Colt Police Positive .32

[Danny Hartranft]

I have a Colt Police Positive Ser.No 217471 with a G under it. It has a plain barrel w/o front sight. It's a 2 in. on the side of the barrel it says Police Positive 32 Police CTG. On the top of the barrel it says F.A. MFG CO HARTFORD CT. U.S.A. , 5,1884. JUNE 5, 1900 JULY 4, 1905. It also has a stamp of a horse on the side of the frame. I can't find any info. about this gun anywhere or even a picture of a gun like this. Can anyone help me with this?
When made and so on.

 

[PetahW]

The Colt PP was made from 1907 to 1943 - your gun dates from 1927.

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[Dfariswheel]

The Colt Police Positive was an upgrade of a series of early swing-out cylinder, double action revolvers.
These started with the Colt New Pocket, and were refined as the Pocket Positive, the New Police, and finally the Police Positive.

These guns were made with a short frame and cylinder in various similar, now obsolete cartridges such as the .32 Colt, .32 New Police, .38 New Police, and the .38 S&W.
These guns came in blue or bright nickel and in barrel lengths of 2 1/2", 4", 5" or 6".
Up until 1923 the grips were black, hard "Gutta Percha" rubber with molded-in Colt logos and checkering. After 1923, the grips were checkered walnut with silver Colt medallions.

In 1907, Colt lengthened the cylinder and the frame to make the Police Positive Special.
This longer gun was to allow the use of the new .38 Special cartridge.
The Police Positive Special was also used to make later guns like the Detective Special and the Diamondback.

The Police Positive was extremely popular with police from the early 1900's up to the start of WWII, although production didn't end until 1947.
Over the years, Colt made hundreds of thousands of the Police Positive.

 

[BillCA]

The .32 Police Cartridge is the same as the .32 S&W Long. The offical name of the "Colt" cartridge was the .32 Colt New Police.

For purposes of identification with older Colt revolvers, they typically use the last (most recent) patent date on the barrel. In your case, July 4, 1905.

The stamp of the "rampant pony" or horse on the side of the frame is the logo of Colt Firearms.

Attached is a photo of a Colt Pocket Police Positive revolver. That's the closest I could find.

 

[Clark]

I have a lot of respect for the Colt PP design.
They can go through a lot, and still lock up tight.

With a number of the old 32&w Long Colt revolvers, while shooting hot loads, I have blown out the forcing cone.
Once the Cone has been TIG welded back together and re cut, the revolver then becomes very robust.

In a few old PP Colts, the hammer spring would not set off a primer.
I take off the side plate, and give the spring a tweak, and if the spring does not break, it works well from then on.