The Hebrew Hammer

[Jeep]

Forget letting others shoot it no matter how deserving they are. That ought to go in a display case with a little brass plate saying "The Hebrew Hammer" to be passed along to your distant descendants. What a glorious revolver!

[Dagga Boy]

Forget letting others shoot it no matter how deserving they are. That ought to go in a display case with a little brass plate saying "The Hebrew Hammer" to be passed along to your distant descendants. What a glorious revolver!

It will actually be fun to let Wayne shoot it. He is far better than me in delivering consistent bullseye performance these days. There was a time where I won our highest shooting awards with that gun and could max our qual courses....which sucked as a realistic combat course, was a difficult bullseye course.
At some point the Hammer will be set in a display with my half finger padded gloves, my sap, Maglite, and an actual "stun grenade"....all wonderous things from a different age. There was a wonderful world of policing before polymer guns, plastic flashlights, and "distraction devices" (stun grenades actually "stunned"). I' ll add a couple posts to this thread that some may find interesting.

[Dagga Boy]

This was a Colt Officers Target model that belonged to a very close family friend I grew up calling "Uncle Don". I went to their house everyday after school. "Uncle Don" was LAPD Captain of Detectives Don A Martin. He is in the book Helter Skelter. He went through the 1940 LAPD Academy with this gun and was his patrol revolver. I also have his original leather. The 1940 Academy was very famous as it included future mayor of LA, Tom Bradley (who was despised) future Chief Ed Davis, and several other notables. It was the first Academy with the new badge we recognize as The LAPD badge we recognize today, the new style uniforms, and a new era of a "clean" LAPD that had the goal of eliminating many of the corrupt practices found in many other major city police departments. Also, noting the configuration of this gun...LAPD put a high priority on accurate guns. The 6 inch adjustable sight gun was always a popular thing there with "shooters".

[Dagga Boy]

This belonged to another Uncle, but this was a real Uncle. He was a police officer in the Panama Canal Zone and he and his wife raised my mother. He was a true working cop (another uncle was a legendary Lieutenant there). Foot beats, spent many years living at the Prison in Gamboa where not only were inmates held, but they did a lot of labor like loading ammunition, and the range facility was there. He also maintained the horses that were used by the police department and did a lot of work on horseback at the prison. He carried this Model 19. As soon as they were available, he carried one of the very first Model 66's ever made. For obvious reasons, the first stainless Combat Magnums were a godsend to cops in a place like Panama. He was offered a ton of money for the Model 66 when he retired to Florida and sold it, but kept the model 19. The condition of this gun is representative of my Uncle. It is well cared for and likely wiped and oiled daily. He also worked on P-38 Lightnings in WWII. Those state of the art fighters were used to protect the Panama Canal from a very real threat of being bombed by the Japanese.

[dbateman]

Nice pics and stories that go with them.

Thanks for taking time to share.

[That Guy]

and an actual "stun grenade"....all wonderous things from a different age. There was a wonderful world of policing before polymer guns, plastic flashlights, and "distraction devices" (stun grenades actually "stunned").

I for one am completely clueless about how distraction devices have changed over the years, and I would love to hear more about this.

[Chuck Whitlock]

The personification of "Badass"!

The others are awesome in their own right, as well.

[Dagga Boy]

I for one am completely clueless about how distraction devices have changed over the years, and I would love to hear more about this.

Early in my career, the distraction devices we used ranged from artillery simulators to the Accuracy Systems M429 thunderflash. The arty simulators were not a good idea, and went out quickly or were used more for training or outdoors distraction. The M429's of the day were awesome. They put everyone on the deck. I believe they were 175db's at 7 ft. I honestly think they were far more. These were stun grenades, and they worked. It was found that these could do serious hearing damage and cause issues when they ended up near babies, pregnant women, the elderly, etc. All the things that you should not find in armored crack houses, and amongst serious felons, but did. To avoid liability most folks switched to "distraction devices". I seem to remember the first ones we went to at around 145 db's. They sucked compared to the old ones...so we just used lots of them. They were better for banging individual rooms and safer. Currently, I believe many are claimed at 175db's at 3-5 ft. Most are in non rolling enclosed housings that are much safer. The idea is not to cause any permanent damage, injury, burns or fire. This is actually a good thing, but easier to deal with on the crooks side compared to the old stuff which would usually pull the drywall off the studs.

[LtDave]

Here's my first duty revolver when I became a reserve cop in 1978. Carried in a LH Hoyt breakfront. First duty ammo issued to me was Winchester 158 grain RN metal point. Plain black sights. Read a lot of Skeeter Skelton and had to have the 5" Model 27.

[Jeep]

Very nice.