Peerless leg irons model 303

I have now come across a few of these peerless leg irons with similar welds on them as show in the photo.  Does anyone know why jails were specifically welding this part of the leg iron.  I have the same pair, the rivet is flush and not exposed, so I'm not sure how a weld here would benefit. 

Jails and prisons are known for cobbling together restraints to make they continue to work.  Its not uncommon, to see a cuff that is made from pieces of two or more cuffs. They salvage working parts from broken pairs and combine them to make one functioning pair. Removing the hinge pin at some point, they may have thought it necessary to add the weld to keep a prisoner from driving out the pin and making an escape? Thats two reasons, that I could see they may have needed, or felt they needed, a weld added for. Even though the pin there is not exposed, you can still drive it out with a hammer and some type of punch. After removing the pin the first time, its not as difficult to remove the pin, after that. You cant push it out with your fingers, but with minimal tools, the pin can come out.

Anyone else have any additional reasons why this pin was welded?
-Richard Knip-

I just don't see how welding it at this spot would prevent anything. 

another photo

Why not weld the spots with the exposed pins? In the photo you can see those are clearly left exposed.

Underneath that weld is the pin that holds the hinge together. If you drive the pin out, using tools to hit it with, The cuff will come apart at that joint. Granted, the ditched jaw and indent, should still keep the cuff in place. In my eyes, it looks like they may have replaced a broken, cut or damaged swing arm. How many of these have you seen with this weld on it? I have not seen one, before seeing your pic. Im curious to what other members may think is a reason to weld this spot. The cuff really doesnt need to be welded there, unless the pins are loose from removing them, in the past. Having never seen this before, this is all my thoughts as to why it would have been done. I have nothing to back that up with.
-Richard Knip-

The one in the photo had welds on both sides. I have only seen one other set which had the weld on only one side. 

Even a weld on just one side would hold the pin in place.
-Richard Knip-

Or did you mean the the set only had that weld done to one cuff? Not sure if you were referring to when you said, "one side?" That could be taken as either only 1 cuff was welded or only the front or back of both cuffs were welded (one side).
-Richard Knip-

The weld was on both cuffs but just on the one side of them.

Ok. then, im guessing someone, for whatever reason, felt the hinge pins needed re-enforced. Even one side of the cuff welded, would hold the hinge pin, since the weld is directly on the top of the pin.
-Richard Knip-

I heard that on early model Peerless leg irons a prisoner could kick one leg back forcefully while planting the other leg causing the chain to come apart.  It was a certain movement prisoners would practice specifically on the Peerless leg irons. Anyone else heard of this?

The hinge pin is one solid stepped pin and cannot be punched out.  It acts as the axle for the bow. It's dimensions are approx 5/32, then 7/32 then 5/32. the two smaller diameters protrude the frame on assembly and are riveted over. The domes of the riveting is ground off and made flush to the frame. This leaves little to hold the frames from being forced apart. Welds would have been used as there is nothing of spare material to be riveted to fix a pair where one or both sides had come away from the hinge pin. The arc weld would have just served the purpose of keeping the pair functional and not had anything to do with making them escapes proof.

Hi,
There have been 30 sets for sale on eBay:      https://www.ebay.com/itm/233584262375
westcosurplus is the seller.
Mike

Yes, and all of them have that same weld.

washington wrote: ↑

Aug 11, 2020

The hinge pin is one solid stepped pin and cannot be punched out.  It acts as the axle for the bow. It's dimensions are approx 5/32, then 7/32 then 5/32. the two smaller diameters protrude the frame on assembly and are riveted over. The domes of the riveting is ground off and made flush to the frame. This leaves little to hold the frames from being forced apart. Welds would have been used as there is nothing of spare material to be riveted to fix a pair where one or both sides had come away from the hinge pin. The arc weld would have just served the purpose of keeping the pair functional and not had anything to do with making them escapes proof.

Would you say that this model of leg irons is not a very safe design then? Seems very easy for a prisoner to tamper with these. 

insight2021 wrote: ↑

Aug 11, 2020

washington wrote: ↑

Aug 11, 2020

The hinge pin is one solid stepped pin and cannot be punched out.  It acts as the axle for the bow. It's dimensions are approx 5/32, then 7/32 then 5/32. the two smaller diameters protrude the frame on assembly and are riveted over. The domes of the riveting is ground off and made flush to the frame. This leaves little to hold the frames from being forced apart. Welds would have been used as there is nothing of spare material to be riveted to fix a pair where one or both sides had come away from the hinge pin. The arc weld would have just served the purpose of keeping the pair functional and not had anything to do with making them escapes proof.

