As you can most likely tell by my posts, I enjoy family heirlooms and learning about them. ;) For this post I will tell you about a service pistol.
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| Terrill Barnett Blair |
This pistol belonged to my maternal great-grandfather, Terrill Barnett Blair, in the 1940s, from when he worked as a Taft, CA, police officer. The gun is a Colt Officer's .38 Special. It weighs 2 pounds and 6 ounces and was made in 1917. This was the standard equipment for police officers all over the country at that time.
At some point, Terrill replaced the standard pistol grips with ivory or bone, which is etched with small flowers and has a raised thumb rest.
The gun's holster was called "The Speed Holster" and was made by Jewett Safety Holster Company in Bakersfield, CA. Terrill referred to it as a "clamshell." Instead of drawing the gun up and out, the shooter would press a button alarmingly close to the trigger. The holster would spring open, allowing the gun to be brought straight forward. This being the situation, it would be very easy to fire the gun by mistake. (Maybe that's why Barney Fife always misfired his gun! :D ;)
If you look closely at the picture above, you can see the row of bullets on the belt to which the holster was attached.
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| A close-up of the holster. |
My Uncle Russ still fires the pistol regularly, and it shoots flawlessly!
So you now know another one of my favorite heirlooms... :)
Love,
Ava Katherine <3
Hello Isabel Rose. I am a Pastor from MUBAI, INDIA. I am blessed and feel privileged and honored to get connected with you as well as know you thrugh your profile on the blogger and the blog post because of who you are in the Lord Jesus Christ and your desire to become more like Him. I love to get connected with the people of God around the globe to be encouaged, stengthened and praying for one another. I have been in the Pastoral ministry forlast 37 yrs in this great city of Mumbai a city with a great contrast where richest of rich and the poorest of poor live. We reach out to the poorest of poor with the love of Christ to bring healing to the broken hearted. We also encourage young and the adults from the west to come to Mumbai to work with us during their vacation time. We would love to have you come to Mumbai with your friends to work with us during your vacation time. I am sure you will have a life changing experience. My email id is: dhwankhede(at)gmail(dot)com and my name is Diwakar wankhede. Looking forward to hear from you very soon. God's richest blessings on you, your family and friends. Also wishing you a blessed and a Christ centered rest of the year 2016
ReplyDeleteGreat post Ava! Your doing a great job on your blog!;)
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