S&W foreign Police import revolver

[Texas by God]

I just bought a S&W model 10-7 4" .38 Special revolver. It has a round butt which is new to me because every K frame that I've ever owned has been square butt. I'm thinking that I like it.
The trigger guard has the Century Arms stamp on the bottom. The frame under the yoke is stamped(not factory) JP 481. The serial on the butt is AEW40xx. The perfect wood grips do not have the serial number penciled on the inside.
Can anyone tell me what police force or country did this M&P work for before it came home?
Thanks!

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[fatelk]

Yours is a bit newer than mine, but clearly from the same source. I actually bought a couple of them last year, both model 10-5, Century marked, with the JP stamp under the yoke. Mine are square frame and well used, mechanically great but cosmetically challenged. For $225 each I couldn't pass them up. I like them a lot.

As to where they came from, I don't exactly know. I tried searching online for info, and a couple sources seemed to indicate Spain, and one said France. France makes more sense than Spain, since Spain has a bit of a cottage industry making their own copies of S&W revolvers. I'm curious to know too, if anyone finds out for sure.

[stubshaft]

I'd be interested too. I bought one of the 10-5's a year or two ago and what fatelk stated about being cosmetically challenged is no joke, but it shoots great. I did have to re-seat the barrel though as it was shooting too far to the left.

[Mk42gunner]

Don't know where it was used, but I have a bit of experience with round butted Model 10's. I don't really like the round butt with service grips, too small for my hands.

However, if you put a Tyler grip adapter on it makes a dandy concealment rig.

Robert

[Texas by God]

Different strokes as they say. My hands aren't that small but I like the factory grips. I've never liked the Tyler's T-Grip adapters although I've tried to a few times. It will be a great companion for farming and hunting duties. I think the French Connection may be it, but who knows?

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[sixshot]

The 4" heavy barrel I got from Buds a couple of years ago was a model 10-8 & I was told they were used by the French. Not used much but a few of them had been dropped when they ran! Mine was in very good shape with some French made, molded grips, can't remember the name but very good quality.
Dick

[Petrol & Powder]

My guess would be French. I've seen several different former French police revolvers for sale over the last year or two. Just a completely wild guess on my part, but there may have been some big release of surplus guns from France in the last couple of years.

I have a 10-5 that likely came from France and I picked up a French Police Ruger SP101 just a few months ago.

[Petrol & Powder]

My 10-5 has the C.A.I. import stamp on the bottom of the barrel (on the flat cut over the ejector rod) but there are no C.I.P. proof marks on the gun. At least none I have found.
However, I have a 3" Ruger SP101 that I know was in French Police service that has several St Etienne proof house marks. 278746

Texas by God, if your 10-7 has any French Proofs, that would be convincing evidence.

By the way, my 10-5 looked to be un-fired when I received it. Not sure what the story behind that gun is. The C.A.I. import stamp indicates that it was imported back into the U.S.
I'm not sure where that gun spent it's life but I'm not paying for a factory letter just to find out.

[Petrol & Powder]

The 4" heavy barrel I got from Buds a couple of years ago was a model 10-8 & I was told they were used by the French. Not used much but a few of them had been dropped when they ran! Mine was in very good shape with some French made, molded grips, can't remember the name but very good quality.
Dick

Were the grips marked "Trausch" ?

[imashooter2]

I found a post on the S&W forum that suggests it may be "Jabatan Polis" for the Malaysian Police.

[ddixie884]

Every good man in America needs a 3" or 4" K-frame .38spl. 100 pieces of factory loaded rnds or empty cases, a pound of medium burn rate pistol/shotgun powder, a deck of spp and a baggie of 150 to 170gr SWCs. Add any basic loader and you are armed for a long time. I guess I can't get past needing a good Thuty Eight...............

[WebMonkey]

i bought a 10-6 square butt that was issued to the french police.

totally happy with it.

[Drm50]

I got a 4” right know from Royal Hong Kong Police. Square butt with lanyard ring. Marked on the back strap.

[Outpost75]

S&W Model 12 imported from Germany.

278975278976278977

[Petrol & Powder]

Ulm proof house, 1972, Nitro proof - NICE

It seems that people all over the world recognized the quality of S&W.

[Catshooter]

I qualify dixie!


