Sometimes being the "gun" guy pays off...
Family friend gifted me this fine revolver today. Colt Police Positive .38, serial number 130xxx with the number 8 stamped below it.
You now know as much as I do about it. Any super cool (or even slightly interesting) information that I can add to the above?
Pics, but from the cell phone...
Based on the serial number, it should have been made in 1921-22.
I did manage to figure out that my 38 spl rounds don't chamber in it. Is the proper cartridge for this .38 Colt short?
Chances are it is chambered in .38S&W (aka .38 Colt New Police). The ones chambered in .38 Spl were usually marked Police Positive Special on the barrels.Originally Posted by tanner
Any other markings on the backstrap or under the grips?
You can contact Colt Archive Services (here) and they will issue a letter with their information about the revolver. For yours, it should be about $75.
Last edited by alohadoug; 10-26-2017 at 12:46 PM.
I think you can run the serial numbers through Colt's website and get an idea when it shipped.
Sent from my NSA-approved tracking device via Tapatalk
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
http://www.coltfever.com/Police_Positive.html
Got this with a search.
Nice old Colt. This is the first set of undamaged vintage rubber grips I have seen in a while. If you want to shoot it, it may be wise to take them off and procure a more durable set for shooting. Just my .02.
Remember that the .38 Short Colt and .38 Colt New Police (.38 S&W) do not interchange. AlohaDoug is correct that the gun is chambered for the New Police/S&W round. The difference in the two rounds is that the S&W usually had a round nose bullet and the Colt NP usually was loaded with a flat point bullet.
Colt had learned their lesson by the time the Positive Safety Action came out ca 1908. They started phasing out the .38 Long Colt guns in favor of the .38 Police Positive/New Police which was just the .38 S&W with Colt flatpointed bullet.
That was considered an important improvement. The Hatcher Stopping Power formula assigned a 5% higher value to the deadly flat pointed bullet. Woo, woo.
Code Name: JET STREAM
Thank you everyone. All of this was very helpful.
Reply With Quote