Ordnance

Right after the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, online retailer Cheaper than Dirt announced they would no longer be selling firearms. What they actually did was hold back their inventory, wait until other retailers sold out in the panic, then release the inventory at inflated prices. In case you don’t remember, I took a screenshot of their site at the time.

It was a cheap and dishonest way to take advantage of a stressful situation, and because the gun culture forgave and forgot, they’re at it again. This time, they’ve at least dropped the outright deception. I suppose that’s something, but they’re still gouging on their prices.

That’s about three times what retail pricing should be on that ammunition.

They are not our friends. They do not deserve your business.

Ordnance

You Only Get One Chance At This

A police officer in Glasgow, Kentucky is suing Barren Outdoors. The employee handed him a loaded gun, which he failed to check, and he blew off part of his left index finger.

Go ahead and laugh: he’s going to win.

Note to gun store customers: putting your hand over the muzzle won’t stop a bullet and it doesn’t exempt you from Rule #2. Don’t point the weapon at anything you can’t pay for. Nobody wants to hear, “it’s unloaded.” I’ve lost count of how many times that phrase has turned out to be a lie.

Note to gun store employees: clear the gun before handing it to a customer because the customer won’t check it. Seriously, 87.4% just of them just start dry-firing away with wild abandon as soon as they’ve got their sweaty mitts on it.

Note to gun store owners: you can and will be sued for this. Comparative negligence might mitigate the damages, but you’re going to have some of the liability.

Civil Rights Ordnance

More on Pistol Braces

I’ve been over the issue of pistol stabilizing braces before. Attaching one to a pistol is perfectly legal. It is also legal to use it as a shoulder stock, though that’s not the intended purpose. The BATFE issued a very specific letter to clarify this.

Black Aces Tactical recently manufactured a shotgun with the brace, and they’ve been informed that this is impermissible. People are now under the impression that this affects all uses. That is not the case.

The answer is simple and short. In legal terms, a shotgun is not a pistol. They are two different things.

As per 18 U.S.C., § 921(A)(5), a shotgun is defined as,

a weapon designed or redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder and designed or redesigned and made or remade to use the energy of an explosive to fire through a smooth bore either a number of ball shot or a single projectile

A shotgun is a smoothbore weapon designed to be fired from the shoulder.

Ordnance

So, this happens…

Here’s a Cobra .380 pistol, gone asplodey on the range. Notice the texture of the crack: that’s not steel. It’s a zinc alloy.

One shouldn’t trust such things to handle 21,000 psi with any real grace.

Civil Rights Ordnance

About the Import Ban

Yesterday, the President signed an executive order that places Concern Kalashnikov (formerly Izhmash) on the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list. That means the importation of their products has been banned. It’s rare for these orders to be rescinded, even by later administrations, so it’s probably permanent.

Somebody’s going to scream “back door gun control,” but that isn’t the case. This is a sanction on the Russian government for their actions in Ukraine. While the SDN list blocks assets and generally forbids Americans from dealing with the entity in question, products that have already been imported and paid for are unaffected.

How does this affect the domestic market? Not much at all. If you owned one before the order was signed, you can keep it. You can also sell it if you like. Retailers with existing inventory can do so as well.

Does this mean there’s going to be a shortage of rifles marketed as “AK-47’s?”

Ordnance

Mark It Zero, Smokey

A couple of times a year, we hear a rumor that the Army is going to dump the Beretta M9 as a service pistol and go back to something in .45. Some people even claim we’re going to see the error of our heathen ways and welcome the venerable 1911 back into the fold with repentance and glee while the Holy Ghost of John Moses Browning forgives us for our folly.

Sorry, folks. It’s not going to happen.

The government bought nearly half a million M9 pistols in 2009. That’s not something they’d have done if the platform was on its way out. The sheer cost of replacing not just the pistol, but its whole support system of training, magazines, and other parts would be staggering. Then there’s the problem of using ammunition that’s completely incompatible with everything else NATO uses. Good luck getting Congress to greenlight that.

And what is this “Modular Handgun System” they’re gabbing about?

Civil Rights Ordnance

About Those AR-15 Pistol Braces

Earlier this year, Sig Sauer started marketing an AR-15 pistol with a “stabilizing brace” that looks a bit like a short stock. As pictured here, it’s designed to fit over the forearm.

