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Saturday, February 11, 2012

From The Bench...

I wandered to the range today and I was happy to see many former students there shooting! One former CCH student was there with her retired LEO husband. They were very proud to show off the new Bersa and her M&P. Yeah! 

So the husband gives me this and tells that this was his backup/off duty gun back in the day. 

He reports that it is not firing all the time, light primer strikes. 


This is a Smith and Wesson Model 36-1: The Chiefs Special. Chambered for .38 Special with a 3" barrel. This one was made in 1981. 


Working the action revealed that #1 it sounded like a gravel truck and #2 the reset was "crap". So off with the side plate and discover nothing is readily observed to be amiss except for a large amount of sludge laying about. I take the thing apart and clean and lube. The hammer block appears to have been the problem. She is sounding and feeling much better now and I will test tomorrow! 

The 36 has a storied history. Serial # 337 went to J. Edgar Hoover engraved with his name. Serial # 38185 was attributed to actor Jack Webb with a nickel cylinder and rosewood grips on 6/4/1954. It sold at auction in 2000 for 6K! 

Here she is ready for testing tomorrow:










I am old school and would prefer the checkered wood grips, but ok! I will let you know how it goes! 

11 comments:

  1. I love reading about all these guns!!

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  2. My pocket carry is a 1 and 7/8ths blued 36. I added a nice set of wood grips, fatter than the originasl so I have enough "meat" to hang on to, and can get more shots on target now. Looks good, shoots good in my hand.

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  3. I agree...I like the original stocks..plastic sucks. I own two, they're sweet little handguns.

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    1. I'm just not a fan of the grips, but it shot well!

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  4. What you have their friend is an early 1970’s M-36 3” Heavy Barrel J frame which really savvy old school LEO loved. You’ll find it has slightly less recoil but even better is easier to shoot accurately due to the longer barrel. I had one and like a complete idiot let it get away from me for something shinier at the time. This was before I started in LE and unsurprisingly a local municipal LEO snapped that J frame up in a heartbeat.

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    1. SP- This is a Model 36-1 so its a bit newer. I LOVED shooting this thing today! Sadly it will go back to its owner soon.

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  5. Very sweet gun. I love the beauty of a Smith. Just classy.

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