GRIZ

At the very least you should keep ammo segregated by bullet weight. I never store ammo loose, always in boxes. If I have a problem I can go to the lot of factory or reloaded ammo.

Speedy trial is not always to the defendant's benefit. I don't know the law in FL but in the Federal system speedy trial means 70 days from indictment. Rarely have I seen a Federal case go to trial in this time. Delays can be asked for a variety of reasons and most of the time (to my experience) are asked for by the defense. A common reason is for the defense to ask for delays is to interview witnesses. This may lead to other witnesses favorable witnesses for the defense. Interviewing witnesses is one of the things Zimmerman's lawyer brings up in nascar's link. raz-O's link regarding the judge's decision to only allow black and white instead of color photos of Zimmerman's injuries so as not to prejudice the jury. I have seen this restriction placed on the prosecution at times as well. For example in a trial of a chainsaw homicide the defense can't surpress photos of the victim and crime scene. Color photos aren't going to help the defense and b&w would minimize impact on the jury. The judge in Zimmerman's case is applying the same logic. Delaying the start of a trial by the defense is not unusual. It usually benefits the defense and no harm done if the defendant is out on bail.

Bob's correct, normal wear.

Not to hijack the thread but isn't that window tint you have getting expensive?

This and the other similar answers are the most reasonable. I know there are some that will crap their pants, not stop for coffee or gas, and spend hours determining the most direct route. Someone please show me where all these honest law abiding shooters were arrested going or coming from a range because their deviations were ruled not necessary or reasonable. This is in the same category as "arrested for one holowpoint" concerns. Use common sense and you will not get in trobule.

You say it ran fine at the range and you noticed this problem before or after cleaning it. When the cylinder is pointed up it should contact the part of the frame that sticks out preventing it from falling off the crane. Pointed up the cylinder won't spin freely but it will turn easily. Is there some back and forth motion of the cylinder when it is open? How much? This is normal and looking at a K frame that is broken in but still very tight, this back and forth slop is about 1/16" (eyeballing it). This has nothing to do with end shake as that would be back and forth movement when the cylinder is locked in the frame. You say the cylinder is very hard to push back into the frame. Is that with the cylinder pointed up or down? It shouldn't make a difference. If you hold back the cylinder release while trying to close the cylinder is it easier. If so I would look for some crap in the internal lockwork which may interfere with the end of the ejector rod locking up. Have you tried a good blast of Gunscrubber or BrakeKleen in the lockwork? Another possibility is the angled part of the recoil shield that the spring loaded end of the ejector rod rides on is not cut deep enough. This is a factory fix. You could do it yourself but if you go too far that part of the recoil shield gets sharp enough to cut your fingers and then calls for a new frame.. This was the issue on a friends Model 60 and he sent it back to S&W. They cut it too deep and it was pretty sharp. He sent it back a second time, S&W destroyed the ruined gun and made him another (which they checked out welL) with the same serial number.

Keep in mind that if you spend a little more for non-corrosive, boxer primes ammo you can start saving brass to reload or recoup the extra expense by selling the brass.

A G26/27 is about the largest gun most people can carry on an ankle. I have seen a few carry a 2.5" S&W M19 or a G19 in a ankle rig but those are way too large AFAIC. A J frame revolver or PPK is about the ideal size. Not a way to carry your main battery unless you have to. This is just about my assessment also. I have used one on a regular basis for nearly 40 years, usually for a 2nd or 3rd gun. They are fine if you are in a lower threat environment. The only way to train drawing from an ankle holster is to drop to you strong side knee and draw from your weak side ankle. I've seen all kinds of dancing around on one leg. They do take getting used to. Get a leather one with padding like DeSantis makes. Its light years better than an nylon rig.

I'd say its okay as it is. Its the same as if you got a scar from an injury, surgery, or a duel.

Red ramp front sights on S&Ws were an option in the 50s AFAIK. Painting sights with nail polish or paint was done in the 60s that I have have personal knowledge of and I'm sure was done for years before.

Intresting concept but something large enough to conceal a handgun is going to attract attention. I think an IWB is a better idea.

