Stock Wear

[DWalt]

I've read some about characteristic stock wear on the right grip panel of revolvers that have seen long police use, yet I'm not sure I have seen that type of wear. Exactly what causes the wear, and can it be restored? Does anyone have good pictures of examples?

[bmcgilvray]

This one is a little worse than it appears in the photo. The border between the checkering and the back strap is almost worn flush.


Worn yet still sound hard rubber stocks

This is the best I can come up with. I had a pair of stocks on a 1953 NYPD Official Police revolver that were pretty chewed but I "upgraded" them with a cleaner looking pair. The old ones are somewhere in my boxes of stuff.

As to what causes it, exposure to any and everything even minutely abrasive on a regular basis. That would include hands, jackets, other belt-carried equipment, a slung long arm, car seats, chairs, walls, door frames, the ground (during scuffles) and so on.

The 4-inch Smith & Wesson Model 10-6 Heavy Barrel shown above was purchased used from a armored motor guard that made deliveries to the dock of the very large bank where I worked as a very young teller. I ran the dock and handled all incoming and outgoing shipments of cash along with other securities. The guard wanted a "prettier" nickeled plated version of the same revolver so I gave him $75 for his blued revolver. Shortly after the acquisition I discovered that I could have purchased the same gun brand new for $78 which shows what an astute gun trader I was. Hey, when you're only 18, and lusting for the first handgun of your own you take advantage of opportunity when it knocks.

Our dock was off the basement of the parking garage and ran back up under the bank building. It was very narrow, allowing only a skinny ledge on either side for the guards to navigate as they loaded and unloaded their trucks. To a man, their Colt and Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolvers had deep flat spots planed into the wood of the stocks from dragging against the brick wall that comprised the sides of the dock area. My acquisition was shipped in 1971 and I acquired it in 1975. It had scarcely been used but the right stock was a wreck which I replaced. Of course it was mostly the right stock on those revolvers that looked that way since the majority of the guards were right handed. Any lefties would have exhibited the same problem only their left grip panel would have been banged against the sides of the trucks.

[Frank V]

The stock wear is caused by living out in the open for years bumping into objects as the officer goes about his daily work. Wear from a left handed officer can come from constant contact with the door handle of the patrol car. Jackets that ride over the gun butt in the winter can cause some wear too after years of contact. Generally it's a smoothing of the checkering, sometimes it can even be a spot worn into the wood from something coming in contact with the gun butt. The edges of the stocks will usually be rounded too.
Some of the early holsters were famous for covering part of the stocks & that contributed to wear. Some wear can also come from wrestling on the ground with suspects. Or as I had happen to me one time having the gun knocked from my holster onto the asphalt as I took cover behind the door of the patrol vehicle. I was using a Bianchi Break Front & I quit that holster after that incident. The door handle bumped the gun butt shoving it through the front of the holster & onto the asphalt. This also put a ding on the front sight, but didn't alter zero & I fixed that with cold blue.
I don't have any pictures, but these are some of the things that can cause an officers gun grief.
Hope it helps some.
Frank

[VaqueroAZ]

In Arizona, back before everything was air conditioned, it was the bare sweaty arm rubbing against the grips, and the weapon itself that was the worse. We were always fighting rust. One of the reasons I went to a stainless steel revolver and goodyear grips. Even the rubber grips would show wear after a time. Just my thoughts on this.
God Bless
Daryl

[DWalt]

Thanks for the great pictures. I ran across a pair of wooden stocks for a Colt OP (I think) that had a good left panel, and a fairly hacked up right panel, mainly confined to along the rear edge, and it occurred to me they could have been police grips. My thought was that the wear could have been the result of getting into and out of a patrol car often and bumping the right stock into the door post, etc. each time. So, in the event I run across a used police revolver, is it best to leave the battle-worn panels on it for character and authenticity?

[bmcgilvray]

Perhaps it would. Here's the 1953 NYPD Official Police with officer's badge number stamped on its back strap, wearing its "new" stocks. The originals were well battered and worn. These aren't perfect but really do almost look funny on the old warhorse because they don't match the condition of the revolver.

[Frank V]

DWalt

If it were me & the gun authenticated to LE, I'd leave the stocks on. They add character & the gun that was used in LE, the condition of the stocks will reflect the condition of the gun.
Another tidbit, most officers guns are carried daily, but shot monthly or less. Sometimes we find a well worn gun that spent 20+ years on an officers gunbelt that hasn't been shot maybe 200 times. Not always, but it's more than possibel.
Mine didn't fit that catigory!!!
Frank

[DWalt]

Back in the "Old Days" before legal liability issues associated with lack of firearms training of police officers existed, I had understood that in many departments, especially small ones, qualification firing was something that was done once (maybe) and never again. If the cop was not motivated to visit the range on his own every so often, or didn't get into a shooting scrape, his sidearm could possibly reside in his holster unfired for the duration of his career. Not too long ago, I remember reading something to the effect that some normal (not special unit) European cops are lucky to be able to fire more than 5 to 10 shots on the range every year or two.

Even now, it is unusual for many US military personnel who do not have combat MOSs to undergo any required firearms qualification firing unless they are scheduled to be deployed to a combat area such as Iraq or Afghanistan.