LEO use of revolvers in 2015

[Elm Creek Smith]

I'm not an LEO, but I'm an armed security officer in Oklahoma working for a government agency and carry a 4 inch Model 686-6 as my duty weapon with a Model 642-2 as my backup. Issue ammo for the 686 is Federal .357 Magnum 158 grain HydraShoks. I carry Speer .38 Special +P 135 grain "Short Barrel" in the 642. All the other officers in my detail carry Glock 22s. I usually shoot a perfect score during our semiannual qualifications, much to the Glocksketeers' dismay.

By Oklahoma CLEET regulations, you have to carry the type of sidearm you take the Phase IV (Armed) course with. If you take the course with a revolver and want to carry a semiauto, you have to take the whole course over again and vice versa.

 

[jdh]

There is a deputy around here that carries his father's Python.

 

[gamestalker]

Back in the day I had a lot of buddies that were county sheriff's and DPS officers, a lot of them usually carried an M19 or M66.

GS

 

[Beat Trash]

I am a LEO with an agency of about 1,100 officers. The only revolvers I have seen in the last 20 years has been a few BUG's, usually some type of J-Frame. Even these are becoming less and less as the newer officers tend to gravitate towards the sub compact 9mm's and 380's.

 

[jimbo555]

Watching the news during the Pope's visit to NYC I caught quite a few uniformed supervisors and one plain closed officer carrying revolvers.

 

[KenW.]

I was a dective with the local Sheriff's office and routinely carried a J-Frame on my hip. Now as a patrolman for a different agency its my BUG and off-duty piece.

 

[Rock185]

In today's LE world of plastic pistols, ARs, MP-5s, body armor, NVG, MRAPs, etc, revolvers are for the most part relegated to 2nd/back-up weapon duty. Some, usually smaller or rural, departments still authorize a revolver as a primary weapon but I don't know of any in our area that still issue revolvers. Our local police dept. authorizes revolvers as primary weapons, but everybody actually carries semi-autos. Some carry J-frame Smiths concealed as 2nd. weapons.

 

[Speedo66]

I worked for a state agency in NYC for 40 years until retirement in '09. We were one of the last agencies to transition over to Glocks, accordingly, you couldn't get rid of a revolver to save your butt. I finally found a probation officer willing to buy my revolver, and was glad to get $25 for it. The civilian market, as you can imagine, was nil.

Most armed agencies in NYC, and there are lots of them, followed NYPD's lead when it came to firearms. So when they transitioned to semi-auto, most followed. But as with NYPD, all new hires were trained with SA, while existing officers were grandfathered in with revolvers if they so chose. In my 3 day Glock training there were some officers, their gender shall remain unsaid, who could not operate either the slide or the take down latches, and so remained with revolvers. Some officers were just not into guns and decided to stay with what they had. So there are still older officers in different agencies walking around with revolvers to this day.

The hierarchy in NYPD is older, so they are most likely to still have revolvers. If you see NYPD officers with white shirts, they are sgt. and above. Gold braid on hat bills are deputy inspector and above.

Interesting fact: when NYPD first transitioned, they gave academy graduates their choice of S&W, Glock, or Sig 9mm pistols. Turned out some graduates took the Sigs, which were more expensive, and immediately traded them in at gun stores for Smiths or Glocks outside the city, and pocketed the difference.

We weren't that fortunate, we had to buy our own weapons from our equipment allowance, so that didn't happen with us.

 

[NoirFan]

Here in Chicago, some patrol officers still carry S&W revolvers. Not sure what model they are, but they appear to be stainless steel K-Frames of some kind. i think the officer approved weapons list here is fairly lenient as I have seen not just revolvers, but many different semiauto models in CPD holsters.

 

[Zerodefect]

In Ohio I see tons of revolvers when I service PD's. Never front line cops in cruisers. But very often court security, prisoner transport, meter maids, radio dispatch, and other similar stuff.

It's still a very safe, reliable choice. With plenty of power behind it. But it also seems to be because those officers might just have a lower skill level and less training. The qualifying rules are a ton lighter.