I'll start off saying I think a a mid-size Glock 19/23/30 are the best handguns for most LE to use. Simple, reliable, and more importantly big enough to shoot well yet small enough to conceal. This gives the non-gun enthusiast LEO the ability to carry the same gun on and off duty. Okay thats out of the way. Apparently you don't want to spend the time to learn how to use a revolver either. I don't dismiss the banjo as a useful instrument because I don't want to learn how to play one. I attended FBI SWAT School in 1979 (and several "tactical" schools after) and made several hundred entries before you started on the job. Just mentioned that because you thought it was important for you to do so. Does that make me an expert? Don't know, it depends who's asking. My selection of a 4" 357 as the best all around gun is base on several factors. Not too big too conceal but big enough to shoot well and a wide range of OTC power levels of ammo to meet most needs (can't do that with any semi-auto). Plus I can shoot it well. You could too if you took the time to learn. I don't expect my choice to be everyone's. Once again if all your cop buddies carry semi-autos it most likely is because that's all they know (like you). When we're talking CCW we're not just talking LEOs and we're not just talking NJ. Go to the rest of the country where a carry permit is a shall issue item and you will see many people opt for a J frame revolver or small 380 like a LCP or Kel Tec. They're small, easily concealed, and many are satisfied with their personal ability to produce pie plate accuracy at 7 yards. The 5-6 rounds these carry will meet 99.99999% of their needs if they should ever have to use it. Fortunately, most just have to display it to make the bad guy quit. I find your comment regarding small frame revolvers being bought as an afterthought amusing. I think S&W, Ruger, and Taurus know a lot more about marketing revolvers than everyone on this forum put together. I seriously doubt they spent millions of dollars for R&D of small frame revolvers with people just buying them as an "afterthought". You fail to recognize that we old timers learned on those nasty old revolvers shooting with that long DA trigger instead of the easier to use semi-autos. IIRC about 30% of our qual score was shooting from the 50 yd line. That was done with both 2" and 4" revolvers. We also had to qual on a bullseye target. Does that make us smarter or having more natural talent? No over the years they just dumbed up the course of fire and adopted handguns (semi-autos) that are easier to shoot. You are surprised that whoever took the firearms award was shooting a Beretta 92. I have considerable experience with this firearm and I'm guessing your surprise is the result of not knowing how to transition from the DA to SA pull properly. If you know how to do this your accuracy doesn't suffer. You are correct in saying quals have nothing to do with genuine combat shooting. NYPD (they keep the best records I know of) proved this long ago (like the early 70s). Jeff Cooper once said gunfighting is 95% mental. More on that later. If you're talking about DA only semis vs SA semis I'm not about to defend DAO semis. No DA on any semi can come close to the DA on a revolver. You may not know anyone who can shoot a DA better than a SA but many PPC shooters convert their revolvers to DAO and they're shooting from 50 yds. I mentioned this in another thread but if the long DA pull on a revolver is so slow why would all the speed shooters (who do shoot accurately) use DA revolvers? Shouldn't they be using 1911s? It may be that the firing cycle (shot to shot) is faster with a revolver than a semi-auto? "You need a quick history lesson on the NY Reload brother." You wrote 4 sentences and half of them were misinformation. I doubt that's how you write your reports at work. You were not right on you were way off. You didnt say carrying a semi was not widespread you said that's what they all carried for a second gun. The fact that only revolvers were authorized for over 99% of NYPD does have bearing on this issue. If you were on NYPD then what do you think they carried for a second gun? A revolver that was authorized or a semi that was not? Do your guys carry unauthorized backup guns? As a tactics instructor you need to be honest with yourself about a very simple fact. You may be doing everything 100% right and be the first one shot. Not something you tell the troops but something that can happen. If you are behind cover you should be tactically (partially) reloading your handgun no matter what it is. I never heard anyone who has been in a fight say they had too much ammo. However, if I find myself in a situation and have a revolver I'm too busy planning on what I'm going to do and don't feel severely disadvantaged as you would with a revolver. The revolver eliminates the feeding and extraction issues as these are not done during the firing cycle. It also has a simpler manual of arms. If I give you a revolver you don't spend much time figuring how to make it work. You need to at least look at the semi to see what it is. Your list of revolver malfunctions illustrates your lack of knowledge of revolvers. They don't magically go out of time, short of some catastrophic failure. Timing is usually affected over a period of time. As far as the rest of the malfunctions, these can happen to a semi-auto as well. I'm not claiming a revolver is more reliable than a semi-auto, it just has some good points a semi doesn't. The military got out of revolvers for two reasons. First, so we would have a handgun round compatible with other NATO countries. Two, was to standardize on one handgun vs the dozen or so they had in use. Number one made it the perfect time to do so. Then why did you present it as a threat situation? Okay, I'm done.

