Long a staple of police and security use, surplus stainless steel Smith & Wesson medium-sized duty revolvers still have a lot of life left.
The S&W K-frame was the standard police-issue “service revolver” for just about every law enforcement agency in the 1970s and 80s, and have continued to clock in for use in corrections and security roles to this day. Dating back to the early side-ejector designs of the 1900s, these six-shooters were dependable for both military and police work – which led to the model’s early designation.
I carried a K-frame S&W 60-series for years, back in the days of full mustaches, PR-24s, speedloaders, and dump pouches. Oh yeah, baby.
Over 6 million K-frames have been produced.
And I saw in the warehouse where Guns.com just rec’d over 800 police trade-in Model 64s (38s) and 65s (357s) in a variety of generations (64-5, 64-8, 65-4, 65-5, 65-6, 65-7, and 65-8) made between 1988 to 2008-ish.
Don’t count these old troopers out, as they still ring true for a relaxing day on the range and can serve self-defense uses for generations to come. Just saying.