Times gone by questions For Peace Officers of 70s?

[TheNewbie]

Wasn't a foot pursuit - I was running to my squad for an assist officer call. Holster was a Gordon Davis 4570 duty holster (unsnapped...)

Thank you for the correction.

Was that an issue with thumb snap holsters ?

[HCM]

When I got on, all the 70's old timers were either just retiring or just retired. The majority carried off duty and carried snubby's of some kind, usually .38 or .357. one old timer carried a glock17. None of them used holsters off duty, none. Always tucked in the waist band aiwb, no holster.

With a big wad of rubber bands around the grip....

[voodoo_man]

With a big wad of rubber bands around the grip....

Yeah, totally normal.

[DC_P]

This book may interest you.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/12...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Wayne Dobbs]

Thank you for the correction.

Was that an issue with thumb snap holsters ?

It was a frequent issue. The molding of the holster to the pistol was key and it sometimes gave up the ghost on leather holsters. We had other guns leave unsnapped holsters while running or other vigorous activity. One guy I worked with had a taxi driver show up with his pistol at the endpoint of a foot chase/fight/come to Jesus event. The taxi driver saw the gun go flying and picked it up and brought it to the officer. Fun times!

[Jeff22]

I used a Davis 4570 holster for about two years in the mid-1980s. I carried a Colt Combat Commander in .45 ACP as a duty gun.

I really liked that holster.

Replaced it with a Beretta 92F carried in a Bianchi M99 leather thumb snap holster (same combination the military was using for on-post Law Enforcement in those days)

[Rex G]

Plenty of duty handguns fell out of Houston PD-issued duty holsters, until 1985. These were low-riding flap holsters, with a swiveling shank, made by Don Hume, but were not a Don Hume design. Word was that a former chief had designed this dangerous rig, and convinced Don Hume to make them. Revolvers with low-profile grips tended to fall out most readily, as the flap, when snapped, had less-firm contact. Sometimes, the holster, itself, failed at the swivel, on the shank, allowing the holster body to fall away, with one’s weapon.

Officers who cared about weapon security bought locally-made flap holsters from Stelzig’s or George Malone, which met the written specs. My Stelzig’s N-Frame holster worked well. My George Malone flap holster for my P7 was very well-crafted, but surrounded so much of the weapon, and gripped it so tightly, I was all to ready to switch back to a revolver as soon as the PD issued the Bianchi Hurricane, and authorized the Rogers Trooper. I bought a Trooper for the N-Frame, and carried an S&W Model 58 for the rest of the Eighties.

[jnc36rcpd]

My department issued high gloss holsters that required yo to unsnap the release on the body of the holster with your trigger finger or, if you were high-speed/low-drag, you obtained the other model with a thumb break. I purchased a Bianchi Hurricane that the county police were issuing.
A friend on my shift at the time relished retro gear, at one point going to a swivel holster that I witnessed rotate 180 degrees to point at his armpit when he sat in a chair with arms. He admired the cops from the seventies and sixties who were still around. Our supervisor remarked that he was surprised Spike did not carry an iron claw which was still occasionally seen in the boots of motor officers.
His perspective changed somewhat during a threatened suicide call which entailed some idiot sterilizing the knife he intended to slit his wrists with on a gas stove, a bunch of us idiots standing in the kitchen three feet away pointing revolvers and shouting at him, my idiot rookie cocking his revolver to further intimidate the guy who wanted to kill himself, and the mandatory polyester pig pile when the first idiot dropped his steak knife.
When the excitement somewhat subsided, my friend inquired my next days off which seemed odd timing, contemporaneous as it was with our dragging the suspect to a cruiser. Rather than planning a trip to the FOP clubhouse, he wanted me to take him to the local cop shop to purchase a Hurricane. After the pig pile, a county officer had walked up to him, asked if he wanted his gun back, and handed him the Ruger Service Six that had fallen from his retro holster in the dust-up.
Learning had occurred.
I'm just glad the cop shop we went to didn't have any iron claws in stock.

[That Guy]

What, in this context, is an iron claw?

[LtDave]

What, in this context, is an iron claw?

This:



I started LE in '78 and never saw one of these carried or used in SoCal. Maybe a midwest or east coast thing, or could be they went out of fashion much earlier.