People are claiming that the ATF, local law enforcement, or Bigfoot have been cruising public ranges and making arrests because some folks are using the brace as a stock. That’s not true. They can’t do that.

The ATF has classified this weapon as a pistol. Sticking it up to your shoulder does not turn it into a short-barreled rifle. I’ve already had arguments about this, so here’s the response from the ATF themselves:

FTB [Firearms Technology Branch] has previously determined (see FTB #99146) that the firing of a weapon from a particular position, such as placing the receiver extension of an AR-15 type pistol on the user’s shoulder, does not change the classification of a weapon. Further, certain firearm accessories such as the SIG stability brace have not been classified by the FTB as shoulder stocks and, therefore, using the brace improperly does not constitute a design change.

Continued...

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Everybody’s an Expert

The Truth About Guns has a review of the new Remington R-51 pistol in which the author perceives numerous shortcomings in the design. I might be inclined to take him seriously if he actually seemed to understand the gun in question.

It works more like a Luger P08 than anything else, with a fixed barrel and short-stroke style action.

The R51 doesn’t work anything like a Luger. It uses a delayed blowback mechanism, while the Luger has a unique toggle-lock system. I suppose we could stretch the criteria and claim that the pistols are similar because both fire the 9mm cartridge, both feed from a removable magazine, and both have fixed barrels. Of course, that would mean the R51 is also identical to the Steyr GB or the H&K P7, which is hardly the case.

It’s unfortunate he didn’t like the R-51 as much as his Glock, but if he’s going to sound credible, he needs to better understand the things he’s reviewing.

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Gimmick Ammunition

It’s a new year, which means we have to endure yet another company proclaiming a new and “revolutionary” bullet design. This time around, it’s the tactfully-named RIP Ammo.

It certainly looks intimidating, but it’s really nothing new. A similar design was used on the old Kaswer Law Grabber (also known as the Pin Grabber) back in the 1980’s. Law enforcement failed to embrace the cartridge, just as they’ve ignored the terrorist-slapping hyperbole of a similar offering from Extreme Shock. Extravagant claims are made, but the ammunition inevitably fails to live up to them.

The RIP ammunition doesn’t appear to be much better. Performance of their 9mm load appears to be equivalent to two rounds of .22 LR. So, there’s that. I’d also expect serious deformation and setback when these are chambered more than once in an automatic pistol. Accuracy? Tactical Ninja LLC probably hasn’t considered that an important factor.

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VZ Grips

I’ve had VZ grips on a couple of my 1911’s for awhile. The Micarta does a great job of repelling moisture, and the texture is coarse enough stay put without chafing the hands.

I must not have been paying attention, and it turns out they’re making grips for all types of guns now. I recently picked up a set for the CZ-75. Click the pictures to embiggen.

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The Remington R-51

Of all the unlikely but cool things to resurrect, Remington is producing a new version of their Model 51. The original was a neat pistol with a unique “hesitation locked” blowback action designed by John Pedersen. That one was chambered in .380 Auto and .32 ACP and had a steel frame, while the new iteration will be chambered in 9mm.

To modern eyes, it may look like a hybrid of a VP70 and a Whitney Wolverine, but the 51 is a smaller, thinner gun, with a lighter trigger. It looks as if the grip panels are replaceable, which is a nice touch. Surprisingly, MSRP is $389, which should put it well under $350 on the open market.

While it’s a bit on the small side, it’s larger than some of the micro-9mm guns that are all the rage. That means it should actually be shootable. Looks like I just found my first gun for the new year.

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Mikhail Kalashnikov, 1919-2013

The man credited with designing one of the 20th century’s most iconic firearms has passed away at the age of 94.

Kalashnikov is widely acknowledged for designing the AK-47 rifle, but I can’t miss the obvious similarities to Schmeisser’s StG-44. Given that Schmeisser worked with the Red Army after the war, it’s hard to dismiss the possibility that the Soviets simply didn’t want to give a German credit for the design.

That said, we may never know.

I find it to be a charmless piece of stamped sheet metal with numerous design flaws, but the AK-47 was cheap to produce and easy to use. Its legacy is uncontestable, if not grim. Michael Chivers wrote an excellent history of it a couple of years back, and the book is a good read.

Humor Ordnance

The Caliber Debate, Settled.

