Duty Revolvers

[JMACDONALD]

I'M ADDICTED TO PORN! GUN PORN THAT IS. I DONT POST TOO MUCH BECAUSE I'M ALWAYS BUSY LOOKING AT ALL OF YOUR GUN PICS. WHAT I'D REALY LIKE TO SEE IS PICS OF YOUR OLD DUTY WHEELGUNS. IF THEY RODE ON YOUR HIP, ANKLE, UNDER YOUR ARM OR IN YOUR POCKET ITS ALL THE SAME TO ME. UNIFORMED POLICE, DETECTIVE, OR A LITTLE SOMETHING YOU TOOK FOR A TRIP OVER SEAS TO MAKE SURE YOU CAME HOME FROM ACTIVE DUTY. SHOW ME YOURS AND I'LL SHOW YOU MINE. - JOE MAC

 

[Kurac]

38/44 Heavy Duty in a 4"

Alright, I'll play the game I bought it about a month ago at my local gun shop, they called it a widow gun. They tell me the old woman who brought it in lost her husband 15 or 20 years ago and she wanted to get rid of it. He was a cop, more details I do not have.

 

[JMACDONALD]

THANKS KURAC

NICE!!! LOOKS LIKE A MODEL 10 ON STEROIDS OR A FIXED SIGHT MODEL 28. FBI LOAD MUST FEEL LIKE A .22 MAG OUT OF THAT THING. - JOE MAC

 

[thatguy]

Actually, it's the Model 58 and not the Heavy Duty that resembles a "Model 10 on steroids." This one was surplused from a PA police agency in 1988 and I bought it for $189 complete with duty holster and ammo dump pouch.

 

[Steve499]

This model 60 was issued to me as an off-duty piece around 1981. I bought it when the revolvers were replaced by Glocks but continued to qualify with it and carry it daily until I retired in 2004. I added the Crimson Trace grips about 2000 or so.

Steve

 

[JCM298]

I carried this Python from `65 to `85 when I was forced, kicking and screaming, to transition to a Sig 220. After 20 years of holster wear, it needed re-blueing so a local smith did it for me. I was concerned about it but I'd seen his work. He made me an offer that I could not pass up: If I wasn't satisfied, there's be no charge. Needless to say, I paid. It turned out very nice.

The grips are Mustangs but I have the originals, too. By the way, I paid $100 for it, NIB. NO, it is not for sale.



The line from the cylinder stop/window to the grip is a reflection not an imperfection.



John

 

[Cosmoline]

I'm trying to imagine going from that work of art to a bottom feeder. Nice reblue! Most of them don't turn out that well. The old Colt Royal blue is hard to capture.

 

[SwampWolf]

Thatguy: Are you certain Kurac's revolver is a model 58? I always thought all 58s had ejector housings only partially enclosed with heavy barrels -like the one you have pictured.

 

[Kurac]

Thatguy: Are you certain Kurac's revolver is a model 58? I always thought all 58s had ejector housings only partially enclosed with heavy barrels -like the one you have pictured.

Um, believe thatguy is posting a pic of a model 58 the one I posted is of a 38/44 aka Heavy Duty. It is a fixed sight N-frame chambered in .38 special. The model 58 from Thatguy is going to be a fixed sight N-frame in .41 Magnum

 

[JMACDONALD]

fixed sight N frame .357

Smith made a fixed sight n frame in .357 for a very short time NY state police used if I'm not mistaken. Anybody every carry one for work? Keep the other duty pieces coming they look great. - Joe Mac

 

[22luvr]

Ugly picture, ugly gun!

Got this old-time Mod M677 Rossi .357 mag 6-shot snub for $125 several years back. Looks can be deceiving because it is possibly the most accurate 2" snub I have ever shot. Great little self-defense piece.

 

[SixForSure]

Thatguy: Are you certain Kurac's revolver is a model 58? I always thought all 58s had ejector housings only partially enclosed with heavy barrels -like the one you have pictured.

Thatguy's is indeed a 58. Looks just like mine.

 

[SwampWolf]

It is indeed a 58. Looks just like mine.

The picture of Kurac's revolver depicts a fully shrouded ejector housing. I could be way off base here but I've never seen a Model 58 with a fully shrouded barrel. I consulted "The Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson" and authors Jim Supica and Richard Nahas state: "...(The Model 58) unlike the Model 57...has a non-shrouded ejector rod."

I believe the only significant differences between all Model 58s is the finish. A few had a nickle finish. All had 4", heavy barrels with non-shrouded ejector rods.Kurac's revolver is not a Model 58.That guy's is.

 

[Archie]

Hold the presses!

