Colt Positive

D

Doug Ridley

New member
Saw a Colt Positive .38 in excellent condition at my LGS and I'm wondering if I can shoot the same standard .38 ammo that I use in my little S&W 642 and my Colt Detective Special?
 
No. The Police Positive uses a short 38 the same as the .360" 38 S&W. The longer .357" 38 Special won't chamber.
 
Maybe......

This depends on WHICH "Police Positive" you have.
Colt had two revolvers of the same design, one the "Police Positive", the other the "Police Positive Special".

The Police Positive was built to shoot short, now obsolete cartridges like the old .32 S&W and .38 S&W.
Colt didn't want the S&W name on Colt pistols so they just changed the bullet shape slightly and sold the ammo as the Colt .32 New Police and Colt .38 New Police.
The S&W and Colt versions were totally interchangeable.

The Colt Police Positive Special was made with a longer cylinder and frame so it could shoot longer cartridges like the .38 Special.

If you have an actual Colt Police Positive, you cannot shoot the same .38 Special ammo as the S&W 642 or Detective Special.
The cylinder will be too short to chamber the longer .38 Special, and the barrel was bored for the larger .38 S&W cartridge.

Check the barrel on the Colt.
If it says "Colt Police Positive", then ".38 Special" it's a Colt Police Positive Special made for the .38 Special.
If it says "Police Positive" and ".38 Caliber", it's a Police Positive and chambered for the .38 S&W/.38 New Police.

Also, compare the frame and cylinder of your Detective Special to the Police Positive.
If the frame and cylinder of the Police Positive are noticeably shorter, it's a .38 S&W/.38 New Police.
The .38 S&W/Colt New Police is still sold by a few ammo makers.
 
Howdy

Excellent answer by Dfariswheel.

Here are a few photos. The top two guns are Police Positive Specials. The little gun at the bottom is a 32 caliber Police Positive.

threepolicepositives_zps2a9c7480.jpg




Barrel markings on the two Police Positive Specials.

barrel%20markings%2002_zpszj6fsrnq.jpg




barrel%20markings%2001_zpsd4uyeqrf.jpg


Sorry, I don't have a 38 Police Positive chambered for the shorter 38 S&W cartridge for comparison, but the cylinder will be shorter.
 
Driftwood,
Those are great Colts and great pics.
They would not mean so much to me, if I did not love my own Colts so much.
I don't think my Colts are as nice as yours.. nor or my pics, but Colt double action revolvers have mystique about them, like NAZI, confederate, or Indian artifacts.
They don't make them anymore.

My grandfather carried a 38 S&W in the Alaskan Gold rush. Hand loaded and in a Colt, it is still a great self defense round.
 
FWIW, the term "positive" comes from Colt's hammer block safety, which they installed beginning about 1909 and of which they were justifiably proud. They called it a "positive safety" because, unlike the S&W hammer block of the period, it was mechanically operated, and did not depend on a spring for proper functioning.

Jim
 
I didn't realize the positive and positive special varied so much in size.
I had a 38 positive and it was the best feeling revolver I have ever sot. Great grip size, balance, trigger, etc. I just hated hunting for the 38 SW ammo.
I plan to get another in 22lr.
 
"I didn't realize the positive and positive special varied so much in size."

Yep.

The Police Positive was derived from Colt's earlier small-frame guns that couldn't accommodate longer cartridges like the .38 Special or the .32-20.

The Police Positive Special used the larger frame size of the (I think) Army/Navy revolver series.

It's analagous to S&W's I frame and K frame revolvers.
 
There were two Colt series that had the word "positive" given to them, the Police Positive, which is what this thread is about, and the Pocket Positive, which is a quite small gun, smaller than the S&W J-frame. The latter was essentially the New Pocket with the positive safety and was made only in .32 caliber. The later small .38's (Detective Special, Cobra) were made on the same frame as the Police Positive.

Jim
 
I have a 1929 vintage Colt Police Positive Special in .38 Special with 6 barrel. Mine isn't as pretty as the one in Driftwood's picture, but still makes occasional trips to the range. I'm used to shooting much larger heavier revolvers and the old Colt feels like a toy gun in my hand.
 
Of course Colt made the heavier Officers Model (it went by other names as well) and the large New Service for cartridges like the .45 Colt. But it was the PPS that went into the holsters of at least half the police in the U.S. in the period from c. 1910 to the 1980's. The other half carried the S&W M&P, now the Model 10.

The division was, to a large extent, geographical. Police in the northeast, midwest and far west tended toward Colts; officers in the south and south central part of the country seemed to like S&W. The preference was so marked that the Mason-Dixon line was often called the "Smith & Wesson Line", although Maryland police stuck with Colts.

Jim
 
I liked the size of the Police positive. Not interested in the larger special. 22lr positive is waht I really want anyways. Just have to find one in person or convince myself to buy one off an auction site. Given the expense of fixing Colts with even minor problems I have shied away from the latter option.
 
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