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Boston Police Marked Revolver

SP45SP45 Member Posts: 1,761 ✭✭✭
edited July 2013 in Ask the Experts
Does anyone know how Boston Police marked their revolvers. I just picked up an older pinned model 10 and the backstrap is stamped in 1/8 letters and numbers very professionally "BPD" followed by 4 nymbers and -M. The gun came out of a Massachusetts gun shop but could be from anywhere..
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Comments

  • rufe-snowrufe-snow Member Posts: 18,650 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    If none of our folks can help? You might consider contacting Roy Jenks, or whoever the historian is at S & W now.

    It will cost you some bucks for a factory letter, but it just might help you in answering your question.
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  • KEVD18KEVD18 Member Posts: 15,037
    edited November -1
    boston police marked their guns pretty generically, i.e. BPD-######. it wouldnt surprise me to find out that braintree pd, boylston pd, bourne pd(just to name three other massachusetts towns that start with "B" off the top of my head marked their guns in similar of not identical ways.

    the only way you'll know for sure is if you letter it and it comes back as shipped to boston pd.
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  • Ben Cartwright SASSBen Cartwright SASS Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    SP45
    I collect Boston Police guns, all of the BPD guns back to the 1880's are marked BPD followed by a number and sometimes a letter after the number. The older ones were marked B.P.D. or B-P-D and the number. They were rack numbers not badge numbers. Some of the more modern ones were marked BPD and the number (no dots or dashes) the older guns were normally marked on the backstrap, although some like the Colt Official Police were on the butt. The more modern guns like my S&W Model 64's (I have 5) were on the side of the frame, same with the Rugers and the Glocks.
    None of the other cities or towns around Mass used BPD on their guns. I used to hear that Baltimore used BPD but they actually use either Balt or Balto.
    collection.
    I will be at the Marlborough show Sept 21 and 22 with my collection if anyone is interested in checking it out, my oldest BPD is from 1872, it was a private gun engraved to an officer. I display about 25 revolvers and some uniforms
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  • nmyersnmyers Member Posts: 16,890 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    According to the Standard Catalog of Smith & Wesson by Supica & Nahas, S&W made a batch of Model 10-8's with 4" HB for the Boston Police Dept, marked BPD. If that's what yours looks like, I see no need to spend good money for a factory letter. I'm assuming that everything after BPD was hand-stamped by the PD armorer.

    It may also help if you post photos of the gun. I would expect the lettering to look similar to this:

    SWM681NYSP.jpg

    Neal
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  • Ben Cartwright SASSBen Cartwright SASS Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    The BPD guns from Colt Smith and Ruger and Glock were all stamped both the letters BPD and the numbers at the factory, confirmed to my by Roy Jinks at Smith and both the Colt historian and the Ruger historian.

    here are a couple of mine both Smith and Colt

    IMG_6963.jpg

    IMG_6996-1.jpg

    2-27SmithM64BPD6.jpg

    BPDgunsatWilmingtonshow.jpg

    BPDCollection.jpg
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