We’ve all endured the various debates about handgun cartridge effectiveness. We’re told the venerable .45 ACP is capable of physically unfeasible things, while the 9mm will annoy an assailant at best. While some folks have conjecture and anecdotes, I have physics on my side.

It’s all about black holes, specifically the Schwarzschild radius. That’s a measurement of how tightly a given object must be compressed in order for it to become a gravitational singularity. For example, the Sun would have to be compressed to a radius of roughly 3 kilometers before it became impossible for light to escape its gravity.

The Schwarzschild radius for the Earth? 9mm. Yeah, science!

You don’t get better stopping power than something that rips a hole in the fabric of spacetime.

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Solvent Traps

Over the last few months, folks have been selling so-called “solvent trap adapters” on the internet. They’re threaded dongles that allow the user to attach a commercial oil filter to the barrel of a gun. They’re all over Amazon and eBay.

The folks marketing them claim they’re for cleaning. The rest of us know they’re a way of making improvised silencers. They’re really only solvent traps if you say the phrase while making those air quotes with your fingers.

Sure, they can certainly be used to catch errant patches and other funk while cleaning, but so can a Ziploc bag and rubber bands. The device ceases to be a solvent trap and becomes a silencer once the first round is fired through it. Which is exactly what folks are going to do.

One of the companies marketing this stuff claims that the adapter is the serialized, registered part. Wrong. It’s the oil filter itself.

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Blackpoint Holsters

I borrowed one of these from a friend recently, and I was quite impressed. The holster itself is molded Kydex, with wings on each side to spread out weight and allow a closer contour to the body.

The holes on the wings allow for adjustment of height. With optional clips, it can be converted for carry inside the waistband, similar to the old Milt Sparks VM2 design.

Fit and build quality are impeccable. Though I chose a subdued palette, the company provides over 30 different color schemes. It’s also worth noting that they market holsters to accommodate a variety of rail-mounted lights, which is a rarity. Turnaround time is less than two weeks.

In the current market, it seems that nearly everyone is hammering out Kydex holsters, but these guys are doing quite a bit to stand out. Their website is here.

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Austrian for “Moped”

I’ve never owned a Glock. The ergonomics are iffy, the trigger feels like a twig straining to its breaking point, and then there’s the fanboy factor. “Ermagherd, how can you not like the GLOCK? It’s like the most revolutionary thing ever and I once heard that a guy fed one to a shark that lived in a volcano on the Jovian moon of Io and then it still fired 6.52 million rounds of overpressure ammo because he was like a commando and went on to topple Dr. Robotnik’s Army of Socialist Androids and sweet Ron Paul UFO Jesus how can you not own a gun that’s so dreamy the manufacturer has to write their name in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS?”

Yeesh. I must be missing something, right? Maybe. I needed a smallish pistol to fit in the pocket of my day pack, and the 26 met my requirements better than pretty much anything else.

Humor Ordnance

Futility

This is America. If you believe enough, and if you try hard enough, you can do almost anything. You could be an astronaut, a head of state, or even start a snarky blog of your own.

If you try really hard, you can even force a 1911 magazine to seat and lock into a Glock 21.

Fortunately, you can’t make it chamber a round.

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That’s Unexpected

Cheaper Than Dirt

I was ordering parts from Cheaper than Dirt last night, and I noticed they’re not selling guns at all anymore. I’m not sure when this happened or why. Maybe they failed an audit or something.

Oddly enough, their cached page on Google still shows them, so this must be recent.

Cheaper Than Dirt

For those inclined towards conspiracy, Cerberus is selling off Freedom Group, the conglomerate that owns Remington, Marlin, DPMS, and Bushmaster. While the timing suggests politics, the Freedom Group is over $600 million in debt, and I’d been hearing rumors of this since Thanksgiving.

Civil Rights Ordnance

Return of the Glock 7

It looks like the anti-gunners will do anything to push that “conversation” they keep saying they want with us. Today’s example is a demand by Brady Campaign poster boy Steve Israel to renew the Undetectable Firearms Act.

Signed into law by President Reagan in 1988, the Act was a response to fears over newer methods of fabricating firearms parts. At the time, there was great concern about the polymer frame of the new Glock pistol, and the possibility that it could be invisible to airport metal detectors ⁽¹⁾.

It sunset after ten years in 1998. It was then resurrected and signed in 2003 by President Bush ⁽²⁾ as Public Law 108-174. It is set to expire again next year.

