Detective Special Rehab - Need Counseling

T

TenRing

New member
A few years ago I bought a 3rd issue Colt Detective Special as a carry piece. It fit my hand well and carried and shot like a dream. I paid about $350 with FFL fees and the gun is in fair shape, showing holster wear and it had some light pitting on the sideplate when I bought it. Evidently this pitting comes from the previous owner having carried the gun next to his skin and sweating on it. Visually I would give the gun a 5 on a condition scale of 1 to 10. The pitting seems to be limited to the sideplate and one section of the cylinder. The right hand side of the gun looks almost new but the left side has light pitting. There is normal holster wear but that is to be expected from gun that was probably carried daily for 30 years or more.

At the time I thought I would buy a shooter grade carry gun that wouldn't make me cringe if it got nicked. Since then the gun has really grown on me and now I wish I had spent more money to buy a nicer gun.

I want to send the gun back to Colt to have the internals cleaned and reconditioned because during rapid fire I detected some burrs or possibly some light rust forming inside. The trigger does not reset as crisply as it should. I removed the side plate and I can clearly see surface rust on a couple of springs and some of the other internal parts.

The gun was purchased from Gunbroker and it came from a hot and humid climate. I believe it was from Texas. That could explain the internal oxidation. The gun appears to have been carried a lot but never abused. It was probably not often cleaned.

I contacted Colt and they would charge $325 for a Royal Blue job or $250 for a Standard Blue job and they would advise me on the price for reconditioning.

Now should I invest possibly $500 into this gun to recondition and reblue it or should I just buy another gun that is already in great shape? Prices for Detective Specials are rising but I already have an assortment of custom fit holsters and speed loaders for this gun. If I invest $500, that would make this a $850 gun to me. Maybe I should just have it cleaned and reconditioned and continue to carry it with the surface pitting.

The gun does shoot but not as well as it should and I haven't carried it in a few months because of this. I have another carry gun so this is not a rush job.

Thanks for your input. Got that off my chest. I feel better now.:o
 
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I'd not put a lot into a shooter. If you want a safequeen, find one in original condition and stash her away. I'd clean out any debri inside, hose down innerds with some silicone spray before a good range session, then give it a good cleaning inside if you are comfortable with doing this. You could fine an excellent safe queen for around the 500 you would send to Colt and double your Colt DS assets.
 
Guess I would take it apart myself and use 4ought to thoroughly clean all of the parts.

A Colt is very simple to disassemble and maintain with just a little patience required to re-install the bolt and bolt spring.
Pick a copy of Jerry Kuhnhausens Colt D/A manual from Brownells if you haven't had one apart before.
I would highly recommend the book to anyone who owns a Colt. Lots of technical - to me, fun - reading, but you will come away with a really good understanding of the double action Colt.

I would then lightly oil all parts and leave a little extra oil for the contact areas and pins that the parts swivel on.

If after a good cleaning the pistol is starting to lose time? Not clear from your post if that is the case or a loss of accuracy.

Maybe try that before sending it off.

Good luck, JT
 
Here's what I would do.
Send it to Colt for royal blue. Keep the paperwork for provenance, maybe get a custom shop box from them.

Then resell it for a profit or keep it and let the value go up.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=273118663

pix398328104.jpg
 
If you want to shoot it, go with the standard blue. If you want a safe queen, use the Royal Blue. Had Colt refinish in Royal Blue and put all new rollmarks on a rough Puthon. Gun looks like it just left the factory and is WAY to nice to shoot! Bluing is simply amazing! I like my guns to look good, even my shooters. I just wouldn't recommend the additional cost of the Royal Blue if you plan on shooting it. The standard blue will still make the gun look amazing.
 
Let me go the other way:

It's a carry gun... either clean it out and then lube it and shoot it, or have it glass bead blasted and reblued, and then shoot it.

You can buy a beautiful second example with what you would spend to send this one back to Colt... why spend more and get less?

Any decent 'Smith can do a blast and blue job that'll look great for duty/carry use. Not expensive... and practical.


Willie

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Like Olympus, I invested over $400 to have a 1973 Python restored to its original Royal Blue, tune-up, and re-establish the roll marks. (The roll marks are now laser-engraved). It was a great investment. The revolver looks like it just came off the line. The only down side was that it took sixteen weeks, start to finish. However, that timeline has been pushed out to six-to-seven months.

The rehab is well worth the money.
 
Willie Sutton said:
Let me go the other way:

It's a carry gun... either clean it out and then lube it and shoot it, or have it glass bead blasted and reblued, and then shoot it.

