Police Revolvers w/ 6" bbls?

I have no specific data or dates.

But longer barrel revolvers were more popular with foot, or mounted officers, be it horse, or those new fangled motor-cycles.

Once cops got cars, and had to set down in them to drive them?

Shorter barrels became the norm.

Nobody likes to get poked in the short ribs by a long revolver all day every time they hit a rut in the road.

(Swivel holsters were a feeble attempt to address that problem.)
But it was soon found, over a 40-50 year period, that officers where dying because the gun in the swivel holster wasn't were it was supposed to be, when it needed to be there in the worst possible way!!

The Sam Browne belt with the strap over the shoulder went south too.

(Nobody likes to wear a leather man-handler strap across their chest, attached to the gun belt when it gets down & dirty. No matter how Snappy a military uniform look it gave them.)

rc

When I was younger and revolvers where the norm for police the State Patrol (Highway Patrol) officers carried 6" .357 magnums.

LAPD. 1 Adam 12, See The Man. At a time when a clique of pistoleros held sway, eguipmentwise. Anybody see the old Department film clip of cigarettes being shot out of hands and mouths?

My Dept's issued revolver in 1977 (when I got one) was a S&W Model 15 with a 4" bbl. But it was fairly common to see guys carrying their personally owned 6" bbl revolvers, most common was the 6" bbl Model 66. And yes, we were all in cars, not mounted or on motorcycles; most of the guys carried these 6" guns in swivel holsters. All of the revolvers went away in about 1989 when we got Beretta 92 9mm's. In a previous, very short-term LE job, we had to carry our own guns, we were not issued a gun. So I carried my S&W M-28 6" bbl Highway Patrolman, the only suitable gun I owned at the time. At that job, I worked primarily a foot post: "foot patrol" - some old guys will remember! - and carrying a six inch bbl gun was fine.

LAPD, New Jersey State Police, Cal. HP all issued the S&W M-14 at one time. Washinton State Patrol issued a 6" M-28 in a cross draw holster. Florida HP also issued a 6" M-28 (I think). I grew up in NJ and during the 60's & 70's when NJSP issued the 6" M-14, many NJ local PD's issued 6" M-10 & M-14's.

My father-in-law carried a 6 inch 686 from 1984-2014. He never switched over to an auto, because he didn't want to do the conversion course. The last time he needed new leather before he retired, though, it was almost impossible to find a holster.

And I am delighted to say that these days .38 Special revolvers with 6" barrels, and especially with fixed sights, are not in particular demand in the used market. Consequently they are often discounted when compared against prices for the same makes/models with 2 or 4 inch barrels. As for those with a 5 inch length - go try and find a holster. :banghead:

But these make great shooters, and any capable marksman (or woman) can generally humiliate someone at a shooting range that's got one of the new hi-capacity wonder pistols that are great for spraying, but not much else.

So I am one of the relative few that look for these "long-tom" guns, especially if some seller is desperate enough to be trying to give away whatever...

My dad was a VA trooper. His issued revolver was a 6" Model 10. That's the first fun I ever fired, and the gun I learned with. Back then, in the 50's, the state police range included firing from 60 yards, prone, single action. By the time I joined in 1970, they had gone to 4", both Smiths and Colts. When promoted to Agent, they gave me a 2" Model 64. Since then, they've gone to a Smith 9mm, then a Smith 10mm, the the Sig 357 which is still in use and is the gun they gave me upon retirement.

When I was in LE (70's - 80's) almost everyone carried a revolver and the vast majority, at least in the N. Texas area, were 4" barrels. And I think that RC hit it right on the nose. It was more for comfortable carry than anything else. Most of the officers that shot on dept. pistol teams owned and shot 6" barreled revolvers, but few carried them on duty.

I've seen pics of RI state troopers M-10's with six-inch barrels and many officers in the Dallas area had six-inch barrels on various S&W Magnums. Some may have had .45 Colt chambering. It's mainly SIG-Sauer autos now.

The RCMP used five-inch barrels on their M-10's until they went to DA-only S&W 9mm's.

short barrel said:

........ the the Sig 357 which is still in use and is the gun they gave me upon retirement.

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That's great that they actually GIVE you your gun when you retire. The only thing they gave us, was the opportunity to buy our gun when we retired. And the amount they would sell them to us for, was what I felt was a full retail value for a used Beretta 92F - certainly not any kind of a "good" price - so I declined to purchase mine when I retired. I did buy my Smith & Wesson M-15, when we switched over from those revolvers to the new semi auto pistols in 1989. I think we only were charged $100 for those guns, which I thought was a good deal. And I actually really liked my Smith & Wesson Model 15! (Sorry for the little bit of thread drift!)

The Sam Browne belt with the strap over the shoulder went south too.

(Nobody likes to wear a leather man-handler strap across their chest, attached to the gun belt when it gets down & dirty. No matter how Snappy a military uniform look it gave them.)

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-RCModel

You might be interested to know the Sam Browne is still part of the uniform of the New Mexico State Police. The uniform has not changed since the 1940s.

Don't forget the Rhode Island State Police, whose uniforms are reportedly based on designs by the RISP quartermaster in the 1930s that a modern quartermaster found in the files and entered in and won a competiton for new uniforms in the 1980s. Check out all of the Sam Browne belts and I need to get a pair of those boots!

http://www.thehighroad.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=40919&d=1149734024
It shoots very well

I was a special cop in a small town for a while when I was younger. We all had
issue 6 inch barrel colts. The police bitched so much about the long barrels in
their cars that they went out and bought all new guns with 4 inch barrels. Being
a special I had to keep the six incher.

Zeke

And more

The California Highway Patrol issued the 6" S&W M-68 into the early 90s...when it was replaced by the 4006

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At that time individual officers had a choice of 6 or 4 inch barrel weapons. This was the first time all officers were issued a state owned revolver. Prior to that all officers were required to purchase all of their equipment including firearms. The state requirement was the weapon had to be either Colt or Smith & Wesson, .38 special or .357 magnum and with a 6 inch barrel only. Holster of your choice but the original was a swivel and could be a clam shell up until the late 50's. High ride open faced holsters became popular in the 70's and until outlawed by policy, cross draws.
It's interesting to note that until the issue of the 67 and 68 along with state issued 110 gr. +P+ hollow point ammunition officers supplied their own duty ammo and the only requirement was it couldn't be hollow point !