Name: Mike Wood
Role: Senior Editor, Official RevolverGuy.com Historian
Favorite Revolver: Smith & Wesson Model 19 (4″, pre-lock)
Mike Wood grew up as the son of a 30 year California Highway Patrolman, who was the lead firearms instructor for his assigned area of the state. As kids, Mike and his brother spent their formative years policing brass, posting and scoring targets, issuing ammo and bumming around on police ranges back before liability lawyers made those things impossible. They had a front row seat to police firearms training in the 70s and 80s, and grew up shooting revolvers in the era when they were still King in police work.
Mike’s dad was a Colt man, but a handful of negative experiences with poor quality control (in the era of the UAW strike and the following bankruptcy) under the Blue Dome in Hartford turned Mike into a Smith & Wesson guy pretty early. His first revolver was actually a Ruger Single Six, though, and he has a fondness for that brand, too.
Mike is the author of the excellent Newhall Shooting, A Tactical Analysis, a former columnist of 8 years at PoliceOne.com and a contributor on the Lucky Gunner Lounge. He’s been published in American Cop magazine, American Handgunner magazine, the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) Tactical Edge, and other professional journals. He has also been the featured guest on several NRA TV programs, the Excellence in Training Academy podcast, the American Warrior Show podcast, the Firearms Nation podcast, and the California Association of Tactical Officers (CATO) podcast.
Mike:
- Made sure to “reload” after six shots when he played “cops and robbers” as a kid;
- Wouldn’t play the game if he had to be the “robber,” and turned it into “cowboys and Indians” (either one was fine with him) instead;
- Is happy he shot the Model 15 in the Air Force before the M9 replaced it, and prays the CMP will find a cache of them someday;
- Still holds a bit of a grudge over the 2000 S&W-HUD agreement (damned Brits!);
- Thinks internal locks in sideplates are a crime against humanity, and prays that Smith & Wesson will eventually come to their senses and make them optional, instead of standard;
- Thinks .410 shells are for long guns, not revolvers;
- Wishes he had kept that first-run King Cobra with the endshake problem, instead of selling it;
- Thinks it’s false advertising to sell a “Classic” line with internal locks and MIM parts;
- Hates cleaning his 10-round Model 617 but is grateful that at least he doesn’t have to figure out how to reassemble a Ruger Mark I, II, or III;
- Is absolutely thrilled to see Colt is back in the revolver biz, but can’t figure out why the new “Cobra” has a stainless steel frame, not aluminum (is there no loyalty to tradition?);
- Is always on the hunt for a 3″, round butt, Model 13 in good condition;
- Knows what the four clicks spell out, on a Model P;
- Thinks the K-Frame was built for his hand;
- Remembers when revolvers came from the factory with wood grips and we immediately replaced them with rubber, but now replaces the factory rubber grips with wood;
- Swears that J-Frame sights have been shrinking for about ten years now;
- Would be tickled pink to own an Official Police or Officer’s Model;
- Fondly remembers his visits to John Bianchi’s short-lived, but magnificent, Frontier Museum;
- Wants Bill Jordan canonized for his creative role in developing the Model 19;
- Thinks Ruger should bring back the Security Six in a “Classic” line;
- Teethed on spent .38 brass as a toddler, and doesn’t think the lead residue affected him . . . much.