what kind of gun did Columbo carry?

Columbo did not carry a gun. He was afraid of them and hated them. This is evident in few episodes...Forgotten Lady where the police department is dogging him to take his mandatory pistol range test...Death Lends a Hand where he goes through the metal detector at Brimmer's office and does not set off the alarm because he is not carrying a gun....and in Identity Crisis when Columbo meets with the director of the government agency and is "patted down"...and he explains that he doesn't have a gun...and Troubled Waters where he is so uncomfortable to even shoot a gun that he has Danziger shoot it into the mattress...and there are probably other episodes.
To my knowledge, of the original 45 episodes, he only fires a gun once, in Playback, when he fires into the box of sand.

The answer to the question raises another question. Did Columbo ever use physical force? I do recall his getting angry and banging the desk in Stitch, but don't remember his ever subduing a suspect with force. Anyone recall such an event?

WTF????

Physical force. Are we just talking about the original 45? If not, then in Undercover he hits Mo Weinberg with the door and holds a gun up to him. Completely unlike Columbo - but that's another topic.

Michael, the only other times I can remember, besides Stitch in Crime, was An Exercise in Fatlity, in the waiting room.....and in Ransom for a Dead Man where little Margaret tries to hit him and he grabs her hand and tells her not to ever do that again...and the interrogation of Joan Hudson in Prescription: Murder...these were the times when we saw Columbo at his most angriest......but it seemed it was never at a point of force towards the murderer..............

Don't forget that in "Try and Catch Me" Columbo grabs little old Abigail Mitchell's fingers and bends them backwards while shouting at her, "Admit it! Admit it! You killed your dead niece's husband. I know you did it. I know you did it!"

Silly-Head!! Somehow I don't remember that scene!! but it would have been a great one!!!
Remember Abigail Mitchell here on the forum?? I miss her. I hope she is doing ok..............she was great.....

Sounds like a scene that ended up on the cutting room floor . . . or the product of a fertile imagination!

Technically, Columbo uses force in "Negative Reaction" when restraining Paul Galesko (Dick Van Dyke) as Galesko appears to be in a fit of hysteria approaching the murder scene to identify his wife's body. However, Columbo does suspect that Galesko is putting on an act.

I always thought the scene with Margaret in Ransom was staged so wouldnt say it was excess force.

God bless,

Matthew