Would you say that this model of leg irons is not a very safe design then? Seems very easy for a prisoner to tamper with these. 

Click to expand...

When riveted pins are ground down to be level with the surface, all integrity of rivet is reduced.  The length of the cuff arm, from lock to hinge and the thinness of the arm compared to it's length allow to the arm to be spread easy. Spreading the arms causes the hinge pin to pull out of the arm, hence the requirement of the weld.

In the pic you can see the S&W on the right, which has (unknown proper term) a mushroomed rivet.  My Peerless on the left has no rivet exposed. From your experience would the S&W be a lot harder for a prisoner to defeat with the mushroomed style rivet?

The lock of the S&W is welded (alloy soldered) together, hence no visible rivets. The bow hinge pin is riveted and would be less likely to be pried part.

The top of the S&W looks like there is a rivet. Why would Peerless make cuffs like this? 

insight2021 wrote: ↑

Aug 12, 2020

The top of the S&W looks like there is a rivet. Why would Peerless make cuffs like this? 

you would have to ask Peerless but it appears to be their traditional way. Smooth neat finish, less to injure with. (Rivets can have very sharp edges) No need to reinvest in new machinery.

washington wrote: ↑

Aug 12, 2020

insight2021 wrote: ↑

Aug 12, 2020

The top of the S&W looks like there is a rivet. Why would Peerless make cuffs like this? 

you would have to ask Peerless but it appears to be their traditional way. Smooth neat finish, less to injure with. (Rivets can have very sharp edges) No need to reinvest in new machinery.

No doubt they look great. But something this easy to tamper with could get one killed. The Peerless 703's seem much better/safer with the new exposed rivet.  Overall I think the S&W is the best choice.  Their leg irons open at lot wider. Even the thickness of the chain is noticeably more when compared to Peerless. 

I can assure you, the smooth rivet method of Peerless is not a bad design or an escape risk. Peerless has used that design in both their handcuffs and their leg irons for a very long time! If these were a huge escape risk, many more prisoners would have escaped from them throughout history. The current trend in restraints is the visible rivets. So, the major manufacturers have "upgraded" their restraints to have this type of fastener. Smith and Wesson replaced their models with the "-1" models which also feature the raised rivets. A feature that was only available in certain special cuff models, years ago. An M-100 (discontinued) has no raised rivets but the M-100-1 has raised rivets and is the current model being sold. I had contacted the seller on bay that was selling 30 pairs of "used prison leg irons." I asked for pics of his stock, so i could judge the condition of his wares. Seeing the pics of the welded hinges, i know now why he never answered my requests, nor sent any pics. I would have walked a way from that deal. It looks to me that one person in charge of a large facility, decided the hing pins on an older Peerless cuff was easier to remove and ordered that they all be welded? I used to deal in used prison restraints for a while. This was not the case from the facilities I was getting my stock from. Its not an industry standard thing to weld that hinge pin. That was a call made by someone in charge at that facility. If you are curious, take a pair minus the welded hinge pin and take a punch and a hammer and try to remove the pin. You will see how well these are actually made. You may sacrifice a good pair of cuffs, but it will satisfy your curiosity. 
-Richard Knip-

By placing a wedge in-between the double strand it appears you can remove the single strand form them since there is no outside rivet. 

As mentioned before, the factory rivet is a stepped rivet. It will not allow the two strands to simply be pried apart. By all means, take a pry bar and have at it! For the cuffs a friend and I make, we take cuffs apart all of the time! To get the hinge pin out of an older Peerless cuff, it requires us to drill the pin out. A new pin has to be made to put the cuffs back together.

