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View Full Version : The Colt's Police Positive Revolver in .38 Colt PP



Doug Bowser
09-14-2016, 01:28 AM
The Colt’s Police Positive revolver in .32 Colt PP
I picked up a serviceable Colt’s Police Positive Revolver. It is in .38 Colt Police Positive. This cartridge is interchangeable with the .38 Smith & Wesson. The Colt Company decided to market their own cartridges for this series of handguns because they did not want to use the term .38 S&W on their handguns. The Colt cartridge has a bullet with a flat nose and the .38 S&W’s bullet is round nosed. I had a partial box of .38 Colt Police Positive ammo and I fired it successfully. It was quite old because it had balloon heads. It was marked Jul 26, 1940.

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This Police positive Revolver was not a collector’s item. The bluing had turned to an even brown patina but the bore an action were very serviceable. The revolver and cartridge combination is very comfortable to shoot. This is especially true with younger shooters and ladies. The single action trigger pull is comparable to any new revolver. The double action trigger is smooth and slick.

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The front sight on this revolver was bent slightly to the right. I was surprised when it zeroed for windage and elevation with the old ammo. After I expended the old ammo, I reloaded solid head cases with .38 148 gr Hollow Based Wadcutters. The hollow base bullets are more accurate in the .38 Colt PP handguns because the bore diameter of the .38 Colt PP and .38 S&W is .360”. I found that shooting .357” bullets in this revolver did not produce good accuracy. Later in production Colt produced a .38 Special version of the revolver. It had a longer cylinder and was quite popular. They also had their own cartridge named .38 Colt Special.

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I am enclosing a photo of a target fired at 20 yards with one hand. The accuracy is good enough for self defense purposes.

BillSWPA
09-14-2016, 01:04 PM
I cringe every time I read about bent front sights. Didn't anyone understand about work hardening (changing the crystal structure of the metal to include more dislocations through bending it at room temperature) and how it can make metal brittle?

Doug Bowser
09-14-2016, 02:06 PM
That is true but I find a lot of old revolvers with thin front sights, bent that way.

gringop
09-16-2016, 12:47 AM
I know that I won more than a few local pin matches with this old SW 1917. Yes, I very carefully bent it myself to get it to hit at POA It is a Brazilian re-import. Sadly it developed a loose frame trigger pin. Maybe some day it will get fixed.

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Doug, I'm loving your posts, keep em coming.

Gringop