So, why the big push for renewal? Folks are using 3d printers to make guns. You might think this is illegal, but it’s not. The Gun Control Act is fairly silent on this, prohibiting only the assembly of NFA items or “non-sporting” guns made from imported parts.

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The Heartbreak of Bullet Setback

The Woes of Bullet Setback

Take a good look, kids. Don’t flinch. Don’t avert your eyes. Bullet setback is real, and it could be happening in your very own neighborhood as we speak.

“Impossible!” you say. “My community is free of hippies and bullet setback! It could never touch our halcyon lives of quiet desperation!”

You’d be wrong. Dead gun wrong. See Timmy with his new 1911? Look how shiny it is! A wholesome, all-American boy with his all-American gun! But watch as Timmy loads up a magazine and slaps it into the pistol to “function test” it. He dry-cycles the ammunition by racking the slide to chamber and eject each round. Sure, it looks “cool,” but it’s a tragedy waiting to happen.

The sad truth is, Timmy’s in bed with Communism. The Reds want him to have a negligent discharge! If they can’t succeed at that, they’ll make darned sure he has a case-head blowout at the range, just like the one pictured above.

Ordnance

Ah, Saturdays.

The good: I took home a 3″ S&W 66, a gun I’ve long been seeking.

This one left the factory in 1994, the same year Tip O’Neil died, alternative rock pretty much fell apart, and a big comet smacked into Jupiter. The records are inconsistent, but it doesn’t appear many of this iteration were made, making it an even rarer example of an already elusive pistol.

The 3″ K-Frames are one of the most versatile and effective carry guns out there. I’ve waxed poetic on the virtues of the fixed-sight versions before, but a 3″ model with target sights is like having a Maserati with the engine output rated in unicorn power.

Yeah. It’s that cool.

The weird: we had an odd situation caused by incompetent handloads. It appears that Uncle Joe Bob mixed alcohol, distraction, and a progressive press. The progeny of his folly was a round of .38 Special containing no powder but two bullets.

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S&W Model 27

When Smith & Wesson introduced the .357 Magnum cartridge in 1935, it was something of a big deal. The 44-caliber N-Frame had been tasked to chambering the new load, but the company went one step further in making the fit and finish the best they’d ever done.

Elmer Keith and Phil Sharpe put a great deal of work and experimentation on the cartridge, and they saw it pay off. The ad copy spoke of a load capable of defeating body armor and punching through automobile bodies with authority, and its accuracy was universally lauded. Such was the prestige behind the gun itself that it was built to order for customers, who could choose any barrel length, sight picture, trigger type, and point of impact they wanted. The initial guns were packaged with a registration certificate and referred to as Registered Magnums.

The gun was met with immediate acclaim from law enforcement, with the 3 1/2″ barreled version being the most popular.

Civil Rights Ordnance

Wallet Holsters

NFA Wallet Holster

Somebody at the local gun shows has been selling these things, and it could create a potential problem for the unwary buyer. You see, that’s not an ordinary pocket holster. Thanks to the National Firearms Act of 1934, it’s been imbued with special powers necessitating registration and taxation.

What makes it different? It’s designed so that the gun can be fired without removing it from the holster. As such, it falls under the same restrictions as cane guns, Stinger pens, and the infamous H&K MP5 briefcase. Walking around with your gun in one of these is treated with the same gravity as owning an unregistered machine gun.

I’m not being snarky here. True, you’ve known me to be facetious in the past. It’s a personality quirk of mine, but I am not being a snickerpuss here.

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Tactical Operator of the Day

Ah, YouTube: a veritable cornucopia of questionable gun advice. Today’s example is MrSurplusnut. See if you can make it all the way through without cringing.

MrSurplusnut, ready for action!

He likes the word “scenario,” and he really likes his CCW badge. By the two-minute mark, I lost count of the number of times he swept the camera with his finger on the trigger of a loaded gun.

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It’s the Economy, Stupid

The FBI reports that there were 500,000 NICS checks performed for gun purchases in the week before Christmas. That’s a record, beating even the whole post-election rush. There were 129,166 checks this Black Friday, beating the previous record of 98,000 in 2008.

The media, few of whom are in touch with the gun culture, are postulating all sorts of reasons for the boom, but they’re missing the real factors. I submit that this year’s record numbers are more due to increased interest in the hobby and confidence in the economy than they are to paranoia, crime, or politics.

