Even when given the opportunity to switch to a higher capacity pistol or a newer very well designed jacketed hollowpoint they held onto the older revolvers and old school 158gr loads.
![ruger police six gs83 nycpd .38 special ruger police six gs83 nycpd .38 special](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/5b/68/f4/5b68f4e31466911ad9afe4d7502f61fa.jpg)
It's interesting to note that many officers developed a strong confidence in both their 38 Special revolvers and the 158 gr load. The Speer load was a very good round but many officers lamented the loss of the older 158gr loads and horded them for years. The Speer Gold Dot load was provided to officers that still carried a revolver and it was used in both 4" duty guns and snubnose off-duty/back-up guns (often a S&W 640 or 36). The duty load varied over the years but it was a 158gr bullet (158gr Federal Nyclad towards the end) until it was eventually replaced by the Speer Gold Dot 135gr short barrel load in the mid 1990's. So that set the stage for the slow removal of the 38 Special from the NYPD by attrition but with well over 30,000 officers that attrition would continue for many years. 357 mag.Ĭirca 1992-1994* the revolvers were dropped from the list of guns the recruits could purchase as their duty weapons but the current officers that had revolvers and wanted to keep them were grandfathered in. The list of available duty weapons was rather short and towards the end of the revolver days it was a DAO revolver but the one constant remained, was it was always chambered in 38 Special and never. Technically new officers were not "issued" firearms but rather purchased their duty weapon at very discounted prices from the department. The NYPD used revolvers for a long time but they never used.