Breaking is not the major flaw of U.S. handcuffs. The major flaw with cuffs used in Police stations and Prisons is the fact that most of them, use the same standard key. The locks on cuffs are not particularly hard to pick. Plenty of Youtube videos showing you how to pick them. Many Police used Foreign cuffs, have a higher security lock, than the standard U.S. fare. Not saying that the U.S. doesnt have high security locks. They do. But, they are not commonly used. You will never find a street officer carrying a S&W Model 104 as his standard, daily handcuff. Even a simple cuff like a Hiatt, use the triple pawl system, to make picking the locks harder.
-Richard Knip-

Do you have any phots of when you took them apart? 

No. Ive never photographed one disassembled. It was for a cuff design, we did a few years ago to sell on Ebay. They have all been sold and are gone. Now, we mainly cut off the factory chain and make different configurations of cuffs to sell on Ebay. Once the auctions are done, the pics get discarded, since we have to take pics of the actual item we are selling, to make the next item for sale. I dont have any "broken" Peerless cuffs on hand right now. Just some cheap Chinese junk, that have had the locks fail for various reasons. This is the only pic I have, since I still have the cuff in my collection. You can see how my friend made a replacement pin to put the cuffs together with. The end caps are welded on to the new hinge pin. You can see the same arrangement done at the swivel. These cuffs were made from some of the Police/Prison used cuffs I used to be able to get to sell. Unfortunately, i lost my contact on that deal. But, i dont have any pics of it in pieces.
-Richard Knip-

Thanks for sharing. What state are you in? 

I live by Champaign, IL. About 2.5 hours South of Chicago.
-Richard Knip-

insight2021 wrote: ↑

Aug 12, 2020

By placing a wedge in-between the double strand it appears you can remove the single strand form them since there is no outside rivet. 

Attached is a photo of a portion of a Peerless 10 oz. cuff (bolt cuttered off by police as the lock had failed) Until moments before the photo, it was assembled and working. Using the same technique with a screwdriver as you have shown, one side of the frame came off without any real force required. It will be noted by the astute that both sides of the frame cannot be pried off at the same time.  A closer look at the hole in the freed frame (bottom of image) shows NO countersinking of the hinge pin hole. Therefore no portion of the riveted pin has been peined over the arm to hold it firm. The surface ground back so far that the only thing holding the two pieces together was the friction fit of the pin within the hole and the electro plating. The solid stepped pin is clearly visible.

washington wrote: ↑

Aug 13, 2020

insight2021 wrote: ↑

Aug 12, 2020

By placing a wedge in-between the double strand it appears you can remove the single strand form them since there is no outside rivet. 

Attached is a photo of a portion of a Peerless 10 oz. cuff (bolt cuttered off by police as the lock had failed) Until moments before the photo, it was assembled and working. Using the same technique with a screwdriver as you have shown, one side of the frame came off without any real force required. It will be noted by the astute that both sides of the frame cannot be pried off at the same time.  A closer look at the hole in the freed frame (bottom of image) shows NO countersinking of the hinge pin hole. Therefore no portion of the riveted pin has been peined over the arm to hold it firm. The surface ground back so far that the only thing holding the two pieces together was the friction fit of the pin within the hole and the electro plating. The solid stepped pin is clearly visible.

Click to expand...

Unreal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  So a screwdriver can simply pull them apart just as I thought.  Big time flaw which is extremely disappointing. No way am I going to be using Peerless.  S&W leg irons are much more well constructed.  Thanks for the photo and explanation.

insight2021 wrote: ↑

Aug 13, 2020

Unreal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Thanks for the photo and explanation.

thank you for an interesting and engaging conversation, nice to meet someone mature enough to listen and learn. 

Washington wrote: ↑

Aug 13, 2020

insight2021 wrote: ↑

Aug 13, 2020

Unreal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Thanks for the photo and explanation.

thank you for an interesting and engaging conversation, nice to meet someone mature enough to listen and learn. 

Unfortunately the ending was not what I wanted. But I am glad to now know the true limitations of the Peerless leg irons. Hopefully others will be able to use this valuable knowledge.  Just ordered two of the Smith & Wesson Model 1900. Have you ever had anyone able to kick their legs apart hard enough on the 303s to separate the chain? Have been told this was another issue with them but have never personal seen it. 

I have never heard of leg iron chain being broken in any matter, especially how you describe.  I am sure that the cuffs would cut into flesh long before the broke but this have never stopped drunk and drug effected people from injuring themselves.  No great advantage is made by escaping from shackles while in police custody and likely adds to a sentence.