In 2009, panic buying was the order of the day. They were coming for our guns! Get ’em before the ban! Society was on the verge of collapse. People were buying guns just to buy guns. I worried that few, if any, would actually get training or take up shooting as a pastime.

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They Said It Couldn’t Happen

4 comments

But it did. Blaine Tyler was openly carrying his handgun in a Richmond gas station when a teenage sociopath grabbed it. Unarmed, Tyler gave chase and was fatally shot with his own gun. To make things worse, his assailant went on to kill a second person hours later.

Tyler was deliberately targeted for his weapon, something people keep telling me never happens. Well, here we have it. Perhaps better situational awareness, equipment, or training might have helped, but at the end of the day, he would not have been targeted if his weapon wasn’t plainly visible.

Having the weapon exposed adds a significant element of risk back into an equation meant to mitigate risk in the first place.

Civil Rights Info Dump Ordnance

Sharp Edges and Frayed Nerves

The Supreme Court has refused [pdf] to hear United States v. Masciandaro. That leaves Woollard v. Sheridan, which still has decent odds of making it to the calendar.

There’s been some scuttlebutt that the Court would rather hear a “pure” case in which the petitioner isn’t someone appealing a criminal conviction. Both the Heller and McDonald cases fit this bill, as they were brought by law-abiding citizens appealing unjust laws. In such cases, the Court can address a constitutional issue directly, without having other logistical issues getting in the way. Woollard is a compelling case that gives them that opportunity.

In happier news, that’s the CZ P-01 with a Ka-Bar pistol bayonet at the top. Sure, CZ made one a few years back, but this one is lighter, and it has a really good blade. I don’t know why the world needs more of these, but hey: it looks cool.

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Perishable Skills

Earl Takes A Few for the Team

I finally got to shoot the P210 on Saturday, and Earl here volunteered to take a few rounds for the sake of experimentation. The group is a mix of 147gr Hydra-Shok, 9BPLE, and 127gr +P+ Ranger. It was shot at a measly 20′ since I haven’t had a chance to shoot for nearly six months, and my skills have atrophied a bit.

The gun doesn’t seem to care much about bullet shape or weight, and it’s very consistent. Given its heritage, I expected it to prefer hotter European ball for target purposes. I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn’t the case. It fed the mild Atlanta Arms 115gr loading quite well, the only issue being that the slide failed to lock back after the final round.

Sig P210, 20'

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Sig Sauer P210 Legend

Swiss production of the SIG P210 ended quite awhile ago, but J.P. Sauer & Sohn of EckernfÃ¶rde have since picked up the rights to produce the pistol. In the transition, there have been some changes, not the least of which is the fact that Sig Sauer will be importing them into the United States.

While the new model isn’t cheap, it’s certainly more affordable than Swiss specimens on the secondary market. As far as I can tell, it’s just as well made, if not better in some respects.

Humor Ordnance

Now They Do Make a .46

13 comments

Plenty of obnoxious clichÃ©s get thrown around in the gun culture, but the most annoying is, “I carry a .45 because they don’t make a .46!” I’m mildly surprised when the simpletons chanting that one manage not to drool on themselves in public.

In fact, I am so weary of it that I’m going to rectify the situation. I’m going to make a .46 caliber handgun cartridge.

Now, you might say that’s a bad idea. Let me tell you something. When George Washington wanted to cross the Potomac and drive the British out of New Jersey, I’m pretty sure some folks told him that was a bad idea. But he proved them wrong, didn’t he? He sent them packing all the way back to California. Smelly hippies. Without him, we’d be spelling words like “color” and “flavor” with a “u.” I’m telling you, that man was a great American.

What was I saying?

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Fundamentals

Sarge made this adorable mockery of the innumerable shooter diagnostic charts circulating on the internet. He takes what we’re all thinking and sums it up in one picture.

YouTube videos and gun forums are dubious sources of knowledge at best, and they provide no real-time feedback for the shooter. A simplistic chart (which is designed to correct defects in long-distance, one-handed shooting, by the way) might help as part of a whole suite of training tools, but taken by itself, it is of little value.

Most people don’t need a more expensive gun, a laser, or larger magazines. They need to find a shooting coach and drill on fundamentals. Once they do, they find that shooting is an enjoyable hobby rather than a disappointing ordeal.

