NYPD Police Service Six DAO On The Way-***PICS ADDED***

I'm retired from that department and have been on a collecting kick of their guns. I have a blued Police Service Six from the last academy class to get them, January of 1987. Saw a stainless DAO one from 1988 on Gunbroker and I snagged it.

I remember when guys were selling their revolvers to fund the purchase of the new 9MM night sights and duty gear. Going rate for a DAO revolver was $150 with all the leather and speed loaders. Today, a JayPee swivel holster goes for over $100. Should have bought them all and just sat on them until now.

I might replace the hammer with a spurred one. I have a GPNY, the NYPD DAO GP100. Dropping a hammer in is so easy and easily reversible, unlike a Smith and Wesson.

I'll post pics when I get it.

Nice find. I've got one in stainless 4" DAO which was a NYCPD contract over run without the armorer's star. Is yours stamped with star? I've got a GS-83 Speed Six 3" DAO NYCPD 38spl with the star also. Great guns with a history. Congrats & enjoy it!

Not sure. The pics show it as used with some wear but no picture of the inside of the crane. I'll know when I get it in. I know the GPNY came around in 1989 or so. The wear makes me think it was carried. The FFL said he bought it from a retired NYPD guy. I've bought a few more from him and all were confirmed NYPD.

Either way it's an NYPD gun. Whether it walked the beat or not, it will occupy a space in my safe. But I do hope it has the star.

I would leave the hammer alone. I like DAO revolvers.

Nice to have the special contract Rugers lettered for $10. Very well done and cheap. Looking forward to seeing your NYCPD Service Six.

Back in the 1990s I bought a couple of shooter grade NYPD Service Six revolvers from a then-retired officer who had opened a gun shop. (Maybe in New Jersey?)

He had a pretty long list of them for sale, along with several Model 36 J Frame snubbies. Wish I could remember his name.

The ones I bought had spur hammers and were single/double action. I still have them.

Both Star stamped & lettered.
Good hunting
Terry

arfmel said:

Back in the 1990s I bought a couple of shooter grade NYPD Service Six revolvers from a then-retired officer who had opened a gun shop. (Maybe in New Jersey?)

He had a pretty long list of them for sale, along with several Model 36 J Frame snubbies. Wish I could remember his name.

The ones I bought had spur hammers and were single/double action. I still have them.

Click to expand...

Was the name RM Vivas?

That's him! Thanks!

Terry, nice grips on your Speed Six!

I've had a few of each but kept these:

The shipper has a star stamp to match the one under the crane.

I wish I had known about these! I have been looking for a 3inch barreled revolver for a long time. Didn't the FBI have 3inch barreled Smith & Wesson's at one time?

I can't speak to the FBI guns but in later production, Ruger almost entirely dropped the 2.75" barrel in favor of the 3" because they changed the contour of the extractor housing from a sharper step toward the barrel to a longer more gentle slope and that in turn required a little longer tube. I don't believe I've ever seen an adjustable sight Security Six with the 3" barrel but certainly the fixed sight guns that were in production longer than the Security Six (which was dropped when the GP100 came along - at first only with adjustable sights) used it. So you can definitely find Speed Six and Police Service Six revolvers with the 3" barrel. It is possible that some Security Sixes were made with 3", but I don't have one. All my high number Security Sixes with that gentle sloped shroud are 4" and 6" guns. The Speed Six and Police Service Six were subsequently dropped a couple years after the Security Six when Ruger finally designed a fixed sight GP100, but you don't see them as much since the biggest fixed sight market was LE and most departments were changing over to autos by then.

My buddy just got this 3" Model 36 Chief's Special from a cleared case at the department that he works for. It was evidence in a criminal case and after the case was settled it was cleared for sale. I sent him the BK adapter and Bianchi holster for it. A 3" J Frame is a nice size revolver and carries easy.

