An Old Friend Comes Home
We went to the marriage of my wife's Vietnamese friend in Dallas a couple of weeks ago...perhaps re marriage is especially appropriate in this case since she's marrying her previous husband.
While there we visited an old friend who is a retired ASAC of the U.S. Customs service. Many years ago, 1987 to be exact she went from working for the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General to the Customs Service. At that time the DHHS-OIG was one of many agencies whose LEOs were "not usually armed." Under their rules they were only allowed to draw a firearm if they were going into a hazardous situation like serving a warrant. Of course with customs she would always be armed and wanted to brush up on her skills so on a work trip to "Big D" we went to the range and she shot my S&W Model 15. Well she loved it and ordered the stainless steel version, the Model 67, for her own use. My agency had just mandated that all Agents henceforth carry .357 Magnum revolvers and only .357 Magnum ammo would be used for carry and training. Well she was one of the best LEOs I ever met, one you could truly trust with your life, so I told her to keep the gun. She carried it through thick and thin until the Treasury Department mandated auto pistols for all Special Agents in the 1990s the old Model 15 then went into retirement at her house.
While visiting she told me her children had no interest in firearms and she wanted to give it back to me. At first I argued against it but then said "what the heck" and accepted it. She has very large hands so had replaced the old S&W checkered walnut service grips with a set of pachmyers other than that the old girl looked the same, in fact it looked better than I remembered it. There is substantial holster wear at the muzzle but other than that it looks very, very good for a gun that had been carried daily from 1975 to about 1993.
Some notes on the revolver since you guys will notice it's not your typical Model 15. When I got it the old INS mandated for plain clothes wear American manufactured .38 Special revolvers with 2" barrels, they'd let you fudge to 2 1/2" if you carried a Colt Diamondback. Most guys (and those few gals on the job back then) usually carried small frame S&W or Colt revolvers, the lighter the better. That wasn't my style so I purchased the Combat Masterpiece in the 2" barrel version. In late 1975 the INS dropped the 2" barrel rule which I hadn't liked. I wanted a 4" but didn't want to buy a new gun. Fortunately there was an alternative available. The Border Patrol gunsmith, Leroy Patton, did a lot of custom work and modifications. One of the more popular was converting "skinny barrel" Smith & Wessons to heavy barrel. I had seen a Model 15 he'd done this work on. Since the cost was a fraction of that for a new gun I sent it off to the Border Patrol Academy and it came back in the condition you now see it. Patton's Guns is stamped into the top of the barrel. This is the only weapon I actually ever drew with "mean intentions." Fortunately for everyone the bad guys decided to punt both times.
It's in my office now, loaded with the .38 +P semi wadcutter hollow points I carried back in the day. I imagine I'll pack it every now and again for old times sake.
One other note. When she gave me the gun she also gave me an old Safariland holster. This was the Safariland version of a paddle holster only using wire instead of the paddle which was patented, I believe by Bianchi at the time. Well the gun just swallowed the Model 15 (I think there's a story about that I'll share if anyone is interested.) Sure enough it fit my Model 28 Highway Patrolman perfectly. I have some really good gun belts so I wore the Model 28 in the safariland holster out today. I'm not a big guy but it concealed very well under the photographer's vest I usually wear for concealed carry and the weight wasn't a bit uncomfortable. The right holster and a good belt can make some guns you'd never think of routinely carrying a lot more practical, not that I'll routinely tote around an N Frame....
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