Kurac's revolver is a "Outdoorsman"; a .38 Special on an N frame.

Thatguy's revolver is the M58; .41 Magnum duty gun.

Both guns cause me an inordinate amount of lust and covetousness. The 58 is probably the nee plus ultra duty revolver. It has everything one needs and nothing extra. Perhaps a set of Herritt's Shooting Star grips.

I have to buy a digital camera; I have some "show and tell" myself.

 

[Kurac]

Archie,

Not to complicate things but, if my gun had adjustable sights it would indeed be called an outdoorsman, otherwise it is known as the 38/44 Heavy Duty model of 1950 (pre model 20)

 

[runninmike]

Actually, it's the Model 58 and not the Heavy Duty that resembles a "Model 10 on steroids." This one was surplused from a PA police agency in 1988 and I bought it for $189 complete with duty holster and ammo dump pouch.

I too have one with more bluing wear than the one pictured above as mine is stamped SFPD-so holster wear is there, but so is function and nostalgia. Mine has the magnas numbered to it still-a 1964 "S" frame. Love that big fifty-eight.
I too paid a nice small fee-$169 in about '91. I'll try to get a pict up later.
Best-MC

 

[Iggy]

Here is a Duty Model 58.

This gun and I put in 15 years behind a badge. We both have the scars to prove it.
I paid $81.00 for it NIB.

I have thought about having it refinished, but the two of us earned those battle scars together, and we're gonna keep them.

We were in a couple of serious social encounters and we survived.

I have a lot of guns I would sacrifice, but not this one.

 

[thatguy]

SwampWolf- Kurac posted a pic of a Heavy Duty (Model 20 starting in 1957) and referred to it as a "Model 10 on steroids." I posted a pic of a Model 58 and said that the 58 is the gun most people describe as a 10 on juice. I never called Kurac's gun a Model 58.

The 58 was a fixed-sight service revolver in .41 Magnum that came with the Magna "PC" style stocks (rounded at the bottom). The only other N frame to come with these stocks was the Model 520, which is the gun made for the NY State Police mentioned by another member in his reply above. The 520 was a fixed-sight .357 with a shrouded ejector rod. About 3,000 were made. The Model 57 was a deluxe .41 Magnum similar to the Model 29 with adjustable sights and target features.

 

[SwampWolf]

Actually, it's the Model 58 and not the Heavy Duty that resembles a "Model 10 on steroids." This one was surplused from a PA police agency in 1988 and I bought it for $189 complete with duty holster and ammo dump pouch.

Thatguy: If you read your post again, it appears like you're referencing Kurac's photo in your first sentence. If not, then I just misread it.

Anyhow, I've always wanted a 58 and should have got one when they were a little more affordable. The 57 never moved me because, though I have a revolver chambered in .41 Mag., I've never been especially enamored by caliber itself and reasoned that if I wanted the 57's configuration, I'd just get a 29.

 

[MartinS]

OK, only real hardcore in this thread, guns with true grit, beautiful stuff.

 

[JMACDONALD]

Pics! The perv wants more pics!

That guy called me "another guy", that's funny Thatguy thanks for coming up with Model 520. I love smiths, magnums and fixed sights. A model 520 is like a model 13 on, as you put it, juice. As MartinS said lets keep seeing those pics and storys of duty guns with "true grit". No safe queens need apply just good old fasioned work guns like Iggy. - Joe Mac

 

[Shear_stress]

Here's a late-1970s M67 that I picked up last fall. It was carried by a New Joisey cop until they transitioned to semiautos. Anyway, this sucker has the smoothest action of any of my Smiths, Bangor Punta vintage notwithstanding. Maybe the guy was on good terms with the department armorer.

 

[cosine]

NO, it is not for sale.

John

Aw, c'mon. Are you sure?

 

[HiWayMan]

Damn Iggy!! I don't think I've ever seen that much finish wore off a gun. That is a beautiful picture. As a matter a fact I think it is prettier than anything coming off the line today. I loves me some honest to god wear and tear on a revolver. I bet that trigger is slicker than a greased weasel.

 

[thatguy]

Another old S&W N frame duty revolver and I hope there's no confusion on this one. The Utah Highway Patrol carried 3.5" N frames for many years and I suspect this one saw duty with that agency. The S138000 serial number dates from 1954 but it was actually shipped in March of 1957 to a police supply outfit in Salt Lake City. What's odd is that it has a four-screw frame but no model number stamped on it. It does have a factory rework mark and I think it was returned to the factory after the five-screw frames were out of production and a new frame was used to rebuild the gun with the old serial number being stamped on the new frame. This pistol has one of the smoothest actions I have ever felt.