detective special from gun show

M

marine

New member
Yet another colt detective special - fell in love. Saw it on the table, but couldn't give it a good checkout - ie Jim March posting on revolver checkout. But I had to byte the bullet and go for it. Got it home. Looked it over real good - hadn't been cleaned, barrel and cylinder, but cleaned it up real good.
The barrel shows some holster blueing gone as well as the front part of cylinder. Backstrap shows a few spots of rust or whatever. The grips clearly show use on the butt part of the grips - ie checkering. Other than that, all looks well.
Gun show cost was $250. But I'm a little wary so considering sending to Colt for a checkup and refurbish - Havn't fired it.
Given the 490xxx serial, this may be a good idea.
Any opinions? I'll post some pics.
Thanks all.
 
With a price that low my biggest concern would be the frame being stretched from too many +P loads since it was made in the mid 1940s. Everything else is fairly easy to check.
 
You might just have a local gunsmith give it a looksy just to be sure it's safe to fire. Barring any major problems, take it to the range and see what it's got. If it doesn't do well, then send it back to Colt and see what they can do (see if they'll service it first - they haven't made DS in about 10 years, even if they find something wrong they may not be able to fix it or so they may think). Local smiths tend to be more resourceful in finding parts. Ask around and see if there's any revolver experts around town.
 
Look specifically for Colt gunsmiths. Not all gunsmiths can work on the older Colt action. One not trained on Colts can cause more harm than good.
 
Detective Special sent to Colt for evaluation

Called Colt. Ser# 490xxx made in 1947. I sent it to Colt for a checkup. Colt indicated that they could not do anything without seeing the piece. There are only 2 reasons I have for sending it in - I love the little piece, and it just seems too tight and not abused given its age and the checkout guidelines posted by Jim March. So kinda suspecious because I can't find a problem. The action is crisp, like new. Maybe it had been into Colt before. The only indication of use are the lower 1/4 of grips, Blueing off the front part of barrel and some slight blueing lost on front part of cylinder. Looks like holster ware over the years. Did my best to check out timing re Jim March. All seemed to be ok, but given my love for the little piece, thought I would send it back for a checkup.
Regarding UPS shipping - I tried Staples who does it - told me they could package it up and send it. Brought it in, and found out they wouldn't due to "store policy on firearms". Mail Boxes Etc would, and did.
If the photos show up on this posting - note - not too good. What may look like tiny bubbles is actually cleaning stuff being reflected by flash. Thanks Majic and Southpawshootr. I'll post new picts when it comes back from Colt.
 

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Detective special photos

Sorry for my ignorance - jpeg images limited on web site and I didn't notice the error messages after upload. I wanted to get the photos up for those on the site that don't have any photos on the early models - the short ejector rod, round front sites, and grips with frame extending around the bottom of grips. As in my earlier post, I'll put up pic after in comes back from Colt, and I'll let you know what (if anything) was done to the piece.
A big thanks to you all.
 
marine,

I bought a DS just like yours three years ago from a friend who is also an FFL. Mine was made in '62. It was a LE (Chief) one time owner who sold it when he retired. The gun was in very good mechanical condition but need a face lift if you know what I mean. The inside was filthy and hadn't seen a drop of lube in many years. I don't think it had been fired in that time period either.
I called Colt and made arrangements to send the DS to them for a physical and re-blueing.
When it came back, it looked better than new. They used the old Python Royal type blue instead of the DS lower gloss blue.
My DS looked so good when I got it back, I put it away and haven't fired it since. :)
Return time was about two weeks, far shorter than they quoted.
 
Jim - thanks for info. Thats exactly what I'm hoping Colt can do for this piece. If it passes inspection and/or can have any necessary repairs made, I'll have them do the Royal blue. This piece had definately been fired and needed a cleaning. I don't scrub bores, cylinders anymore. I just let the cleaner do the work and then swab out w/clean patches. If it comes back as good as your LE, given that this one is 15 yrs older, I'll only shoot occasionally. I'm wondering if the wooden grips can be restored. No history on this piece as the gun show dealer was selling it on consignment, so the dealer got a chunk of the $250 I paid. I don't think there is any collector value here so not concerned about leaving it the way it is.
Thanks
 
marine,

I inquired of Colt while I had them on the phone about new grips. No way, too old.
I've searched high and low but to no avail. Mine are in about the same condition as yours.
 
