Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

SMITH & WESSON MODEL 14 - .357 MAGNUM

Date Range From

1987

Date Range To

1995

Materials

STEEL, PLASTIC, PAPER

No. Pieces

4

Height

13.5

Length

23.5

Width

3.7

Description

1. 1 PIECE, STEEL, PLASTIC. BLACK BURNISHED STEEL REVOLVER. REVOLVER HAS BLACK PLASTIC GRIP WITH MOLDED FINGER GRIP AND CRISS-CROSS PATTERN. AT MIDDLE ON EACH SIDE IS BRASS LOGO WITH RAISED LION, TARGET AND "P". RAISED ON BOTTOM OF GRIP IS "THE PACHMAYR `GRIPPER' LOS ANGELES CALIF. MADE IN U.S.A." ON LEFT SIDE OF BARREL IS "SMITH & WESSON" AND ON LEFT SIDE OF FRAME JUST ABOVE GRIP IS SMITH & WESSON LOGO WITH STYLIZED "S" AND "W" WITH TRADE MARK AROUND IT AND "REG. U.S. PAT. OFF." BELOW. STAMPED ON RIGHT SIDE OF FRAME IN FRONT OF TRIGGER IS "MADE IN U.S.A. MARCAS REGISTRADAS SMITH & WESSON SPRINGFIELD, MASS." STAMPED ON RIGHT SIDE OF BARREL IS "S. & W. 357 MAGNUM". STAMPED ON BUTT OF REVOLVER IS "20D6135". 2. INSTRUCTION PAMPHLET: WHITE PAPER PAMPHLET FOLDED TWICE HORIZONTALLY. HAS PHOTO OF REVOLVER AND TITLE WHICH READS ".357 MILITARY & POLICE REVOLVER MODEL NO.13". BELOW TITLE IS CONTENTS LIST "PARTS LIST", "INSTRUCTIONS FOR USE", "MAINTENANCE" AND "SPECIFICATIONS". AT BOTTOM OF PAGE IS "SMITH & WESSON" LOGO WITH ADRESS OF "BANGOR PUNTA COMPANY". CONTAINS A PARTS DIAGRAM, LIST OF PART NUMBERS AND SERVICING INSTRUCTIONS. 3. SAFETY PAMPHLET: WHITE PAPER PAMPHLET WITH CLOSEUP PHOTO OF REVOLVER HAMMER AND CYLINDER AND TRIGGER. TITLE IN WHITE READS "SAFETY & INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS FOR YOUR SMITH & WESSON FIREARM". INSIDE IS PHOTO DIAGRAMS FOR FIRING AND MAINTENANCE. 4. SAFETY PAMPHLET: WHITE ACCORDIAN STYLE PAMPHLET WITH "SMITH & WESSON" LOGO AND TITLE WHICH READS "SAFETY & INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS FOR YOUR SMITH & WESSON FIREARM". CONTAINS PROSE INSTRUCTIONS FOR FIRING, AMMUNITION, STORAGE AND SERVICE OF FIREARM.

