Recently I bought a 1980 Speed Six 2.75" 357 mag and it's becoming my favorite. It's concealable, handles 357s well and accurately. After installing a Wolff 10# mainspring, the trigger is light, smooth and 100% reliable after the first 300 rounds. I think I've got the barrel lengths covered well enough now with 2.25" SP101 DAO 357, 2.75" Speed Six 357, 3" Speed Six 38 spl, 4.2" GP100 blued 357 and 5" GP100 357 SS full lug. So this is my last.(maybe)
Good to have all the barrel lengths covered in .357 DA revolvers. I'm still working on it. 6'' S&W 686, Power Ported and a 4'' Mod 66. 2nd & 3rd from top 2.75'' Speed six & LCR snub. sorry, the S&W pic printed twice. And a Colt Trooper III, second from top Well, I'm still not quite through.
It was a long time before I could get use to any auto pisol. Cut my teeth on an N frame mod 28. Lterally, my dad was a small town cop back in the late 50s and would hang his gun belt at the end of my crib. Still have the Sam Browne rig with baby teeth marks on it. Never could get the old 28 outta the next few Chiefs after my dad retired in 1981. My dad was a revolver guy and did not care for auto pistols even after carrying a 1911 as an MP for most of WW II. He really did not care much for handguns at all. He liked hugh powered rifles. Still, he was a cop and to carry a handgun for duty. He said he got the N frame .357 cause the reports on it were great for durability and power. The few officers that worked under him used K frame .38 spls. He retired a few years before the P.D. started the switch to auto pistols. Hw hardly carried the old N frame after it came back from getting new nickle plate in the early 70s cause it had been reassembled wrong. That gave me the opportunity to practice some of the gunsmithing skills I had read in the many gun and hunting rags he had around. Just an outta place cylinder stop spring. Easy access on that older gun cause ir was one of the old gums with the hole at the front of the frame,just above the trigger guard. Easy, but the damage to the extractor and the cylinder from the firing pin strikes were much harder to smooth out. Trial and error along with several trips to the range. That was going to be hard since I did not have permission to fix or even use it. And my ammo supply was limited to what I found in ashtrays and drawers where he had changed ammo in the gun over the years. Anyway, I got busted fpr using it. He found out when he went with the others for yearly qualification and the gun actually worked. He could no longer blame his poor shooting on the defective weapon instead of his failing eyesight due to glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy. He could onky blame me cause my younger brother would not have fired all the ammo. I would burn up all the ammo I had whenever I had a chance and my brother would only use ammo if he had to. Dad said he could not find a single round of ammo that fit his gun in the house, so it had to be me that had used it, T had even shot up the ammo in his gunbelt. Well, he wasn't using it anyway. Gift from offices when he retired. Colt Trooper Mk III ,22 LR with his name and years of service engraved on left side.
Great story and what a fine family heirloom that Trooper is. My F-I-L was with the state police and left his '67 Colt Trooper and rigs to my wife. She grew up watching him clean it while she polished his brass. It's the gun that started my revolver obsession.
It's a JayPee holster the Trooper rode in. He left one for a Python and a Official Police too but sadly the guns were not with them. They all had the safety locking device inside that snapped over the trigger guard.
Out of all the revolvers I have owned the K Frame 4" mdl 66 was by far my most favorite .I carried one 80-83 when I served as a Deputy Sheriff. I purchased it surplus from the Connecticut State Police they were switching to the Berretta 9MM as their issue sidearm . I kept that revolver for 10 years and sold it and I am sorry I sold it they are hard to come by at a reasonable price. I put about a blue million rounds thru it I shot about 200 rounds a week thru it as I reloaded .38 / .357 Mag . The Colt python I owned ranked 2nd to that mdl 66 combat magnum it was one of the best most accurate Revolvers I've ever owned.