Cat

[fatelk]

Every good man in America needs a 3" or 4" K-frame .38spl. 100 pieces of factory loaded rnds or empty cases, a pound of medium burn rate pistol/shotgun powder, a deck of spp and a baggie of 150 to 170gr SWCs. Add any basic loader and you are armed for a long time. I guess I can't get past needing a good Thuty Eight...............

I would tend to agree with that. :) 25 years ago I looked down my nose at guns like this. I wanted either a high-capacity 9mm, or a magnum revolver. Now I have plenty of each, but also a renewed appreciation of the older guns too. They work as well as they ever did, and there's a reason they've been around for so long.

As to S&W quality, a couple years ago I bought a Rock Island M200 .38 Special. For $200, I think it's a good revolver for the money. It shoots fine and handles OK, not bad. Then I found these old cosmetically-challenged Model 10s, for $230 each. Even old and abused, they're a far better value, in my opinion. Everything is so much better on the Smith. The Rock Island isn't a bad gun, but I just don't even care to shoot it anymore when I can shoot the S&Ws instead. There's just no comparison, yet when I first spotted these forlorn-looking old Model 10s on the dealer's table at a gun show, everyone was passing them by and buying up the M200s instead. It was new , and that's better, right?


I found a post on the S&W forum that suggests it may be "Jabatan Polis" for the Malaysian Police.

Interesting. I don't know much about Malaysia, but the condition and lack of any other markings would (in my mind at least) tend to indicate usage in a country like that, rather than somewhere like France. That's a fairly baseless assumption on my part though, and could easily be wrong.

In looking around online, I did find this post on a S&W forum:

Those are British Commonwealth duty revolvers

They served in the Commonwealth Nations which consist of 53 sovereign states (former territories of the British Empire)

The stamp JP stands for "Justice of the Peace" those firearms where issued from a judicial officer

Those revolvers could come from any of the 53 states. However, we do know that it was imported to Britain then distributed to other countries.

The poster seems pretty certain about it, but I have no idea who he is or if he really knows what he's talking about. That post is his only one on that forum.

[GregLaROCHE]

I don’t fully understand. Are you talking about guns that were licensed by S&W to be produced in other countries, or are these guns that are S&W style made in other countries with nothing to do with S&W?

[Petrol & Powder]

I don’t fully understand. Are you talking about guns that were licensed by S&W to be produced in other countries, or are these guns that are S&W style made in other countries with nothing to do with S&W?

These are S&W revolvers that were made in the U.S.A. like any other S&W and exported to another nation. Typically they were used by police forces in other nations.
Then, after those foreign nations were done with the guns, they were sold and imported BACK into the U.S.A.
Because they came back into the U.S.A., after the 1968 Gun Control Act, they have import stamps (Name of the importer and the city & state of the importer).

While the guns were in foreign service, some of them were also proofed. Some countries require all firearms to be proof tested, so some of these guns have proof marks from foreign proof houses.
Outpost75 has shared a picture of his Model 12 that has an Ulm proof house mark from Ulm, Germany (would have been WEST Germany at that time). That is the mark that looks like an antler in post #14.

[yovinny]

I kind of doubt their British without proofs.
Every S&W, Colt and Remington I own that went to Britain is very clearly and heavily re-proofed with Brit standards.
Even things that were strictly for commercial sale and use,, like my Brit proofed Winchester 43 22 Hornet or pre-war model 70 30-06..

[Petrol & Powder]

"British" can be a bit fuzzy, depending on the location and era. Actual UK, British colony, British Commonwealth, Former British Commonwealth ???

[Outpost75]

Ulm proof house, 1972, Nitro proof - NICE

It seems that people all over the world recognized the quality of S&W.

I am told by a retired CID Maj. MP who served in Germany during the 1970s that leased office spaces used by the US Army and State Dept. hired contract local security, and that the standard GSA contracting documents in use at the time prohibited armed security guards from carrying automatic pistols, but that they be armed with 4-inch .38 Special revolvers and undergo the same training and qualification required of private security hired by GSA in the USA. THAT is how those Model 12s got to Germany. These guns were carried alot and seldom shot with anything but target wadcutter ammo on a range. The "duty" ammo carried was old school standard velocity 158-grain LRN loaded by Geco.