Colt Official Police: Whoz still a fan???

C

Chesster

New member
Nostalgia!!!! These are still my favorite utility revolvers. WC for target, SWC standard for small game, FBI +P for defense. I use three 4" models for primary home defense. This 5" mfg in 1935 is a favorite obtained a few months back. My 6" is a tack driver. In my youth, my revolver battery was a Ruger Single 6 convertable, a Colt Cobra, OP, and a Python. Still a good battery.


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Lots of fans still love the Official Police.

It started out as the Colt Army Special in 1908 and in 1927 Colt simply renamed it as the Official Police.
From 1908 to the mid-1960's it was just that: THE official police revolver for the majority of American police departments and the FBI and US Treasury.
 
I loved the old Colts, but never warmed up to their pencil-slim barrels, preferring more weight out front. And, Colt was a long time in putting good adjustable sights on their guns, and offering magnum chambering.

But as for quality of fit and finish, Colt was second to none. That's a beauty you show. you should be proud of it.

Bob Wright
 
I like my 1926 6" Army Special. The Son of the original owner told me that his Dad had won many target competitions with this revolver back in the day. But, this gun looks pretty mint and is completely original:
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Having owned a couple, I'd have to agree that they were beautifully finished revolvers, at least when they were new. One of the curious design features of those Colt revolvers was the tight lock-up when the hammer was back. However, that feature, or perhaps other features, meant that Colt revolvers were stiffer than Smith & Wessons, which were also mostly just as well finished.

I never thought the barrels were particularly light when compared to a regular Model 10 M&P. In the case of the S&W, the six-inch barrel really seemed thin, yet the five-inch barrel was just about perfect.

Another aspect of the Colt OP was that it was larger than a S&W M&P revolver, about like an L-Frame, cylinder-wise, if that means anything. They used the same speed loaders. The smaller Colt Police Positive Special revolvers were also particularly nice.

One would think that with the numbers all these revolvers were produced in, you would see used ones all the time but that never seems to be the case.
 
I bought a 6" Army Special, ten or twelve years ago. After ogling it and fondling it for a while, I decided it was possibly unfired (no rings around the chamber mouths), and decided it should be in the hands of a collector.
After trading it in on something I could shoot, I'd visit it occasionally as it sat in the case in the gun store, tagged $550 (I'd paid less than $350 for it).
It disappeared the day the story broke that "Colt was no longer going to sell guns to the public"; remember that? It was total BS, but every Colt disappeared from gun store shelves in about 48 hours.
It was a beautiful gun, but the M&P seems better scaled to the .38 Special cartridge.
 
I have always been a fan of Smith & Wesson revolvers. Never cared that much for Colts.

Had a DS with factory shroud some years ago and ended up trading it for a Smith Model 36.

Then, for whatever reason, some months ago I got the urge to get an old Colt, preferably a Police Positive Special in .32-20, with the black rubber grips.

Still not quite sure why that urge struck (may have had a lot to do with a couple of scenes in the Johnny Depp movie about Dillinger), because I still think that Colt revolvers are, generally, esthetically challenged (except for the bluing).

Long and the short of it is.... I ended up with this.

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A circa 1968 Official Police in .38 Special with an absolutely beautiful trigger pull.

Out the door price? $370.
 
I never thought the barrels were particularly light when compared to a regular Model 10 M&P. In the case of the S&W, the six-inch barrel really seemed thin, yet the five-inch barrel was just about perfect.
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Granted, when compared to the Military & Police models, but I was comparing the Colts to the adjustable sighted Smiths of the 'Fifties, all of which hade the ribbed barrels, and in the later guns, heavier barrels. True, similar models had about the same characteristics, but Colt had no similar model, at the time, to the M1950 .44 Target nor the M1955 .45 Target. It was guns of this ilk to which I referred.

Bob Wright
 
There were target sighted Official Police models with six-inch barrels and with heavier barrels but I don't know if they were still around in the 1950s. Probably were; the Python was around by 1960. But the large frame Shooting Master and New Service Target models were no longer around, not new, anyway. I recall an article in which the author complained about how heavy revolvers had become lately.

It would be interesting to know how well the big bore, large frame S&W target models sold in the 1950s, as well as the fixed sight models. Skeeter Skelton seemed to think they were actually uncommon in stores. I suspect that by then autoloaders were beginning to be used more for target shooting, even for .38 specials. Yet at the same time, I'd guess that adjustable sights were seen to be more accepted for service revolvers, which were still just about all that police ever carried, except for Texas Rangers, who were already carrying Government Model .45 autos, cocked and locked.
 
