Cop Talk & Lessons Learned
Laughing All the Way With A Model 19
The Remington 125-grain scalloped HP bullet was popular for duty carry among policemen in the ’70s.
Morris Feel shooting gloves were popular in the ’70s, too!
Reminiscing with old work colleagues from the police department almost always ends with a good belly laugh. The older we get, the more we appreciate the stories that make us laugh than the ones with blood, guts, car chases or shootings. Unless, of course, there’s a funny ending where we are usually the means for the punch line.
The ability to laugh at oneself is vital for survival, especially in the police world. You’re working with people constantly looking for anything out of the ordinary to break up the monotony and boredom of a slow evening shift. If there’s nothing happening, believe me, there’s always someone willing to come up with some shenanigan to stir things up.
We always joked amongst ourselves that cops are like the big, black moving part in a washing machine — the agitator — among fellow shift mates. I’m just laying the groundwork for how most cops talk with one another. The banter continues well into retirement, especially amongst good friends. The closer the relationship, the more brutal the joking and insults. It’s something only cops, military personnel, and maybe nurses can understand.
Anyway, here’s the story I want to share. It never fails to leave me in stitches, as my buddy tells it.
Proper grip for shooting a semi-auto.
DO NOT cross your weak-hand thumb over to your strong-hand side.
If crossed over, as the slide cycles back, it will slice your
weak-hand thumb like a knife. Heinz 57 for full effect!
The Model 19
My buddy Al knew he always wanted to be a cop. He enjoyed the outdoors, always hunting every season for deer, turkey and ducks. During the off-season, he was fishing somewhere. Al turned 21 in the early 70s, making him finally old enough to buy a handgun on his own in the state of Maryland. Of course, he ordered a Smith & Wesson Model 19 — you know, the one Bill Jordan helped design.
Chambered in .357 Magnum, the S&W Model 19 was made for duty carry more than shooting a lot of Magnum loads. Back in those days, shop owners would throw in a box of ammo when you bought a new gun. Al chose a box of Remington 125-grain scalloped semi-jacketed HP .357 Magnum shells to break his gun in with.
Don’t pull an Al! Keep your thumb away from the barrel/cylinder gap.
When shooting scoped sixguns — especially more powerful ones —
be cognizant of the barrel/cylinder gap. I’ve seen people split
the palm of their hand shooting like this.
Ready, Aim, Fire!
Al had an uncle who lived near the gun shop in the rolling hills of farm country. Today, the area is a sprawling townhouse development.
The day Al picked up his gun was a cold, frigid mid-December day, with about 3 inches of crusty snow on the ground. He brought a few empty bean cans with him for targets. Crunching through the snow, he stopped at an old, barbed wire fence on his uncle’s pasture. Loading the gun, he liked the “plunk” sound the shells made when dropped into the cylinder.
Tossing the cans 15 to 20 feet across the fence, he was ready to shoot. Being so cold, Al was wearing his wool Morris Feel shooting gloves. Resting his hands on an old hickory fence post, he steadied his aim and started lining his sights up. His eyes were watery from the cold, so he wiped them with his coat sleeve. The white-lined notch of the rear sight, combined with the red front sight insert made sight alignment easy, especially with 21-year-old eyes.
Cocking the hammer, he transitioned to sight picture, perching a bean can on top of the front sight. Keep in mind, it doesn’t take much to release the sear of the S&W Model 19 in single-action mode. As the cartridge exploded, Al was suddenly reminded he had forgotten to put his hearing protection on. With ringing ears, he also felt a weird sensation in his left thumb.
No More Hitchhiking?
“Holy hell! Did I just blow the top of my thumb off?” he thought. In shock, he looked at his left thumb, seeing the gloved portion blown open. “Did I somehow place my thumb in front of the barrel?” Holding the 6-inch barreled gun, he couldn’t figure out how he could have done it.
Thinking he was in shock, Al still didn’t feel any pain. “Okay, blood is going to start squirting out any second now,” he thought. Seconds ticked by, but there wasn’t any red blood dripping onto the white snow. “Maybe the flame cauterized the top of my thumb?”
Al slowly pulled off the glove and was shocked at what he saw. His thumb was perfectly unmolested. He finally figured out that the left thumb of his glove protruded to the barrel/cylinder gap and was torched by the cartridge blast of the .357 Magnum. Thankfully, the gloves were a little big, which made them the only thing damaged.
With ringing ears and a sigh of relief that his thumb wrestling days were still intact, Al put on his earmuffs and continued shooting, skipping the cans across the pasture with each shot. He told me it’s amazing how well you can shoot once you realize you haven’t blown your thumb off — although he figured he lost a few hair cells in his ears that day. He admitted to selling the Model 19 a few years later for another gun, a move he still regrets now.
A single exposure can break off hair cells in your inner ear,
permanently damaging your hearing.
Lessons Learned
Always, and I mean always wear your hearing protection! Once lost, you can’t get it back. Also, be cognizant of where you place your hands when shooting handguns, revolvers or semi-autos.
For revolvers, watch the barrel/cylinder gap. For semi-autos, never cross your weak hand thumb over your strong hand thumb unless you want a severe case of slide bite. It will slice you like a razor. This occurs more frequently when shooting weak hand. For some reason, we want to wrap our “strong” hand thumb around our weak hand thumb and get in the way.
Lastly, never sell a gun. Little did we know how an amusing story can delve into teaching us so much.
