The Colt's Model 1903 US Army Revolver

[Doug Bowser]

THE COLT’S MODEL 1903 US ARMY REVOLVER

By Doug Bowser

I recently had a Colt’s 1903 US Army revolver. It was the last in a series of revolvers that started in 1894. The early Colt revolvers were not a smooth as the Police Positive or Official Police versions. This handgun was chambered for the .38 Long Colt cartridges. I found the single action trigger pull very hard and gritty. It was inspected by Rinaldo Carr and Colonel Hoffer of the US Ordnance Corps. The .38 Long Colt round was woefully underpowered. During the Philippine Insurrection, the Moro Indians were known to absorb 6 rounds of .38 ammo and still kill their intended victim with their bolo knives. The US Army went back into inventory and rebuilt their 1873 Colt Cavalry revolvers. The 7.5” barrels were shortened to 5.5” and they were reissued. This solved the problem of our officers being killed by the Moros and their Bolo knives.
The revolver I had was in very good condition. It was in time, mint bore and chambers and 85% of the original blue was intact. The Walnut grips were original with RAC (Carr’s) initials. The top of front sight was bent slightly to the left. This was often done by shooters in the old days, to correct windage on the fixed sights. I also have a Colt’s Police Positive (.38 NP) with the front sight slightly bent.
I really enjoy handling older firearms. The quality of workmanship is amazing.
Along with the revolver, I received several .38 Long Colt cartridges. Some of them were REM-UMC made for the US Government in 1918. The old revolvers were put back in service for US Mainland guard duty. The other cartridges were REM-UMC with a commercial headstamp. I did not try to fire this ammo because it was very old and could have had Mercuric Priming.
When bought my first .38 revolver, my gunsmith friend Charles Demport, gave me a case of USGI .38 LC ammo. It was corrosive but I cleaned my S&W Military & Police .38 Special Target Revolver and I was able to practice handgun shooting at the Elbridge Rod and Gun Club in New York.

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Colt’s Model 1903 US Army Revolver

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.38 Special on the left .38 Long Colt on the right

10462

Remington 1918 .38 LC Cartridge

10461

.38 LC Remington commercial headstamp

[fatdog]

Starline makes high quality .38LC brass. I compete with a 6" and a 4" M1903 in the other branch of cowboy shooting, NCOWS, where DA revolvers patterned after 19th century guns are allowed. It is a dead knock off externally to the 1892 so it made the NCOWS approved list. The 1892 was the first version of their swing out cylinder guns.

The bore diameter is of course not .357, it was the original .361 diameter heel based bullet of the m1877 .38LC cartridge, and best I can tell at some point they switched to a .357 at some point. I started using 148gr lead hollow base wad cutters loaded with the nose outside the case, not flush when loading this cartridge, knowing they will "pop" for the bore size and this has worked fabulously.

I only shoot BP or BP substitute at this point in time. A lot of those guns were wrecked by people shooting heavy smokeless loads or even .38 specials that will fit in the bored through cylinder versions. Getting hard to find one that is tight and timed. The action cleans up nicely in terms of being smooth but there is no help for the very heavy stacking effect on those triggers. The DA is great on closer targets but I usually thumb cock if I have to hit something at longer distances like 20 yards and out because the DA trigger is so hard to manage compared to our modern DA revolvers.

[Doug Bowser]

This particular revolver has the chambers factory drilled straight through. A .38 Special will enter the chambers with no problem. As a matter of fact a .357 magnum will also chamber. I would shoot this revolver with .38 Special cases loaded with 148 gr HBWC bullets and 2.4 gr of Bullseye. Some of the .38 Long Colt revolvers will not accept a .38 Special case. this revolver was fired very little. I will show you how shiny the lead of the barrel was before I fired it.

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The bright clean throat

[fatdog]

great specimen, nice find