Mid 2022, West Texas. Retired Dallas PD Captain Eddie Walt was browsing GunBroker when he happened across an ad for a 3 ½” Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum – what collectors call a “pre-27.” The opening bid seemed reasonable enough. It was in decent shape, with what appeared to be the original grips and just enough blue wear to show it’d done some honest holster time without being abused. He put in a bid, waited, and a week later a package arrived from the dealer in Sequim, Washington.
Eddie cleaned it up and made a few modifications that he liked from his own duty guns. A stripe of neon orange paint made the front sight stand out, and a polished aluminum grip adapter from Robertson Trading Post filled in the gap behind the trigger guard. He sighted it in with his pet .357 load, a 158 gr. LSWC seated over enough 2400 for a reasonable 1200 fps.
BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION
Eddie was curious about the old sixgun, so he requested a letter from the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation (SWHF) that showed it shipped on May 2nd, 1952 for Sheriff Max Mayfield of Colusa County, California via the George F. Cake Company. The wholesale price was $67.22, a pretty steep discount from the suggested retail price of $110. The SWHF also found a copy of the original invoice.
Eddie put his old detective skills to use, to find out just who Max Mayfield was. Max Jewell Mayfield was born on July 10, 1911 in Kent, California. In 1938 he joined the Colusa Police Department, and around the start of World War II he went to work as a Colusa County Traffic Officer working for his stepdad, Undersheriff Albert Myers.
Max worked his way up to Undersheriff before leaving law enforcement for a few years to ranch. In 1948 his old boss, Sheriff George Houx, died in office and Max was appointed to fill out the remaining term. He held on through multiple elections until March 1969, when he resigned early citing health problems. He didn’t get to enjoy much of a retirement, dying in 1971 from a heart attack during a fishing trip.
Colusa County sits in the northern Sacramento Valley, covers just over 1,100 square miles, and today boasts around 22,000 residents. The population was just under 12,000 when Sheriff Max took delivery of his new .357. Based on some of the old newspaper articles we’ve found it could be a pretty sedate place…juveniles throwing rocks during a church service, a payphone burglary, and stolen fruit outside a grocery store were newsworthy events. Colusa’s courthouse square was a filming location for 1970’s Tick, Tick, Tick starring Jim Brown and George Kennedy.
Interestingly, Eddie’s purchase wasn’t the first time Sheriff Max’s .357 set foot in Texas. In 1953 Max and a Deputy travelled to Brownwood to fetch a swindler from the Brown County jail.
FRIENDS
Not long after Eddie won Sheriff Max’s .357, he found a second 1952 3 ½” .357. That one had the Texas connection he was looking for…it was one of three that shipped to the newly reorganized Seminole Police Department in Gaines County. I would pester him from time to time, asking him to keep me in mind if he ever decided to sell the California gun.
Things rocked along until June of 2025, when a class took me to Granbury, Texas. Eddie and I usually meet up, when we’re able, for a show and tell session, and this was no different. I brought along a 4” .38/44 Heavy Duty used by the Boeing Aircraft guard force, and a nickel and gold plated 4” 1926 .44 Special. Eddie’s contribution was a .38 Super Combat Commander, a 6 ½” 1926 .44 with cut trigger guard, and Sheriff Max’s .357. I was replacing a broken striker in his Glock 45 when Eddie took a more serious tone. He said that he couldn’t sell me Sheriff Max’s .357 like I’d asked, but that he was going to entrust me to be its current caretaker until it was time for someone else to watch over it. It was a touching gesture, and one I’m still not sure I’m worthy of. He also included a Brill-style holster sold by L.A. Sessums Hardware in Longview.
In talking it over with Eddie, Sheriff Max’s .357 had never been a safe queen and it would be a shame for it to become one now.
IN SERVICE
This November, when our firearms qualification course rolled around, I gathered it up along with a Lobo Gun Leather Enhanced Pancake, a Galco 2x2x2 pouch, and enough Bianchi Speed Strips, Tuff Products Quickstrips, HKS speedloaders, and a Safariland Comp I to hold 50 rounds. For ammunition, I settled on High Desert Cartridge’s excellent DB load crafted for Darryl Bolke, a 158 gr. flatpoint FMJ loaded to 950 fps. The companion working load is 158 gr. Hornady XTP loaded to the same specs.
The Smith .357 and High Desert ammo made for an excellent combination, and while it won’t be replacing my normal P226 or P320, I don’t feel underequipped with it on my side . . . though I might need a counterweight to avoid a list to starboard.
The .357’s new home in Panola County is similar to the one it left. Situated in the East Texas Pinewoods, against the Louisiana state line, it covers just over 800 square miles with 22,000 people. We’ve grown since 1952 from a sheriff, chief deputy, and three deputies to 16 on patrol, 5 investigators, plus courthouse, admin, civil, jail, and dispatch staff.
RESPECTS
If you’re reading RevolverGuy then I’m sure you’d enjoy Captain Walt’s two books, “Holloway’s Raiders: A History of the Dallas Police Department’s Deadly Shotgun Squads” and “The Hall Street Shootout: A True Story of the Dallas Police Department’s Biggest Gun Battle.”
