NYPD is saying goodbye to their revolvers. (Photo: NY Daily News/Thomas Monaster)
The New York Police Department is finally forcing some 150 officers to trade in their .38-caliber revolvers for more modern handguns.
The New York Daily News reported yesterday that America’s largest municipal police force will decommission their wheelguns. Affected officers will be required to attend three days of training to transition to a Gen 4 Glock 17 or 19 or Sig P226 DAO model.
In 2004 more than 2,000 officers still used a version of the gun first commissioned by Teddy Roosevelt in 1896. Today that number has drastically shrunk as cops find themselves outgunned by criminals wielding semi-automatic handguns capable of holding 16+ rounds.
“Eventually, they’ll all be gone,” Inspector Steven J. Silks said of the revolvers over a decade ago. “It’s like people who like to have a stick shift. You take it away from them, they feel like they can never drive in the snow again.”
The NYPD first adopted the 4-inch, .32-caliber Colt New Police revolver under Commissioner Theodore Roosevelt. Before that time officers could carry whatever sidearm they chose, but the future president believed standardizing permissible weapons would help end corruption and raise proficiency.
The Department continued using a variety of revolver models until 1993, when, after much contention between the department, the unions, and state legislators, the NYPD decided to switch to semi-automatic handguns. They simultaneously stopped issuing revolvers, so the number of officers who carry six-shooters has dwindled every year, from 30,000 in 1993 to 150 today.
SEE ALSO: Top Five Revolver Myths
Officer Mark Steinhaue, who joined the department in 1991 and still appears to serve on the force, told the New York Times that people frequently comment on his choice of sidearm. “They say, ‘What are you, an old-timer? My answer to them is, ‘It worked for John Wayne.’”
“It’s put me through 20 years, and I’m still alive,” said another member of the old guard, Officer Gregg Melita. “This is when guns were guns, and cops were cops,” he said. “The new guys don’t even know what dump pouches are. They go, ‘Hey, what’s that hold?’” He chuckled. “’Bullets, kid.’”
When the NYPD first switched to semi-automatic firearms, one of the main concerns was dependability. A revolver will still go off even if it’s been left in a drawer for many years. Semi-automatics, the argument went, are much more susceptible to malfunction.
But advancements in firearm technology and the last three decades of field experience have allayed many of those fears.
“You very rarely hear people talk anymore about their gun jamming,” Deputy Commissioner Stephen Davis, the NYPD’s top spokesman, told the Daily News.
Officers will be required to switch to the Glock or Sig models by August 31, 2018.
It would have been nice if you guys didn’t use the same photograph of a Rossi revolver that the newspaper did and had a photograph of a revolver the NYPD actually used.
Most fail to recognize that revolvers have one big advantage over semi-autos, if an arrest turns into a fight and then a shooting a revolver isn’t sensitive to limp-wristing if you have to shoot from an awkward position where you can’t lock your wrist. Semi-autos require a certain amount of resistance against the frame so the slide will be able to move back to feed the subsequent rounds.
Pretty mim 3inch model 64 round butt with hogue bantam.imo the best all purpose 38spl made! I have handloading 38spl for decades and can make rounds for almost any purpose. If 38 can’t stop it a 12guage slug will 🙂
Yes, revolvers are almost maintenance free, I carried one for years. As long as it is a good quality make like Smith & Wesson or Ruger. The two main areas of concern on a semi-auto pistol are keeping it clean, and don’t leave the mags loaded for very long periods of time, the springs go dead, and the pistol begins to have feeding problems. Either way, the mag springs need to be changed on a service pistol every few years. I have seen mags where the rounds actually fall out when it is turned upside down. The springs stay down, due to lack of tension. Unfortunately, the NYPD didn’t start to seriously consider semi auto pistols until Officer Scott Gaddel was killed while attempting to re-load his .38 during a gun fight sometime around 1987.
I don’t own a single pistol. As sidearms go I own only revolvers. I did own a .380 Taurus for a short time before I gave it to a niece, and I am interested in getting a Rock Island Armory .22 TCM Micro Mag, one to collect, one to fire, but other than that I’ve never been interested in them. My job takes me into Police Stations almost daily, all that have the same universal “No Firearms Allowed” sticker that has a pistol with a red circle and line through it on the doors and I always jokingly say to them as I point to the stickers, “Jeez I don’t know why everyone hates pistols, but it sure makes me glad that all of my sidearms are revolvers that no one seems to have a problem with”. They chuckle, I chuckle.
I used my issued Colt Detective Special in 1974 in a gunfight with three armed robbers. I had to reload one time and with the aid of other officers came out on top in that fight. I still carry a small .38 in retirement b/c my daily orbits are pretty tame but it makes perfect sense for today’s cops to carry high capacity auto loaders.
I bought a colt detective special around 1974 and although I’ve bought many auto loaders since then I still carry that old gun. It has some holster wear and the grips probably need replacing it’s still as reliable as the day I bought it.
The vast majority of NYC police officers never handled a firearm prior to joining the force and except for once or twice a year qualifying most of them never unholster their guns. Shooting skills doesn’t seem to be a priority
Good thing Sipowicz is retired.
Talk about yer “… cold dead hands!”
Todd.
SIPOWICZ …..HA..HA.HA…….GREAT COMMENT/SENSE OF HUMOR !!!!….LAUGHING MY ASS OFF !!!!….WE WATCHED THE SAME T.V. SHOWS !!!!….LOL…LOL…
Well sure. With a name like “Caruso,” why wouldn’t you?
Still his best partner of the series!
Todd.
So if a revolver is left in a drawer for years, does that mean NY Police do not have to qualify every year?
“What’s that hold?”
Cartridges, kid.
Revolvers can jam also. I recently had a DAO one at one time that would shoot a couple of rounds and then it would get extremely difficult to pull the trigger. I removed the grips and flooded it with spray brake cleaner. It would last for a few rounds and then jam up again. After more brake cleaner, I sprayed some lithium grease inside it and that seemed to fix it. Basically, if you don’t clean your firearm enough and lubricate it afterwards, even a revolver can malfunction.
Lithium grease is not the answer. Your DAO revolver has a problem that MUST be corrected. It’s either a leading problem … A build up of lead or other metal in the forcing cone that must be removed…. Or the weapon has a problem with the B/C (barrel to cylinder gap). The cylinder is binding on the forcing cone. That gap should be between .005 and .007 inches, no more, no less. Hold the gun sideways up to a strong light. If you can’t see the slight distance between the cylinder and forcing cone (B/C gap), that’s the problem. Also, does the gun “spit lead” to the side when fired? Same thing, and a serious issue of eye safety to the shooter or anyone standing close to the side. When was the last time you ran a copper brush and lead solvent thru the barrel and cylinder?
I feel kinda sad to see this era in history phased out, the good old 38 special that was well respected. If I was a cop I would still have one around even if I had to sneak and do it, comes a time when our tools have to perform double duty, a revolver such as the GP100 can crack heads without pulling the trigger.
I always kept a dick special in an ankle rig. When we carried S&W 19s the same speed loaders worked. We went to 659s then HK USPs and still I kept the dick right up to the day I retired.
Would be nice if they auctioned/sold them off to the public. But, knowing NYC, they’ll probably dump them in the ocean or melt them down
NYPD personnel actually own their weapons, not the department, so there won’t be any auctions. The officers can sell them off or keep them, their chioce.