There have been a lot of firearms innovations in the past 150 years or so, some inspired. Some were good ideas, but were discovered to be overcomplicated or difficult to operate when they got into shooters’ hands. Other just came along at the wrong time and weren’t accepted by shooters, hunters or the military. Some were plain ugly, and even though they may have worked, were not embraced, because nobody wanted to carry or own them.
Then there were some gun innovations that were just plain dumb ideas, like the one above. It’s a Smith & Wesson Model 10 in .38 Special with a billy-club extension on the barrel looking like an old-fashioned wooden suppressor. The design, patented in 1919, was intended for use by, you guessed it, police officers. The idea was that a cop could use the baton as a billy-club and immediately switch to using it as a gun if the situation escalated beyond skull cracking. The club part has a bore running through it, so the revolver can be fired while it’s attached.
Here’s a video from the NRA National Firearms Museum discussing the odd Model 10 at the Wanenmacher’s Tulsa Arms Show with a little more background:
They’re pretty rare, so if you ever see one being sold on the cheap, grab it up.
You can see more photos and get more info here.