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Thread: My strange love of the Combat Masterpiece

  1. #1
    Site Supporter KevH's Avatar
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    My strange love of the Combat Masterpiece

    It's odd. There are so many "better" options out there. I started my LE career in the post-revolver era. Sure, there were still a few gray-haired guys carrying Model 19's, Pythons, and some other odd stuff, but they were all about to retire. Revolvers in my era have all had 5 shots and were kept in a pocket or on a vest as a backup. The "gun guys" at my department all carried Model 25's in 45 Colt and other N frames or Colt Pythons. No one voluntarily, to my knowledge, carried the lowly 38 Special.

    I've carried quite a few different guns in my career and have shot and handled a whole hell of a lot more. Yet there is one that has always felt perfect to me in every regard possible. I remember picking one up for the first time. It was an old late 1950's one with diamond Magna grips. It had a terrible department property engraving on the frame and had been used to shoot blanks for the past twenty years. Yet picking it up, holding it in my hand, and feeling the action, just something about it felt...well...perfect.

    No matter what gun I come across, no matter how expensive or rare, one always will feel best in my hand and makes me feel armed. What is it? A Python? An N frame? A Performance Center 686? None of these.

    The perfect gun in my hand is and always will be the Combat Masterpiece.

    I can't explain it. I don't even own one at the moment. I could wear one today on duty with a couple speed loaders and the old FBI load today and feel completely armed. Every time I pick one up (and I've handled and shot plenty) I get a warm feeling. Perhaps I need to find a nice one to make my own.

  2. #2

    Exquisitely balanced. Usually finely accurate. It's a throwback piece to the days of old. One of my best friends and the man who made sure I didn't party my way out of LE college carried one in stainless, the Model 67. He moved out of law enforcement and back into computers for the money in the 1990's. It was willed to me but after he passed it was nowhere to be found.


    I agree. I would not feel uncomfortable with that as my sole "social" piece.
    -All views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect those of the author's employer-

  3. #3
    The Nostomaniac 03RN's Avatar
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    I could ride the river with a 4" 15 or 19. Heck, I've carried my Blackhawk in .45 Colt/ with 250 grain xtps at 1200 fps before

  4. #4
    I (with Dad's support) bought one in 1973 with money I made delivering newspapers, I think it was $93 (We would typically get big tips at Christmas time, one dude gave me five bucks and I remember it like it was yesterday). It was taken in a burglary and while I sometimes think I wish I still had ever car, gun or motorcycle I ever traded away, if I could pick one to get back it would be the M-15.
    Last edited by mmc45414; 12-02-2017 at 08:26 AM.

  5. #5
    Revolvers Revolvers 1911s Stephanie B's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by KevH View Post
    Perhaps I need to find a nice one to make my own.
    Do it. They aren't getting any cheaper.
    If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.

  6. #6
    banana republican blues's Avatar
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    The 2" Model 15 "Combat Masterpiece" was my first issued firearm when I began my LE career in the early 80's. (The 5 shot model 36 was my off duty.)

    This image I found online brings back decades old memories...

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    Last edited by blues; 12-02-2017 at 09:14 AM.

  7. #7
    Site Supporter Hambo's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by blues View Post
    The 2" Model 15 "Combat Masterpiece" was my first issued firearm when I began my LE career in the early 80's. (The 5 shot model 36 was my off duty.)

    This image I found online brings back decades old memories...

    Name:  maxresdefault.jpg
Views: 2471
Size:  53.8 KB
    I'm not fond of 4" .38s, but a 6" M14 and a 2" M15 would be great pair.
    "Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA

  8. #8
    Thread needs more pictures.

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  9. #9
    Site Supporter Bigghoss's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Stephanie B View Post
    Do it. They aren't getting any cheaper.
    It's gotten so bad Stephanie had to switch to Rugers.

  10. #10
    Member NETim's Avatar
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    Last edited by NETim; 12-02-2017 at 12:57 PM.
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