You can buy a beautiful second example with what you would spend to send this one back to Colt... why spend more and get less?

Any decent 'Smith can do a blast and blue job that'll look great for duty/carry use. Not expensive... and practical.


Willie

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The problem with that is that most gunsmiths will charge almost as much as Colt's standard reblue job. The you run the risk of having the original rollmarks polished out in some places. Nothing worse than having your pony amputated at the knees! With something as valuable as a Colt, I would either do it right (send back to Colt for rollmarks, internals, and bluing) or don't do it at all.
 
If you are going to have a gun refinished, bluing should be the last choice-as far as protection and durability are concerned. An upgraded nickel or hard chrome finish would cost about what the Colt blue costs, maybe less.
 
There are all kinds of "wonder finishes" and other options for protection these days. But bluing was good enough for the LEOs that gave your gun it's name for many years, it would be a shame to refinish in something other than what it came with originally. That's just my opinion though. I'm a traditionalist when it comes to Colt revolvers.
 
Go into it with the understand that you will not recoup your investment. Do it because you really like your gun. Personally, a shooter is a shooter. I would not invest in a shooter to make it more pleasing aesthetically. Clean it real good & see if function improves. If not, get it tuned. Otherwise, sell it and get a better one.

BTW, that gun on Gunbroker listing for 1,400 something has been there for like 6 months. I swore I saw it listed at around 1,200 at one time and it's been steadily going up. LOL! :rolleyes:
 
Colt's standard Detective Special bluing was considerably better than anyone else's bluing. It has a very glossy deep blue color.

The Royal Blue as used on the Python is a mirror bright "wet look" finish that's very good looking, but you may be satisfied with the standard Colt blue that looks so good.

Whether to have it re-finished is purely a personal decision, and if you want it done in either finish I wouldn't care about any recouping of costs.
That's for another day or even for another owner in the future.
Whatever, when it comes back from Colt it'll look as much like a brand new gun as is humanly possible. You'd be amazed at what Colt can do even with pitting.
 
Personally, I would disassemble it, clean thoroughly, and carry it. A nice minty Detective Special is out there somewhere waiting to be purchased, just go find it.
 
If you really like this Colt, and it sounds like you do, I'd send it back and have Colt go to town on it. And then I'd carry it everyday, and not worry about if you are reducing the value.

Life's too short to carry a gun that you don't think is beautiful.
 
Thanks for all of the replies. You have certainly given me something to think about. I like a good looking gun, even if it is a shooter. I partially disassembled the gun and it shoots better after reassembly. My instincts tell me that some parts may need to be replaced and rather than order parts, I think I'll just let Colt do it.

If my gun ends up looking like the one in the gunbroker photo, I might not want to shoot it anymore but I will carry it anyway.

I called Colt again today and they say the turn-around time for cleaning is about six weeks and the turn-around time for rebluing is up to six months. Yikes! I like to tinker with things but I don't really have the time or concentration to devote to it right now. I think I'll send it in to Colt and let them work their magic on it.

Judging by the info given above, I think this will be like getting a new gun and it will be worth it. Hell, I'm thinking of going whole hog and getting royal blue.
 
Judging by the info given above, I think this will be like getting a new gun and it will be worth it. Hell, I'm thinking of going whole hog and getting royal blue.
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That's what I'd do. My Detective Special is one of the most accurate and sweetest-shooting revolvers I've ever owned or shot. I've seen more than one or two photographs of before and after refinishing jobs Colt has done, and was mighty impressed.

Best of success to you and your shooter, eh?
 
Go into it with the understand that you will not recoup your investment.
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This.

I recently picked up a near mint full-lug Colt Detective Special for $525 OTD. My other DS, which has been my daily carry for the past three years, cost me a whopping $375 and is as pretty as can be. The auction prices on Gunbroker are ridiculous.
 
I wouldn't worry about shooting a royale blue gun. My 79 python is in great shape. Just wipe it down when you are through using it and it will be fine like any other blued gun.
 
Well something can only be original once bug can be restored many times. Therefore I would go find an original high grade ds and keep that as an investment / BBQ gun and just use what you have now as a shooter addressing any mechanical issues you find with it as needed.

Not to poo poo colt but i see many people talk as if a colt refinish will not hurt their guns value and that is unfortunate. A refinished gun always will be just that and have it's value starting in the second tier of pricing for condition, not the first. Folks may try and get more but in the end an original is always going to price out higher than a refinish. Does colt do a nice job and not mess up your gun? Absolutely but it's still a refinish.
 
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