historicalfirearms:In Action: Colt Detective SpecialThe photographs above show a group of female tra
historicalfirearms:In Action: Colt Detective SpecialThe photographs above show a group of female trainees from the Los Angeles Police Department during a pistol practice firing, in the classic bullseye stance, their newly issued revolvers on March 6, 1948. In the second photograph the trainee Policewomen examine their target. In their hands are Colt Detective Specials, in the second photograph we can see that the revolvers have been fitted with grip adaptors.Colt initially introduced the Detective Special in 1927, designed to chamber both .32 S&W Long (which Colt of course referred to as the .32 Colt New Police) and .38 Special. It was a shortened version of the earlier Police Positive Special which had been introduced in 1908. The first policewomen, with arresting powers, joined the Los Angeles police department in the early 1910s and by the early 1940s their were around 40 female officers. While LAPD’s first female officer Alice Stebbins Wells was not initially issued a side arm, armed female officers later became the norm. Colt Police Positive Special (source)Despite being armed and having arresting powers LAPD were reluctant to assign female officers to field duties until the 1970s and 80s. Before that female officers were frequently assigned to clerical work or dealing with investigations into women and juveniles. They were often issued smaller snubnose revolvers to aid concealment in handbags. The Detective Special was built on the D frame and typically had a 2-inch barrel and a swing-out six chamber cylinder. It shared the Police Positive’s hammer block safety and double action.There were four major production series of the pistol with small internal and grip shape changes. In the early 70s an ejector rod shroud was added beneath the barrel before production ended in 1986. In 1993 a final short-lived production run of Detective Specials was made but production ceased again in 1995. Sources:Images: 1 2 3‘The LAPD’s First Woman Officer and the Fight for Equality‘, New Historian, (source)‘Women in the LAPD‘, LAPD Online, (source)If you enjoy the content please consider supporting Historical Firearms through Patreon! -- source link