Found my 1922 Army Special in the LGS sometime last year. It had some funky homemade target grips but I was lucky enough to find some original rubber grips for it. I was a little concerned that the hammer was bright and the trigger blued but did some research and saw that a lot of them were made like that.

Before:
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After:
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My grandpap had a Colt Official Police that he used when he was a police officer. I've had it since he passed in 1995 and have never shot it. It has more sentimental value than any other firearm I own. I don't plan on ever shooting it. It just gets a nice cleaning every few months.
 
Never shoot it?,,,

I don't plan on ever shooting it. It just gets a nice cleaning every few months.
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What a shame,,,
I understand the reason,,,
But I would get warm fuzzies shooting my Dads gun.

Even just a few rounds a year.

Aarond
 
Let me explain a couple of points to sort of set the scene in regards to handguns in the 'Fifties, at least in regard to my neck of the woods, especially in regard to availability of certain models of handguns.

First of all, there were no gunshops as we know them today. Guns were bought from sporting goods stores, hardware stores, and pawn shops. Pawn shop guns were not always out-of-pawn guns, but brand new. And even the best of the sporting goods outfitter catered more to the duck hunter, bird hunter, or big game hunter, hence fine shotguns or rifles were the order of the day, with maybe four to six handguns being in the showcase. It was to be many years before I saw a S&W .357 Magnum, Ruger revolvers were still in the future, and Colts were seen only on advertising brochures, except the plain Jane models.

As a kid, most of my guns were top-breaks bought from second hand shops and junk shops. My first real Colt was mail order, second hand.

So, even though certain models were available, they were not commonly seen.

Bob Wright
 
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I was out shooting the Marshal,(OP with rounded grips) today, haved gotten 1.5" groups with the 32/20 OP. Great guns and not as hard to work on as some would have you believe.
 
Maybe that was true in some areas, but in the mid-Atlantic - PA, MD, VA - area, there were plenty of gun shops in the 1950's and they almost always had both new and used handguns. Some had a bunch of those German/Italian Saturday Night Specials, but most had a fair selection of Colt and S&W revolvers, as well as High Standard. H&R and IJ were considered "in between", not good enough to be quality guns, but better than the SNS junk.

And of course there were places like Ye Olde Hunter, in Alexandria, VA, which sold retail what Interarms imported (most folks thought they were part of Interarms, but they weren't). All kinds of goodies there.

Jim
 
In the 70s I worked LE/Security at various times and spent a lot of time on the range. We bought reloads from a local that pushed a 158gr hard cast SWC from the 4" at about 925-950 fps, a load he designed for his old Smith Heavy Duty. I know the load loosened a few Smith 10s and all but demolished some old Taurus "shark fin" front sighted .38s. The Colt OP and one old WWII Commando seemed to handle the load better. Then again, the E/I frame is more akin to the later Smith L frame than to the K frame.

I like both Smiths and Colts, but, the tight lockup of the Colt always impressed me more than the Smith wiggle.
 
I have a 1910 Army Special with 6" barrel - I don't shoot it often but I do like shooting it. I picked it up as it reminds me of my Dad. He was born in 1908 - same year it came out (along with the Model T) and it was changed to the OP in 1927 - the same year he graduated from high school. I'd love to run across a nice 4" AS or OP and am keeping my eyes out for one.
 
Father has a Colt O.P. for house gun. I have to Colts, a DS and a Cobra. and a passel of S&Ws.

But... I do pack Glocks.

Deaf
 
It's kind of a Model 10 by Colt ain't it,,,

It's kind of like a Model 10,,,
Just made by Colt.

I have three Colt revolvers that I like very much,,,
But I would like to find a decent shooter quality Official Police.

It has the same attraction to me as a Model 10,,,
I like it's simplicity.

Aarond

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If you go to take them apart, they don't seem so simple anymore.

The small town of about 8,500 (then--it's less now) where I grew up had a sporting goods store but they probably sold more boats than guns and what guns they sold were probably long guns. I don't remember any handguns in that store at all and I was in there a lot. It was only two blocks from home. But they probably did just the same.

Guns could be ordered at the Sears catalog store, purchased at the Western Auto store and I think that was about it. There was no pawnshop that I recall but the Army-Navy store had all sorts of knives, mostly illegal under the city ordinances but no guns. People must have bought guns somewhere because one neighbor was a gunsmith.

When I finally managed to buy a new gun, it was from yet another sporting goods store in the town where I went to college. They had more fishing stuff than shooting stuff and even one that I go to today almost has. I was only interested in a couple of models and have absolutely no recollection of any of the other guns in the store. There was another sporting good store in the middle of town that had a few guns and I think I still have some 9mm ammo I bought there but guns and ammo took up only a small corner of the store.
 
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