I extend my thanks to Mike Wood for encouraging me to tell the tale of Sheriff Max and his Smith, and for providing this venue. I can’t thank Captain Walt, Joe Homberger, Bruce Perkins, and our resident historian/archivist, Craig Smith, enough for their help in piecing things together. Colusa County SO Lieutenant Kristopher Cooper was kind enough to share a copy of Max’s portrait for this article, along with others contributed by members of the “Colusa County News and Memories” group.
Very interesting story. I’m always fascinated by old(er) LE guns and where they’ve been.
Funny you should mention the Boeing Aircraft .38-44. Back in the 80s/90s I was at a gun show in suburban Chicago and a seller had a table full of .38-44s with “B.A.C.” stamped on the frames. He said they had been used by Boeing security during the war, and he was asking $250 for them. I didn’t have 250 bucks to spare (the damn kids needing food and clothes and all), so I had to pass. I’ve always wondered what happened to those guns, and now I find out YOU HAVE MY GUN! Now I’m mad at you and I’ll probably never read one of your articles again.
I think I know what most of us would do if we had a time machine! 😁
That doesn’t change the fact that YOU HAVE MY GUN! I would demand satisfaction on the field of honor, but I’m too civilized for that. (The fact that you’re a great shot has nothing to do with it.)
😆
Honestly, you’d probably be pretty safe from me, these days!
I’ve seen a few of the B.A.C. stamped ones. Mine has a circled “B” etched beside the serial number. Bobby Tyler said it came from a collection out of Shreveport, LA. Funny how it made it back to within 45 miles of there.
Forgot to mention. I had an uncle who was a deputy sheriff in Indiana who carried that same gun, a 3.5-inch pre-27, as a duty gun. (Unfortunately, it was stolen in a burglary after he retired.) His was set up about the same as this one, with the factory grips and a Tyler T-Grip grip adapter. It was a retired Chicago police officer’s gun that he bought mail-order from Klein’s Sporting Goods in Chicago (the same place Lee Harvey Oswald bought his guns) and it served him well for more than 25 years.
In my experience, it’s not often that someone obtains that much history about a vintage firearm, especially a handsome piece like Lt. Ferris’s. Like him, I wouldn’t feel underequipped when carrying a “pre-27”, coupled with speed reloaders, extra ammo pouches, and a slapjack.
Oh, alas, my nemesis . . . in my case it was a 5″ barrel M27, carried in a cross draw. I have this irritating love-hate relationship with the Model 27. I suspect I’m listing slightly to port from carrying that around shift in and shift out. Shooting it was a dream as it soaked up its share of recoil. The actions from guns in the 1960s and 1970s was like nothing seen today.
It’s great you have given a home to those 3.5″ guns. I doubt I would have listed quite so much missing 1.5 inches of barrel.
I’ve wanted a 5” 27 ever since a friend loaned me a copy of “Good Friends, Good Guns, Good Whiskey.” That’d still be a lot of steel to carry all day.
I love stories about guns with a history like this. I have a Ruger standard .22 built in 1953 that I bought from the original owner. It makes the gun more interesting to me to know that.
This story was a great memory for another reason. I spent the first four years of my life in Carthage, TX in Panola county. My father owned an appliance store on one of the streets around the court house square, as well as a locker plant (cold storage) in Carthage.
Thank you for the great story.
What a great story. And what a magnificent firearm. The 3.5″ N frame is the best looking gun S&W has ever made.
Thank you for taking the time to learn the history of that fine Pre-27, Lt. Ferris. you did a nice job honoring Sheriff Mayfield as you shared what you found. You and Captain Walt did him proud by keeping his gun in lawman’s hands and not retiring it to the safe. That is a gun that should be carried- bravo to you for shooting a qual with it and putting it back to work!
I’m not fortunate to have a 27, but I was fortunate enough to trade into a lightly-used Model 28 that had most of the enhancements that “Actions by T” had done for some LEO in the past. I’ll have to work up some of the DB loads, as I found 400 158 XTPs on sale last year for nearly half price. I think I also have some Berry’s 158-grain flat-nosed bullets in a coffee can someplace, too. This was an enjoyable read on a Sunday morning, and planted ideas about some loading tasks for the next week. Gray Fox
“Actions by T”–Teddy Jacobson, I think? He had a great reputation.
Thank you so much for sharing the wonderful story behind that old Smith. The 3.5 inch .357 N frame is likely the most beautiful firearm ever produced.
And knowing history like that is precisely why I’m holding onto my father’s Idaho State Police handguns (S&W Model 65 and Model 4586). Besides the fact that I inherited them and will be going to my kids when my time comes those handguns have history and the history is not only known but written down. You’re lucky to have been able to find out more about Sheriff Max. Great revolver and leather gear I should add.
Great article as usual. Am I the only one who wants to hear a story about the history behind that slapjack too?
Jeb,
The sap is a modern version from Foster Brothers, back when they still took orders instead of doing Facebook drops.
Not sure what happened to the Fosters and their impact devices, which were very well made. Maybe they’re no longer in business.
It’s fascinating to find this kind of history in a revolver like this S&W!!!