Under Title 39 a LEO has the option of a verbal warning, written warning, issuing a summons, or arrest. Yes, you can be arrested for parking by a fire hydrant and given a verbal warning for DUI. It doesn't work that way in reality and policy dictates what you will get a summons for, what you may be arrested for (reckless is in this category I think), and what you will be arrested for (like DUI).

No sympathy from me. Doing 35 in a 25 is a stupid mistake for a new driver. What you did was not a stupid mistake. It was blatant disregard for anyone's safety, welfare, ot life. Maybe after losing your license for a few months and a few years of demonstrating you're a responsible person you can think of owning guns.

Rob's history is a bit off. At the start of WWII the US Army was about 200,000 troops. The draft started in 1940 brought the size of the Army to about 1.5 million by the time of Pearl Harbor. We weren't fighting Germans until after Pearl Harbor. There were a few incidents while we escorted convoys as far as Newfoundland (I think) and we had some troops in Greenland and Iceland. The first time we engaged the Germans in a large scale operation was at Kasserine Pass in Tunisia in February 1943 (my father was there). The Japanese main target at Pearl was to be the carriers which fortunately, for us, were out at sea. They took out battleships and cruisers which soon proved not impeding us much. The days of capital ships slugging it out with gunfire were pretty much over. The Battle of the Coral Sea was the first naval engagement where the ships never came in sight of or fired on one another. All attacks were carried out by aircraft from carriers. This battle was pretty much a draw. This was followed by Midway which was fought the same way and was our first major victory against Japan.

An insurgency needs organization to become a genuine threat to the enemy. This encompasses a lot of things including logistics, chain of command, coordination of operations, and other factors. Comparing any group of hunters to an "army" is pretty much folly. They would only be a speed bump to a modern army at best. Critical to the organization is having the leadership to get things done. The only insurgency that liberated itself from a foreign invader with minimal outside help in modern times I can recall was Marshal Tito's in Yugoslavia. Pearl Harbor was the result of Japan's need for oil but that's a discussion for another thread. Whatever Japan's plans were for continued offensive operations against the US were pretty much screwed after the Battle of Midway. That marked the limit of Japanese expansion and they were on the defense after that.

I'm a return customer. Need I say more!

A Sounds like you need more instruction and/or practice. You should be able to engage targets at 25 yards + with a J frame even an older one with the tiny sights.

You most likely will see a reflection on the windshield. Even in UOF escalation their use is very limited.

Ray I'm with you as far as lasers go. I agree with mcbethr as far as using them for escalation of force. They're probably useful for Correction Officers depending on their use of deadly force policy which I'm not familiar with.

Easy to deal with.

Complete teardown is not a regular maintenance procedure for any firearm. It only needs to be taken apart to be fixed when its broken. Regular fieldstrip and cleaning is all that's needed on a regular basis. Flush it out with Gunscrubber regularly. I have a Combat Commander I bought in 1974. Shot it, carried it, cleaned it regularly. After about 30 years and well over 30K rds the hammer would fall to half cock. Took it to a trusted pistosmith and that was the first and last time it was totally taken apart. Even if you know what you're doing and have the right tools a gun is not meant to be taken apart all the time.

Taking cover doesn't always mean getting down.

True gentleman and pleasure to do business with.