Subjects

ARMAMENT-FIREARM

Historical Association

SAFETY SERVICES

History

ON 24 SEPTEMBER 2010, LORELEI VANDEN BERG, FIREARMS OFFICER WITH THE RCMP IN LETHBRIDGE, CONFIRMED THAT THIS WEAPON WAS REGISTERED TO THE LETHBRIDGE CITY POLICE (CERT. NO. K-095693) PRIOR TO HAVING BEEN REGISTERED BY THE DONOR’S HUSBAND INSPECTOR FRANK BATHGATE. THE WEAPON, IT IS PRESUMED, WAS BOUGHT BY BATHGATE AS A POLICE SERVICE MEMENTO AND WAS ADDED BY HIM TO HIS COLLECTION FOR POSTERITY. OTHER DONATED FIREARMS IN THIS COLLECTION MAY HAVE BEEN UTILIZED AS PART OF HIS SERVICE IN A NON-ISSUE CAPACITY AS CLAIMED WAS GENERALLY DONE BY RETIRED CONSTABLE ERNIE KREEFT BELOW. AMONGST THE COLLECTION, HOWEVER, THIS IS THE ONLY WEAPON WITH DOCUMENTED TIES TO THE POLICE FORCE. ________________________________________ ON 8 OCTOBER 2009, TECH KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED RETIRED LPS/CITY POLICE FORCE CONSTABLE AND ARMOURER ERNIE KREEFT (SERVICE DATES 1 JUNE 1977 TO 4 JAN 2004) ABOUT THE FORCE’S USE OF THE .357 SMITH & WESSON REVOLVER. ACCORDING TO KREEFT, THE SMITH & WESSON 38 SPECIAL WAS ISSUED TO HIM AT THE BEGINNING OF HIS CAREER, BUT SOMETIME ABOUT THE MID 80S THE FORCE OFFICIALLY TRANSITIONED TO THE .357 SMITH & WESSON WHICH, WAS STILL FIRED USING .38 SPECIAL AMMUNITION. WHEN ASKED WHY THE TRANSITION TO THE .357 OCCURRED HE SAID, “IT’S JUST A PROGRESSION OF A BETTER GUN. THE OTHER ONES, I THINK, WERE OLD SMITH AND WESSON T-FRAMES AND THEY WERE STARTING TO GET LIKE, OVER THE YEARS, THEY GET OLD, AND I THINK THE ODD TIME WE HAD A COUPLE OF BACK STRAPS THAT BROKE, WHEN GUYS WERE DOWN AT THE RANGE, GOT INJURED, AND LIKE, THEY BLEW UP A LITTLE BIT, AND, THEN WE ENDED UP GOING TO REPLACE THEM AND WE JUST ENDED UP GETTING THESE GUNS.” IT’S POSSIBLE, HE SAID, THAT THE .38S DATED BACK TO THE 1960S. BEFORE THAT, HE THOUGHT THEY “USED THE WEBLEY WITH A FRONT BRAKE”. KREEFT TOLD MACLEAN, “THERE WAS A TIME WHEN GUYS WERE ALLOWED TO CARRY THEIR OWN FIREARM ON DUTY AND SOME OF THE GUYS BOUGHT 357S ALTHOUGH [THE FORCE] USED THE .38. AND THEN THEY DIDN’T WANT GUYS HAVING THEIR OWN GUNS SO THE DEPARTMENT SAID “BYE-BYE.” YOU COULDN’T HAVE YOUR OWN GUN. YOU WERE ISSUED ONE.” THE .357’S WOODEN GRIP, CLAIMED KREEFT, COULD BE REPLACED WITH A RUBBER ‘PACHMAYR’ GRIP. “BUT NOT EVERYBODY PUT PACHMAYRS ON”, HE SAID. “SOME PEOPLE LEFT THE OLD WOOD GRIPS ON THAT CAME WITH THE GUN [AND] SOME GUYS JUST LIKED [THE PACHMAYR] BETTER BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, THEY TOOK A LITTLE MORE PRIDE IN WHAT THEY SHOT AND THOUGHT THEY FELT BETTER.” AS FOR RANGE USE OF THE .357, KREEFT SAID, “OH, THEY SHOOT A LOT MORE NOW THAN THEY DID THEN. I THINK QUALIFYING WAS MAYBE ONLY ONCE A YEAR BACK THEN. AND FOR SOME GUYS THAT’S THE ONLY TIME THEY’D SHOOT THEIR WEAPONS WHEN THEY’D GO FOR QUALIFYING. SOME GUYS REALLY DON’T LIKE GUNS AT ALL, THEY