This came home with me today:
A man sold it to the LGS a bit back. It was his brother-in-law's service revolver. What I'm told is that Don Merrill was a cop for 42 years and was issued this gun by the Jacksonville, FL PD. They let him keep it when the department upgraded to something else.
Story is that Officer Merrill walked into an armed robbery of a burger joint in the 1960s. The robber was a ex-con, having served a stretch in Mississippi for murder. The robber had been out of prison for a month.
A gunfight ensued.
Officer Merrill sustained a through-and-through wound to his upper arm. He was bandaged at the scene and drove himself to the hospital. After waiting for awhile, he washed out his own wound, put some stuff on it, re-bandaged it and went home.
The robber was paralyzed from his wounds and died in prison a paraplegic.
As to the revolver, it's a 5-screw, .38 Special, 4". Serial No. is 471xxx, no letters before or afterwards. The finish is crappy and there are traces of fingerprints. The backstrap is entirely without finish, as one might expect. Screwheads don't show signs of being buggered up. Timing is good, no detectable endshake. Barrel looks very good, maybe a couple tiny pits.