[nibb]

I was young, and i heard it from my father, dont know if its truth or not, but i remember how he said that there was a bank robbery, there was a cop as civilians and he went for his Smith and wesson pistol and it failed. Dont know what happend then, but he said the police departament where the cop was assigned returned every single pistol to the factory because of this, and it was a allot. Can someone dig up this for me? Or somebody remembers anything? The thing was they returned hundreds maybe thousands of pistols just because one failed.

[cane]

A little more info "when I was young" at least a decade would be helpful, city or state, semi-auto or revolver, etc.....

[CavalryJim]

The story sounds familiar....maybe it was about the Sigma?

[Starter52]

OK, let me try.

When S&W first came out with the Model 39, the magazine release button had a light spring that was too easy to depress. The button would sometime depress when the gun was holstered, especially in the tight leather holsters of the day.

Depressing the button would cause the magazine to drop a fraction of an inch (not noticeable), but it would also engage the "magazine safety". When drawn the gun would not fire (due to the mag safety disabling the gun). This left the poor LEO with a gun that did not shoot. I'm told S&W had to retro-fit all the early 39s with stronger mag release springs.

This is a true story as far as I know, but I don't know if this is the basis of the story your father told you. Hope this helps.

[msb45]

I heard a similar story regarding the FBI. In it an agents's 1076 locked up tight, a armorer had to unload it, after some incident where he pulled his weapon. Supposedly the FBI required trigger redesign was at fault.

While this could be called an urban legend you may recall the FBI pulling back the 1076s for "failures" and issuing a Glock.

I recall this as I packed a 4506 at the time (still have it, shoots fine btw) as a CCW and only the FBI modded 1076s were an issue.

[nibb]

It was like 15 years maybe 20 ago, all I know is that is was with a Smith and Wesson and they had to return the weapons, allot of them, thousands probably.

Theres also the story of why LAPD prefers Pump Shotguns and not the semis. It was when the first semi auto shotguns from Benelli came. One of the excuses of preferring a Pump Shotgun was that one night a rookie cleaned some shotguns and in the meantime he also went further and reloaded all of the guns but with a a wrong caliber, slightly bigger, then a cop was in a gun fight where he made such a pressure on the pump that bullet was forced into the chamber and he could fire, this saved his life.

[ball3006]

to properly index the cylinder when he put his only bullet in the chamber so when attempting to fire the gun, the hammer landed on an empty chamber..............chris3;)

[mpmarty]

Nibb could you go over that once more? You have definitely fogged up the landscape with your last post.

[Essex County]

Years ago I heard of Mod. 39 that had numerous failures on the fire range fou the State Police in a northern Midwestern state. No malfunctions while being used on duty. I'm not sure but I MIGHT have gleamed this from one Ayoob's columns. Can anyone help me out on this one? Essex

[CajunBass]

Years ago I heard of Mod. 39 that had numerous failures on the fire range fou the State Police in a northern Midwestern state. No malfunctions while being used on duty. I'm not sure but I MIGHT have gleamed this from one Ayoob's columns. Can anyone help me out on this one? Essex

I understand the original Model 39 had feed problems with anything but FMJ ammo. S&W made some changes, and the 39 became the 39-2.

That may be what you're thinking of.

I wanna say it was the Indiana State Police that were the first to issue the 39.

I really like my 39-2. :D

edited to correct something. It was the Illinois State Police.

[Ian]

Theres also the story of why LAPD prefers Pump Shotguns and not the semis.

The only thing slightly larger than a 12ga shell would be a 10ga one. There's no reason the LAPD would have a bunch of 10ga shotgun shells lying around, nor would it be possible to just squeeze one into a 12ga chamber by forcing the slide forward.

There are plenty of other, much more realistic reasons why they might prefer pumps over semis...this one sounds like a gun shop commando myth.

[nibb]

He actually bought the shells, and yes that is a true story, the shotgun was so heavily pulled that the shells broke into the chamber and he could fire. I read that on a gun magazine, i will try to get the story. The one I want to investigate is the S&W one. Anyone has a link or reference?

[Brian Williams]

Try North Carolina Dept of Corrections and S&W model 10s.

[Pax Jordana]

Nibby's talking about 3 inch 12ga. shells in a 2 3/4 in. chamber. I heard it too, I'll try to find a citation for you.

IIRC, the rookie cleaned and loaded the gun, somebody else had to use it. Jacked the gun closed so hard the 3-incher went in, shot the perp and killed him, and the gun promptly jammed.

[stevemis]

http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/419477.html

(North Carolina) State prison officials want gunmaker Smith & Wesson to replace hundreds of revolvers after dozens failed to shoot and the barrels broke off of others upon firing in training exercises.

... and for some amazing PR spin... Of course there's no mention of the abysmal failures that caused North Carolina to drop the revolvers..

http://www.policeone.com/police-products/firearms/handguns/press-releases/135598/

Smith & Wesson Holding Corporation (Amex: SWB), parent company of Smith & Wesson Corp., the legendary 154-year old global provider of products and services for safety, security, protection and sport, today announced that it has reached an agreement with the North Carolina Department of Correction for 5,700 of the company's new Military & Police (M&P) Series of advanced-design polymer pistols.

[Jeff F]

I know for a fact that a 3 in GA shell will go right in and chamber in a 2 3/4 inch chamber. Bad things can happen if you pull the trigger.

[akodo]

3 inch shells in a 2 3/4inch gun makes much more sense than 10 guage in a 12,but still...

did the rookie go to the local gun store and buy some ammo and donate it to the police station? if not, why the blank did the station even have 3 inch shells AND 2 3/4inch shells?