If you poke around at gunshows, there's always one or two guys who have old factory grips. Occasionally, you'll run across Colt collectors selling off parts of their collections that are no longer wanted (their loss is your gain). In my area, there are a number of good shows, but one always seems to draw people who are into these old guns. Ask around and you might have such a show in your area. It's always nice to have the materials to bring an old workhorse up to original condition. Be sure to bring the gun with you though, there were a number of modficiations made to the grip frame over the years.
 
my downfall and love of guns

Jim and SouthpawShootr - I have to confess. I don't fall in love very often. With this piece, I'm in love. I'm an old guy, 64 yrs, and this revolver is my love. Have a lot of shooters, but given this ones age, I want the best for it. I guess I'm just an old sentimental fool. I always wanted one of these since I was a kid, and you could walk into a hardware store and buy a .22 rifle at the age of 12, and have a lot of fun shooting. The action on this piece is so good, the trigger so good. Man - I fell in love. I could give you a rundown on all the other pieces I've owned over the years, but you would just get bored.
The grips - I'm going to tell Colt to do the Royal Blue on finishing, so what would you do with the grips? I'm going to tell Colt to do the Ivory grips.
I'll update the progress on the restoration, let you know what Colt's evaluation is on the piece, and upload some more photos after its all returned.
The piece is due to arrive at Colt tomorrow.
Thanks for all of your input.
 
Well what a bummer - Colt's evaluation of the '47 piece

Called Colt today - They looked over the piece. They are going to "tighten" the cylinder, and correct the timing. What I didn't expect was that they will NOT reblue the piece. I asked why, and the lady at Colt just said that they couldn't do any refinishing - re - reblue of the piece, and she couldn't give explaination as to why not.
So the piece will be returned, a lot better than sent mechanically. I wanted to upgrade if it could be re-blued and put some of those nice white ivory (not the real stuff) grips on her. For the mechanicals, $103.
I don't want to string this string out much longer, but I sure would like to know why a revolver can't be reblued. They will take the piece apart to do the other work. So whats the big deal?
Thanks
 
Very strange, very strange in deed. :confused:
I dealt with a guy by the name of Richard when I had mine done.
 
Colt indicates revolver can't be re-blued

Yo Jim - maybe they have to completely strip the piece, as I suspect, to do the re-blueing. But this shouldn't be a big deal, providing they know how to re-assemble. I know I'm being a little critical of Colt - they have their reasons, and they are the only ones who know what the reasons are. But man! Is this really customer service? With no explaination? I'm sure they reblued lots of revolvers, much older than this '47 vintage Detective Special.
What a bummer. But thanks for all of your input.
Mac
 
Is your Colt one of the post-war "Two-tone" Colt's.

This was a finish Colt used up until sometime in the mid-to late 1950's.

The flats of the gun are polished, but all the "edges" are bead blasted.

If so, possibly Colt simply no longer offers this kind of labor-intensive finish.

Since Colt offers refinishing, this is the only reason I can think of.

I'd suggest calling Colt back and speaking to someone else.
Apparently people lately have been getting a lot of erroneous info over the phone from Colt.
 
Just got off the phone with Colt. She looked up the work record on their computer for this piece. She said that the work record shows "finishing not available". Again I give her the old "and why not"? I think I'm going around in circles with her. Finally she says that she's going to E-mail the finishing group, and call me back.
Dfariswheel - Actually the piece has most of its original blue except for a few areas. Didn't see anything that looked like it might have been one of those 2 tone models. I won't have any trouble getting the piece re-blued even if Colt doesn't want to do it. I was just curious why they won't do it, given their web pages that explain all of their re-blueing options.
 
Colt responds

Kathy Johnson from Colt called back and gave the following reasons for "finishing not available".
1) Too old of a firearm.
2) Frame too old.
3) No replacement parts if something went wrong.
Well my natural instinct would be to ask " well you are in the process of "tightening" the cylinder, and adjusting the timeing", "what if something goes wrong"? But I didn't. Who knows where that would have went. I didn't realize that these old model Colts are probably a little rarer than I thought. Given the production quantities during their time, I would have thought parts would be avaliable. Maybe they are thru gunsmiths who specialize in these older pieces. Anyways, thanks for all the input.
Mac
 
On the old two tone finish that needs refinishing it is hard to tell that it was a two tone if you didn't know what to look for. The topstrap, bottom of the frame, and the grip frame just looks like it has a lot of wear unless you look closely and see that it's matte and not just dulled bluing. I bought a revolver at a discount one time as the owner/dealer valued it lower because of what he thought was finish wear.
 
Majic - I posted some pics on string # 5, colt1.jpg and colt2.jpg. The top strap showed no wear, either above or below, where barrel meets the forcing cone. I was looking for +P cutting on top strap close to barrel - looked like no abuse took place. It just looked like the original matte blueing. But I don't have the piece, Colt does, so can't give it a better look. Given that most any old revolver can be re-blued, I think Colt's policy on this piece is probably correct - If they take it apart, blue it, and something goes wrong ..... They can't fix, and they have no parts, so sounds like a "liability" issue. Or maybe a compentence issue? Had another string going on the revolver forum titled Colt vs $ vs lawyers. Anyways, thanks for your input. This old "47 Detective Special will be re-blued. It will be "as new", and I'll put up the "after" pictures when it gets finished. Is only 57 years old. Given the 38 spl loadings of modern times, and if nothing changes, it should be good for another 50 yrs.
Mac
 
Marine,

You know, with such superficial wear I'd be inclined to leave that little gem as it is. With the small amount of mechanical work Colt is doing it's no doubt seen some shooting. If only some guns could talk eh?
 
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