Most likely the majority of the DW Forum Members here know who Jim Cirillo is. For those who do not, Mr. Cirillo, was a "legend" in our time! He was a master gunfighter with his "tried-and-true" Smith & Wesson Model 10, that happened to be his service revolver at the NYPD. He (Cirillo) was part of an elite unit (Stakeout Squad) that was composed of several razor-sharp tuned-in cops who were "awesome" in their shooting skills. They staked out mostly small mom and pop stores who were the primary target of armed robbers. From what I have read, those small convenience stores and liquor stores were getting robbed left and right before Cirillo and Company (Stakeout Unit) formed. These great cops would set-up in a business that was most likely to get visited by bad guys (armed robbers) and while staked out inside, provided the robbery went down, the good guys would get the drop on the bad ones from a place of hiding. Varmints were given the chance to surrender without harm, and some did. But some didn't and a shootout would follow. The bad guys always lost because of the great skill and courage of the good guys. Cirillo was a "force" to be reckoned with in these situations. His exploits with his S&W Model 10 and other small arms defied belief at times! One such occassions Cirillo shot (3) armed robbers from around a female store clerk being held in front of the (3) varmints for protection. Officer Cirillo gunned down all three  dirtbags from around that clerk with the precision of a "skilled-surgeon" with that four-inch Heavy Barrel Model 10 with his own "special" .38 loads specifically made by Cirillo himself! What a man! What a gunfighter! What a cop! There were other adventures like this in his time with the Stakeout Unit.

Jim Cirillo was a competitive shooter too. In the 1970's he participated in a lot of matches involving "off-duty" guns. His own particular favorite gun in these contests was a Dan Wesson Model 12 with a 2.5 inch barrel. Cirillo was a master gunsmith and did his own gunsmith work and with his Dan Wesson Model 12 he slicked up the trigger-action to his own liking. There is a picture of Jim Cirillo on an old DW magazine article here at DW Forum holding his Model 12. In this pic the target (B-27) has had the center punched out by Cirillo's shooting skill with his off-duty Model 12.

In the late 1970's, with this same short barrel Model 12, Cirillo won (5) major combat matches including an in-door match at the prestigious New Jersey State Police Combat Pistol Championship. He shot this in-door match with "another" Dan Wesson six-gun, the .38 Model 9 with a 2.25 inch factory special short barrel. He shot an astounding near-perfect score of "250" with 18-rounds in the X- area. All during his cop career and into his retirement years this fine man shot the Dan Wesson even after the semi-auto pistol took over law enforcement. He (Cirillo) was also a Glock man and I once saw him several years ago walking along side Back-Beach Road in Panama City Florida where he was living at that time. I was there (P.C. Fl.) on vacation and I didn't speak to Mr. Cirillo but I sure did enjoy seeing him from-a-distance. He was elderly and gray-beard and it was hard to imagine him doing the unbelievable things he did as a young NYPD cop. But do them, he did!

He (Cirillo) like the DW six-gun for it's extreme accuracy feature. Anyone who knows anything about this master gunfighter couldn't help but be impressed and tempted to go after the same guns he used. This would be the early model Dan Wessons, exposed barrel nut and all.

Respectfully..........................David

P.S. Google Jim Cirillo if you are not already familiar with him and see what a "real" gunfighter he was. May he rest in peace!

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