Colt Border Patrol .357: School me please!

S

Scrumbag

New member
Hello folks,

Have been looking on the web and my LGS has a .357 Blue Border Patrol in. Would anyone care to school me a bit on these guns?

Any good as a first centre fire revolver? Anything I should look out for if/when I go have a look-see?

ATB and thanks in advance.

Scrummy
 
Are you certain it's a .357 Magnum?

According to Wikipedia,,,

Border Patrol
The Border Patrol was a rare early variant on the Trooper frame, chambered in .38 Special only. Only about 500 were made, in 1952 only. They have "BORDER PATROL" roll stamped on a heavy barrel. These often sell for $4,000+ and are considered one of the Holy Grails for Colt double action collectors.
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I'm no Colt expert that's for certain,,,
I just found this on a Google search for Colt + Border patrol.

Aarond

.
 
There was a 2nd issue in the early 70's based on the Trooper Mk III. There were 5 or 6 thousand of those IIRC. I'm not an expert either..someone will come along though sit tight.
 
Thanks for the reply.

I found that on wiki as well. Apparently there was another "Border Patrol" Built 1970-1975 and was a colt trooper MkIII derivative but other than that "I know nothing"

KR,

Scrummy
 
The late Border Patrol was nothing more than the Colt Trooper Mark III with a Border Patrol stamp on the barrel and with a lesser polished finish.

There were 5,356 made in blue and 1,152 in bright nickel.
Barrel length was 4 inches, caliber was .357 Magnum.

Genuine issue Border Patrol guns will be hand stamped with US BP and issue numbers on the right side of the frame.
These were also sold as commercial guns, at least some to police departments.
 
IIRC, there were some Second Issue that were nickel plated, and those are fairly rare (a thousand or so made).

S&W got so much publicity from Bill Jordan and the Combat Masterpiece (Model 15) that Colt decided to cash in on the Border Patrol name. I may be wrong, but I don't think there was any official connection with the organization.

Jim
 
The later ones are still a bit rare, but not $4000 rare. A nice, excellent condition piece might fetch $500 - $800, depending on who is looking for it. I do not see them often at all on gunbroker (and I watch for them occasionally), so it is a pretty good find. I always wanted one as a kid after I saw one in a gunstore back in the late 60's or early 70's.
 
They are fine guns,,,

Thanks folks, so troopers and I suppose the BP derrivative are good pistols?
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Oh yes,,,
They are fine pistols.

I have a 4" Trooper Mk-III in .357,,,
And a 6" Trooper Mk-III in .22 LR.

I shoot 'em both and they perform very well.

My only worry about any Colt DA revolver,,,
Is getting it fixed should a part break.

It's like real estate,,,
They ain't making any more.

Aarond
 
Keep in mind that there are THREE Colt Trooper revolvers.

There's the original Colt Trooper which used the same frame and action as the Python.

The Trooper Mark III is a totally new design unlike anything Colt ever made up until then and was used as the base for all Colt DA revolvers that followed.
These are transfer bar ignition/safety designs.

The Trooper Mark V was an upgraded Mark III with a "short action" hammer and a vented barrel. This same gun was later made with a different barrel as the King Cobra.

So, when discussing Colt Troopers, you have to be specific and remember to add the "Mark" designation or risk misunderstanding what you're dealing with. No grips interchange between the three, and no parts at all between the original and the Mark versions.
In the era's in which these models were made they were always Colt's top of the line premium holster revolvers, only bettered by the super-premium Python.
 
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