JUST, THE NATURE OF THE BEAST I GUESS. YOU’D THINK A POLICEMAN, THAT’S ONE OF HIS TOOLS; THEY’D WANT TO BE PROFICIENT. BUT SOME GUYS REALLY AREN’T VERY GOOD AT IT AND NEVER REALLY LIKED IT.” IN ORDER TO QUALIFY, THE MEMBERS OBSERVED AN “OLD FBI COURSE” STANDARD, STARTING “AT THE 50 YARD LINE [AND] THEN YOU MOVE UP TO THE 25 YARD LINE AND THEN YOU MOVED UP TO MAYBE THE 15 AND THE 7 YARD LINE OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT. AND AT THE 7 YARD LINE THERE WASN’T AIMING. I REMEMBER WE HAD TO SHOOT KIND OF INSTINCTIVELY AND PULL THE GUN OUT AND JUST OFF THE HIP. ONLY 2 GUYS COULD GO AT ONCE, EH.” WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE .357S’ EFFECTIVENESS, KREEFT STATED, “YOU KNOW THE THING ABOUT A REVOLVER, IT’S A GOOD WORK HORSE. THEY’RE GOOD WEAPONS. THEY KIND OF, LIKE, JUST KEEP TICKING ALONG BUT THEN, YOU KNOW, IT COMES UP AND YOU’RE IN A GUNFIGHT AND THERE’S ONLY 6 ROUNDS IN AND YOU HAVE TO RELOAD WHEREAS A SEMI-AUTOMATIC YOU HAVE 15 ROUNDS AND THEY HAD ALL KINDS OF TRAINING WHERE FBI AGENTS WERE SHOT AND KILLED BECAUSE OF NOT ENOUGH ROUNDS. IT’S A PROGRESSION OF THE WAY THINGS GO, YOU KNOW, LIKE, OTHER WEAPONS.” ________________________________________ FRANK JAMES BATHGATE WAS BORN IN LETHBRIDGE AND GREW UP IN THE PARK LAKE AREA. HE APPLIED TO THE LETHBRIDGE POLICE FORCE IN 1951 AND WAS APPOINTED CONSTABLE ON JANUARY 14, 1953. HE WAS THEN PROMOTED TO THE RANK OF ACTING SERGEANT IN 1960, AND IN 1967 PROMOTED TO DETECTIVE IN THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION BRANCH, WHERE HE WAS APPOINTED HEAD OF NARCOTICS AND DANGEROUS DRUG SECTION OF THE LETHBRIDGE POLICE FORCE. IN 1971 FRANK WAS PROMOTED TO THE RANK OF DETECTIVE SERGEANT AND WAS THE HEAD OF THE NEWLY CREATED CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE UNIT, IN ADDITION TO HIS DUTIES IN THE DRUG UNIT. ACCORDING TO ONE DOCUMENT (PERM RECORD), HE WAS AN INTEGRAL PART IN THE FORMATION OF THE CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICE OF CANADA, WHICH DEALS WITH ORGANIZED CRIME AND OTHER AREAS OF NATIONAL INTEREST. IN JUNE OF 1978 HE WAS PROMOTED TO THE RANK OF INSPECTOR, AND TOOK OVER COMMAND OF THE UNIFORMED PATROL DIVISION. IN AUGUST OF 1979 BATHGATE WAS PROMOTED TO SUPERINTENDENT AND FOURTEEN MONTHS LATER PROMOTED TO DEPUTY CHIEF OF POLICE. HE HELD THIS APPOINTMENT UNTIL HIS RETIREMENT IN 1988. FRANK BATHGATE PASSED AWAY IN 1996. FOR MORE INFORMATION AND THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW, REFERENCE THE PERMANENT FILE AND P20090009001-2 TO LEARN ABOUT THE TRANSITION TO THE SMITH & WESSON AUTOMATIC HANDGUN IN 1995. SEE ALSO ARTIFACT P19960109007, SPEED LOADERS, WHICH ARE DIRECTLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE OPERATION OF THIS WEAPON.

Catalogue Number

P19960109006

Acquisition Date

1996-12

Collection

Museum

Less detail