frame Regulation Police Model " that S&W Built & Offered as a standard issue to Most police department's as their daily Carry weapon's back in that time frame. By the Middle to late
1930's Crime had risen much with the Likes of
Bonnie & Clyde, Al Capone, John Dillenger, Baby Face Nelson and others, and with them using such weapons as The
Tommy Gun, Shotguns, BAR's, & Colt 1911's in .45 ACP, and it was evident that Police agencies were very, very
out Gunned as Most Police agencies of that Time Frame were only using the standard .
32 S&W Caliber hand guns.
After Much thought and Prompting by The Famed Wild Cat Cartridge re-loader and well respected
Philip Sharp who had been experimenting using
a S&W 38-44 Large-N-Frame Outdoorsman Target revolver of which he used a Highly advanced .
38 Special round which in Essence equaled the Power and Velocity of the Later .357 Magnum Cartridge. Sharpe sent may Letters to Joseph Wesson attempting to prompt him to Build a hand gun to harness the Power of this experimental .357 Magnum, so In Late
1934 Joseph Wesson Took Sharpes suggestion & decided to offer The Most Powerful Handgun ever made as he Built , which was a Hand gun to handle the Very Potent
.357 Magnum Caliber by Modifying the length of the cylinder throats of a special Heat treated prepared
38-44 Outdoorsman revolver Like sharpe had been experimenting with. Wesson had Known for some time, that Police agencies needed Guns with more power as even the
.38 Special was not as Powerful as it once was when it was Loaded with
Black Powder Prior to Smokless Powder, so he knew it was high time for
some change. Wesson at First contacted
Remington Arms and asked them to build the .357 Magnum Cartridge of which he claimed his revolver could handle the extra pressure and Velocity of the .357 Magnum round. They Promptly Blew him off and said that this experimental round was
far too powerful in any revolver and was not needed, Nor did they feel it would be accurate at Velocites of
1450 FPS so he commissioned
Winchester Arms to Build the round and they accepted after he shipped them this special Heat treated .357 Magnum revolver to fire it in. Wincester Built
a special Bullet with More
gas checks of
Copper Jacketed design with more
agle to these gas checks to meet the new Higher pressures of the .357 magnum round and Marketed it as such & Remington Arms would not be
called upon again from S&W for any experimental hand gun Offering calibers Until
1956 when S&W asked them to Build
the .44 Magnum Caliber for the famous Pre-29 Hand guns which was prompted Heavily by
Elmer Keith.
This .357 Magnum Caliber was able to shoot straight through Window
Glass, doors, and even Pierce and Disable an Engine block if needed to. This was the exciting New Magnum caliber that
for ever changed the way hand guns would be viewed by her Buying Public. The New Hand Made Custom order Gun was Called
"The Registered Magnum". Douglas Wesson's Vision was Indeed quickly accepted by the Buying Public, and no Other Gun manufacturer had ever offered a Customer special order hand gun to the general Public the Likes of this before. It was offered in
Blued or Nickel finish's with Barrel lengths from
3-1/2" to 8-3/4" in 1/4" Increments. It had
7 front sight blades offered with
6 Rear Blade configurations. You could have ordered the standard
service stocks with a
Grip adaptor to fill in the Place between the rear trigger Guard and frame, or had they Offered the new then,
Magna style grips of larger Proportions. The company also offered Stock's made from out side Vendors such as
Pearl, Stag, Mother of Pearl, or The elaborate " Walter Roper" Hand made Custom Target Grips shown on my
1935 Registered Magnum Below
.
To Obtain one of these Custom hand guns , the perspective buyer had to fill out a S&W Custom Built Registered magnum
order form which asked what
Finish, Barrel length, Sight Configuration, and stocks were wanted on your gun. They also asked what
ammo you wanted used in it when it was
sighted in at the
Factory with along with
the distance shot ,at as all handguns were Test fired before leaving the factory to assure top quality, they had to meet S&W's expectations. Upon receiving the weapon, there was an
owners registration Warranty card to be filled out and sent back to the factory by the Owner. This card was the Owners way of assuring that they Now had
a Full life time warranty on his Custom Built .357 Magnum, and S&W In Turn returned an owners
Registration certificate Suitable for framing by the owner, which showed the owners name, address, and ammo used to sight the weapon in along with the Guns Registration number and serial number.
All Registered Magnums were
Hand Built and Hand Made by Skilled Gun smith's and With it costing $
60.00 back in
1935 it was the
most expensive hand gun ever offered by S&W so at first
sales were slow with only
718 Being made in 1935. The
3-1/2" Barrel as mine shown was made in
Rather small quantities with only
408 Total being made in their
4 year run of The Registered magnum series, which ran from
1935-1939, and the
Most common Barrel length of these Registered magnums was the
5" Configuration. On these hand Built Guns The factory stamped the crane area with
a Reg-Number as well, indicating
the stamped Registration Number of each gun. Once the weapon was sold and the factory got the total price of $60.00 to Build the weapon the Owner would be sent and Instructed to fill out his Owner Registration form, and to send it back to the factory. This Registration Card served as
the owners Life time warranty and S&W sent back in it's place,
a Registration Certificate with the owners name, address and what distance and what ammo the Buyer requested to be used to sight it in when it left the S&W factory.
By
1939 The Orders were Pouring in at such an alarming rate, S&W
Ceased the registration process and made the .357 Magnum a Catalog item, and those handguns were called
Non-Registered magnums being exact to the Registered ones only lacking
the Registration process and the Frame stamp of
Registration-Numbers. In
1940 S&W stopped making the .357 Magnum for the
World War II effort. The Registration process stopped in 1939 and would never be offered again with
a Grand total of only 5224 ever to be made, and to me, it would be Interesting to know just
how many of them have survived as Many of them were destroyed
by police agencies along the way due to
high wear Deeming them unsafe and not suitable for service any more. Production of the .357 Magnum resumed in
1948 and in
1957 They Became the Model
27 revolver
. The Registered Magnum which started life as a custom Built hand gun later became the model 27 which to me, was theMost
elaborate revolver S&W ever Built. Regards, Hammerdown
My S&W
1927 Regulation Police I Frame Revolver Owned by Harry Anderson The Evansville, Indiana Police Chief, which shipped with the special order 3-1/4" Barrel and Mother Of Pearl grips.
A First year
1935 Registered Magnum in .357 Caliber. Shipped to
Bowen Brothers Hardware company of
Augusta, Georgia on
December 3 1935 and was sold to an
FBI Agent, shown with a set of
Rare "Walter Roper" Custom Target grips.