15 July 99
This just in from a friend in ammunition sales on the East Coast:
“Last week, I came across a department of thirty officers in which the issued service weapon is the S&W Model 65, loaded with factory 357 Mg 125 grain JHP. This is one of the few departments we service who still issue revolvers.
A staff officer (who is also the Department Range Officer) asked for pricing on.38 Spl wadcutters. I knew right there he was using underpowered target ammunition for training. He then told me that they do indeed train with wadcutters, but carry 357 Mg.
Passionately, I tried to convince him to use 357 Mg for both training and service, so officers would be fully prepared for the gun’s behavior when they actually had to use it. However, his eyes just glazed over, and he mechanically launched into a wearied and well-rehearsed lecture about the costs of training and how running a police department was so expensive these days, etc, etc, …ad nauseam.
Here we are in 1999, and we still have to listed to this hackneyed and antiquated argument, from the lips of people who claim to “really care” about the safety of their officers!”
Lesson:
>Thank Heaven most of now use autoloaders now. Practice ammunition has to be at least powerful enough to cycle the slide!
/John