My GPNY and NYPD Service Six with the Star inside the crane

I took the original grips off and put the approved Pachmayr Grippers on, just because I think they look more "business like " and make the guns easier to grip. If I were an NYPD cop I'd have put Grippers on. It's a tool not a showpiece

Also an NYPD over run DAO P89

And a Dept of Energy security trade in DAO .357 GP100, that I put Meprolights on and new Pachmayr grips

I picked it up yesterday. No star. Probably a contract overrun. Little disappointed, but not too much. The NYPD went from the blued Service six with a hammer to the stainless DAO in July, 1987. By 1989, they stopped using the Service Six in favor of the GPNY. I know the academy staff heavily pushed the S&W, so that first shipment of DAO Service Six guns probably lasted a long time, and any others made in anticipation of another order were never needed once they went to the GPNY.

From what I understand the GPNY wasn't offered as an option for very long, since 9mm autos like the S&W 5946 were offered shortly after and there was no option for a revolver.


Years ago I read about an NYPD officer who was in one of the last classes to be able to choose a revolver. The only approved grips were factory stock or Pachmayr Grippers. The finish on the GPNY was matte because an off duty officer pulled out an old nickeled revolver and was shot by other officers. So the NYPD specified that Ruger make the GPNY and SPNY with a matte finish

I also found it fascinating that at this time , early-mid 80s , the NYPD no longer allowed "family hand me down " revolvers because rookies that were 2nd and 3rd generation NYPD in the 1980s were carrying their grandfathers S&W M&P that was 50 years old. And obviously that's not very conducive to reliability and maintenance.

We went to the 9MM on 8/30/1993, so the GPNY was around for 4 years. I was in that class. The decision was made on Friday, 8/27/1993. I had just picked up my hiring packet that day and the revolvers were listed with their prices. When we showed up that Monday, they gave us the new list with the 9MM's.

You could carry a hand me down off duty off the approved list (DAO if you weren't authorized to carry a hammer spur revolver), but not a duty gun. Those had to be brand new.

4 years is way longer than I thought, that's good info . My GPNY was definitely carried

I believe Guns & Ammo magazines online version had an article about the last NYPD Officers still carrying revolvers on Duty as of 2018 or so.

Was the DAO P89 approved and carried or were they all over runs? My DAO P89 was sold to me as an "NYPD Overrun "

In 2001 I was in college going for a Criminal Justice degree, and they offered a summer police Academy. We had to supply our own weapon and it had to be a "6 shot 4" .38 Special revolver or a full size 9mm pistol " so most people bought Ruger P89s, 95s or Taurus 82's.

Fast forward to 2012 in the Academy to be a State CO, and we qualified with S&W 64s . There were still some stainless .38 Service Sixes floating around, I actually bought one after they were replaced by Glock 45s.

Just random "revolvers in duty use way later than people think " ramblings

The P89 was in the pilot program for the 9MM. I worked with two guys who had them. When the switch to 9MM was made, they were allowed to keep carrying them.

in 1995, there was a real issue with the Glock 19. They were having Phase 3 malfunctions. Several on the street during real shootings. My own had one while qualifying at the range. Glock ignored the problem at first. Said it was the ammo we used. The job contacted Ruger for guns to replace ALL Glock 19's on the job. Then Glock took notice. They sent a Glock armorer to the range and we all turned in our Glocks for loaner Glock 19's, while the ejection port was cut at a different angle to prevent the malfunctions.

Ruger gets passed over once again for guns like Glock, because Glock basically gives guns away to LE and Govt agencies

People ask me why I pump up the Ruger P guns so much....I tell them...I have a DAO P94 that I use as a training gun....that has seen 5,000 rounds of Tulammo and has only received an occasional drop of CLP down each slide rail before a range day. I can't even remember when it's been apart last. Just keeps on going.

It's had so few malfunctions that I remember the only one because it was during a Practical Handgun match , and all I had was steel case ammo. I had an FTE which I cleared.

I own a 5946 and a DAO P89 and in my opinion the P89 is by far the better gun