When did the police stop using revolvers?

motorhead
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life
I was rewatching “The Silence of the Lambs” and noticed the police officers were still using revolvers.

A quick google search says “early 90’s” as the general answer. The film was released in 1991 so it’s probably one of the last major films released to show police officers armed with revolvers

I imagine there was a long transition period - big cities transitioning first and maybe rural departments taking awhile

11 comments

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san_jose_guy
2 years ago
I think in the early 90's.

Revolvers loose gas pressure where the cylinder is pushed up against the back or the barrel. They are slow to reload, and they only hold 6.

Police wanted the extra 2 bullets and the fast reloads.

The Glock's that they selected are mostly made out of very strong polymer plastic and they were put through extremely demanding qualifying trials by the Austrian military before they selected them.

FWIW, there are right wing connotations to Thomas Harris's stories. I have not read this anywhere, but I suspect that this is why Jodie Foster backed out of making any more movies based on his stories.

I had read at the time that she wanted to make Silence of the Lambs because of the strong female character.

And the newspaper applauded her because in the film someone asks her about romantic liaisons and the character declined to disclose.

Foster said she wanted to not to play these young ingénue characters, but she wanted to play more serious mature roles so that she could continue her acting career longer.

SJG
TheeOSU
2 years ago
'Police wanted the extra 2 bullets'



Huh? It appears that having your asshole sewn shut by your EX wife before she escaped your clutches has affected your ability to count.
BTW are there any 298 c.i. handguns?

Your post is the epitome of an empty headed nitwit that just drones on and on regarding subjects he knows nothing about
The hi-cap 9s that most police departments use have a minimum mag capacity of 15 rounds not 8.
Even the pistols in 40cal, 45, etc that some departments use usually have at least 12 rd mags.
The only exceptions are ultra compact pistols for undercover or back up and even many of them hold more than 8 rounds.

You're a fool and you double down and reinforce that fact every time you post!
TheeOSU
2 years ago
I swear you're Barney Fife reincarnated!
san_jose_guy
2 years ago
Most use Glock 9mm with 8 round magazines.

SJG
TheeOSU
2 years ago
Are they 298 cubic inches too?
Double down on your false facts dumbass!
TheeOSU
2 years ago
Oh and Motorhead, sorry for changing the tempo of your thread but someone has to put that fool in the corner with a dunce cap.


Regarding your question, your guess about early 90s is as good as any.

BTW, “The Silence of the Lambs” is a great movie, in a similar vein we have our own Buffalo Bill posting above, replaced with goats, Goatherder Bill, Lol
HannibalSmith
2 years ago
There was a major shoot out between the FBI and and two bank robbers in Miami in the late 80s that left two agents dead. The robbers had vests and the agents largely had revolvers and 9mm which didn’t have enough power to penetrate the vests. Also revolvers are slow to reload even with half moon clips.

About this time police decided that they needed something with more stopping power, easy reload and good reliability. S&W came out with the .40 cal round and Glock somehow beat them to market with a popular police weapon.

There’s a good movie about this whole thing with the dad from family ties playing one of the robbers.
Tetradon
2 years ago
"Most use Glock 9mm with 8 round magazines."
Dumbass. Aren't you the same guy that threatens to shoot everyone? Learn something about guns before you pop off, nutball.

@Hannibal, after the FBI shootout, a lot of agencies moved to 10mm which was powerful but too unwieldy for many. A lot scaled back to the .40 S&W (also known as "10mm short").

With the advent of better 9mm ammo, a lot have moved to 9mm Glock 17s (17 round mags) or 19s (15 round mags) as their primary service pistol. A full-sized 9mm Beretta or Glock has almost no recoil for easy follow-up shots. I like the simplicity of Glocks but not a fan of the country-mile trigger pull.

"Glock: The Rise of America's Gun" by Paul M. Barrett is a great book.
bigman226
2 years ago
The Crips and Bloods came to OK in 1988. Cops had revolvers & shotguns. They used to run from the sound of a Mac 10. I left for college in 89, came back, everybody had a glock
san_jose_guy
2 years ago
Yeah, since Miami they started moving to 10mm, at least for some stuff and for customs and border patrol. Stopping power, knocking someone down so they can't easily return fire.

SJG
twentyfive
2 years ago
I think a number of years ago, there was an armored car robbery in California, the robbers had body armor and high velocity assault rifles, the cops that responded to the scene were over matched and out gunned, I think that was the point that the cops started looking for more and heavier firepower than the S & W .38 caliber revolvers that were popular back then, the Glock became popular for it's durability and its ability to withstand abuse and still be a dependable firearm.
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