I spent over 30 years as a LEO. 4 years as a municipal police officer and the rest of the time with the Federal government. Most of that time I was a firearms and tactics instructor. I still do private instruction. I went in the Army in 1967 at age 17 and got the free tour of SE Asia where I started carrying a firearm on a daily basis (including revolvers). I stayed in the National Guard and Reserves and as a result have instructed soldiers on everything from a 1911/S&W Model 10/M9 to a 8" howitzer. I also got to go to other exotic dangerous places. Between the two careers I have seen and been involved in shots fired in anger on a couple of continents and at least 5 states. That's for those of you who don't know me. Those who do know me know I think a 4" 357 revolver is the best do it all handgun made. I'll express my other opinions in responses to some other posts. Sales of S&W 642s and other J frame size revolvers don;t support your claim of them being dead for CCW. The fact that many who buy these are satisfied with pie plate accuracy (their issue not the gun) is a different issue. Yes they are limited as far as capacity goes but I never could understand why big he-men feel burdened by a 2 pound gun. As far as the trigger pull goes I do see a trend among some new revolver shooters trying to get the lightest trigger pull possible. Smooth is more important than light. Many "gunsmiths" go to lighter springs to mask a gritty trigger (which is harder to solve). A good "revolversmith" can get a S&W or Ruger trigger down to about 8 lbs with stock springs (and it will be smooth). If you find a big difference in your shooting between a 8 and a 5 lb trigger, you are not a very good shot. Mastering a DA revolver is not magic. Its paying attention to what you're doing. When I was in the police academy in the 70s I saw people who never fired a handgun shoot expert after a week on the range. This was with stock out of the box revolvers. It ain't hard if you want to learn. "The "New York reload" was named after the practice of dumping one revolver for another gun." After that sentence your history is way off. I worked closely with NYPD from 1983-2005, have many friends still there, and my agency used Rodman's Neck for qualifications. When you spend 12+ hours sitting in a car together on surveillance you get to talk about a lot of things. The NY Reload goes back to at least the 60s years before speedloaders were around (mid 70s). NYPD carried ammo in dump pouches or loops. NYPD didn't authorize semi-autos for the troops until the Dinkins administration (circa 1990-91) although IIRC they allowed ESU guys to carry Beretta 92s sometime in the 80s. NYPD policy to this day is very strict not only specifying caliber but make, model, barrel length, and even finish of your gun. They didn't allow stainless guns until the 80s. Prior to that it was blue steel only. When Jim Cirillo started on the Stake Out squad he carried two Model 10s, a alloy frame Colt in his back pocket (Agent I think), and a 380 PPK in an ankle holster (which was not authorized). He eventually got "special permission" to carry a 1911 in conjunction with his stake out duties. Just as Jim carried the PPK, many NYPD officers carried what they felt like, knowingly in violation of department regulations. Frank Serpico carries a Browning High Power after he started receiving threats when the Knapp Commission started without any departmental approval. Yes there are documented cases of NYPD guys carrying semi-autos before 1990 but it wasn't as prevalent as you make it out to be. I didn't Google al the shootings you posted but IIRC they were all one active shooter. Now if the guy walks in and shoots you first it doesn't make a difference what you're carrying, you're shot. If you are able to take cover I can't see why you feel a revolver puts you at such a disadvantage. Are you laying surpressive fire? You can do that with a revolver. Spraying and praying? Yes revolvers can malfunction. However, most malfunctions are due to magazines and ammunition. A revolver has the simplest malfunction drill, pull the trigger again. BTW the reason pilots carried 38s in Vietnam was because with the greater number of aircrews they needed to give them handguns and 1911s were more expensive. The Army went from maybe a few hundred aircraft in say 1960 to several thousand by the end of the 60s. Having been there, done that I am most assuredly not comparing games to the real thing. Your scenario of being faced by 30-40 threats is intresting. If faced with such a problem disgression is the better part of valor and its time for you to unass the area. If they are armed with firearms once you drop one or two the others will seek cover unless you are being attacked by the Chinese hordes. If you can't escape I think the best you can hope for is taking as many of them with you as you can. If you're talking about a civil disturbance situation and looters you forgot something very important. most looters are unarmed. People loot because its fun getting something for nothing. If you shoot one or two of them...its not fun anymore and they will look for easier pickings. Even if a few are carrying firearms the rest won't stand there and be bullet stops. Don't get me wrong I own and use high capacity semi autos. I've never complained about having too much ammo. I don't dismiss revolvers as antiques and not a viable weapon however. 5 or 6 shots will suffice for most situations and if I find myself in a situation where it doesn't that's my fault. Other than the capacity issue, if you refuse to learn how to use a revolver (and that includes tactics not just the gun) thats not my problem. I laugh when I see these muscle bound guys that can press 350 and complain a revolver is heavy and the trigger is too hard. Do you carry a full size service auto 24/7? I know some that do.