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Kimber

Kimber

You can’t pick up a gun magazine without seeing advertisements for Kimber’s pistols on every third page or so. They certainly look debonair in print. In the hand, they feel wonderful, what with all the judiciously sloped edges and modern touches. It’s obvious that they place a great priority on the idea of the gun as art.

That’s fine. There’s certainly a place for that. Unfortunately, Kimber’s production practices fall woefully short when it comes to the idea of the gun as a functional weapon.

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Equivalence

OK, folks. 9mm Parabellum isn’t any more accurate than 9mm Luger. It’s not more reliable. It does not have more “stopping power.” They are the exact same thing.

The 9mm Parabellum was designed and named by Georg Luger. Despite the fact that he never called the loading 9mm Luger, some American manufacturers referred to it as such because the pistol bearing his name became quite popular after the first World War. It made marketing easier.

Luger was not a Nazi. He died well before there was such a thing. Nor did General Patton “change the name” from Luger to Parabellum to make it sound “more American.”

I mean, where do people get this stuff?

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Stephen Camp, Rest in Peace

Word comes that Stephen Camp passed away last night. He was a former Sargeant with the Denton, TX police. In his later years, he was a tireless 2nd Amendment advocate with both the NRA and the Texas State Rifle Association. He maintained a valuable and enjoyable site of his own, and he was known on many of the established firearms forums for his eloquence, knowledge, and patience.

He is survived by his wife Sandra, who has requested that any donations be directed to the Denton Police Officers’ Association.

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Ruger SR1911

Well, it’s official. Ruger has entered the rather crowded 1911 pistol game. Ordinarily, I’d respond to this with a yawn, but a few factors make me suspect they’ll do great things with it.

Jeff Quinn wrote a nice writeup on it, and he sounds optimistic. It’ll have a cast frame, which is little cause for worry since the folks at Pine Tree Castings have been proving the investment casting process to be capable of great durability for decades. A point of interest is the fact that the plunger tube is cast as part of the frame, which corrects one of my greatest complaints about the design.

When I first heard they’d be making a 1911, I worried a bit. Ruger being Ruger, I expected them to slap a giant lawyer warning on the side of the slide (like they do on their revolvers). They avoided that, and surprisingly, the gun is quite traditional in form.

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Leather for the XO

I love the unique contour of the slide on the Sig Sauer 1911, but it makes holster selection tricky. Blade-Tech makes their Stingray model for the gun, but most other makers aren’t supporting it yet.

That means custom work, so I contacted Tom Dyer, and as usual, he came up with an elegant setup.

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Sig Sauer 1911 XO

To this day, the steel-frame Government model remains the apotheosis of the 1911 platform. Everyone has their own take on the design, some successful, some not so much.

After a few false starts, Sig has gotten it right.

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Function Checks for Revolvers

…or, “what the heck you doin’ that for?”

The market is being flooded with used revolvers right now. There are some truly great deals to be had, but there are also a few pitfalls to avoid. Many potentially terminal problems may not be immediately apparent.

Revolvers are generally very durable machines. They’ll endure decades of neglect, but that resilience means that some owners will inflict excessive abuse. Some people will use them as test-beds for reckless handloads, and when the gun gives out, they’ll sell it off to a hapless buyer. Others see them as platforms for some truly questionable home gunsmithing experiments.

What follows is a list of things I check to ensure that the gun I’m evaluating hasn’t been rendered unusable or unsafe.

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A (Slightly) Tarnished Masterpiece

When it comes to guns, I’m not much of a “collector.” Sure, it’s nice to have one in fine cosmetic shape, but I don’t mind a bit of character, especially in one that shoots this well. Box and papers don’t mean much to me, and I’d sooner have a working gun than one I’m tempted to stow away in the safe.

As K-38’s go, this one wouldn’t seem too special at first. It shipped in 1975, the same year Maggie Thatcher ascended to power and Francisco Franco stepped down. Minnie Riperton was big in the charts, and Jimmie Hoffa stopped filing tax returns.

At that point, the Model 15 was still standard-issue in the United States Air Force, as well as several police departments. This specimen was issued to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.

S&W Model 15

The department in question phased the 15 out around 1985 in favor of the Beretta 92, and by 1990, the Air Force would do the same.