In 1978 D.K. Hummel, a well respected Ruger collector and FFL holder, worked with 1st Sgt. Karl Krueger of Company #2 of the State Police of Crawford & Erie Counties in Pa. to order 12 stainless, fixed sight, double action revolvers WITH OUT THE 'WARNING' on the barrels. These unique guns have the pre-warning barrel markings on the left side of the barrel in place of the then standard 'warning'.
The only way to identify these unique (and previously unknown) guns is by serial number. :shock:
Even more interesting to me is who the State Police of Crawford & Erie Counties were.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Police_of_Crawford_and_Erie_Counties
In other words, in the spirit of American 'Vigilantism', shall we say, a group of volunteers formed to fight crime (horse and cattle thieves) in the absence of an adequate official police presence. They managed to obtain a charter from the Pa. state legislature in 1872 giving the members full arrest powers and the right to carry firearms! So, in one sense they really were a full, official policing body.
In their later years they became more of an auxiliary or supplemental agency filling in for other law enforcement with traffic and crowd control at events such as county fairs, parades, and large church socials.
Their charter was not revoked until 2005 when the actual Pa. State Police began to be concerned that folks could be confused by their name, not to mention that they had out lived their usefulness as a full law enforcement agency.
The state charter required that this be a volunteer organization and that the members approved new members. By 1973 they were logging in the neighborhood of 19,000 hours of volunteer service in a year. By 2005, membership had dwindled to about 200 members from a high of 4,000 in the early 1940s at the height of WW II.
I know where 2 of these 12 are.
I'm guessing that there are 10 more loose out there to be found by collectors! :shock:
Chad: Do these State Police of Crawford & Erie Counties guns rate a new paragraph in your next edition? :shock:
Terry T
The only way to identify these unique (and previously unknown) guns is by serial number. :shock:
Even more interesting to me is who the State Police of Crawford & Erie Counties were.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_Police_of_Crawford_and_Erie_Counties
In other words, in the spirit of American 'Vigilantism', shall we say, a group of volunteers formed to fight crime (horse and cattle thieves) in the absence of an adequate official police presence. They managed to obtain a charter from the Pa. state legislature in 1872 giving the members full arrest powers and the right to carry firearms! So, in one sense they really were a full, official policing body.
In their later years they became more of an auxiliary or supplemental agency filling in for other law enforcement with traffic and crowd control at events such as county fairs, parades, and large church socials.
Their charter was not revoked until 2005 when the actual Pa. State Police began to be concerned that folks could be confused by their name, not to mention that they had out lived their usefulness as a full law enforcement agency.
The state charter required that this be a volunteer organization and that the members approved new members. By 1973 they were logging in the neighborhood of 19,000 hours of volunteer service in a year. By 2005, membership had dwindled to about 200 members from a high of 4,000 in the early 1940s at the height of WW II.
I know where 2 of these 12 are.
I'm guessing that there are 10 more loose out there to be found by collectors! :shock:
Chad: Do these State Police of Crawford & Erie Counties guns rate a new paragraph in your next edition? :shock:
Terry T
