When I was a kid, growing up in Chattanooga in the 1950s, the city police mostly carried 4" factory nickled S&W Model 10s. Many of them had the factory stocks replaced with the old Franzite fake stags. Low profile they were not, and in those days the lawmen were not hesitant to use them if the situation warranted. Chattanooga was a blue-collar town with lots of heavy industry, and gambling and moonshining were traditions in the hills around there. There were some rough characters to be dealt with.

A few years ago I picked up a well-used nickel Model 10 at a local gun show. It lettered to an Atlanta wholesaler who did business with the Chattanooga PD in those days (1960). Naturally I had to replace the worn and battered factory stocks with a pair of Franzite stags I had in my grip box, and stick it into an old Don Hume rig with a 12-round belt slide full of nickled 158 grain RNLs.

Old-fashioned?! Who, me?