In my search for a carry revolver I couldn‘t resist buying this Colt Agent, made in 1976, with very nice blued finish in almost mint condition for 300,-
Question: if I let a gunsmith bobb it's hammer and install tritium (dovetail?) sights, do I ruin a collectors item?
Would you advise against carrying it out of fragility/spare parts availability?
I thought it was the best compromise between weight, six rds and that on a frame between J and K.
I will use it with wadcutters only.
Thanks!!
Last edited by overton; 07-03-2019 at 11:32 AM.
Nice find. What collector value there is will undoubtedly be affected by the mods - for a true “collector”. Someone like me (and probably many others here) wouldn’t care.
My personal concern with old Colts is support (parts and people who know how to work in them) if you need it.
Formerly known as xpd54.
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I'd tend to leave old revolvers alone when there are modern equivalents, such as a Colt Cobra.
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
Nice find.
If you bought it to modify and carry then I wouldn’t worry about the value down the road. You certainly got in it right.
Be sure to leave as much mass on the hammer spur as possible. Colt D frames are known to be susceptible to light strikes due to insufficient hammer mass when the spur is removed. Parts are no longer made.
There is plenty of metal in the barrel to install a tritium sight, either by drilling the current front sight or by cutting a dovetail. The amount of metal around the rear sight is insufficient to safely make any cuts or holes.
Be sure you shoot the gun to learn where it shoots before making the sight modification. My Detective Special is very close in windage, but shoots 13 inches high at 25 yards. Some geometry can tell you how much of a change in sight height you may need.
You are correct to limit your ammo to standard pressure. Although aluminum frame Colts can digest a limited amount of +P, it will accelerate wear, and again, parts are no longer made. Buffalo Bore makes a hard cast wadcutter at standard pressure.
While I cannot tell you the approximate impact of any modifications on the value of the gun, out of production Colt revolvers have been going up in price for years, and preserving value is definitely worth considering. Also, as much as I dislike factory D frame fixed sights and prefer tritium, the cost of having a dovetail cut, tritium sight installed, and the necessary refinishing might turn into an expensive way to decrease the value of your gun.
Nice find. Those old Colts are classic.
For 300 bucks, I would have been on that like ugly on an ape!
Just my very humble opinion, but I would leave a nice old Colt like that alone. There are a lot of folks on here (like me, for instance) that would trade you a nice carry revolver for that.
And welcome to the dark side!
I had a blued Colt agent with the hammer shroud. I never should have sold it.
As a bicentennial baby this is really cool. I would have bought it fast and once I fired enough rounds to be confident would carry it from time to time.
I could bring myself to do some mods to one of the last gen 3 production run guns, ugly, tool marks and uneven surfaces, poor & ugly gray matte finished Agents or Detectives, but not that beauty. Get a grip adapter and shoot it. You paid about half of what it is worth.
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