Identifying colt detective special

B

biere

New member
I am trying to figure out exactly what I have besides a nice tight 6 shot 38 special blued revolver. It has a 2 inch barrel or so and no longer has original grips.

The front sight is humped like the first generation of this firearm that I have seen in pictures. The ejector rod is also unshrouded.

I would basically like some info about where I can get the serial number deciphered and how to go about it if I have to use colt.

I would also like to know that it is safe to load all 6 and carry with this gun. It seems to have a sort of transfer bar system to it, right now I am just using it for a safe queen. I don't know much about colts, this is my first colt anything.

From some reading the first gens are really old and I would expect this to be a 2nd gen except for the front sight not matching. How else can you tell the two apart? I got no real history from the guy I bought it from and he bought it from someone else.

I have some very basic books for gun values and what not and that is where I saw the pictures. But I would like something a lot more exact. And since I live in the sticks finding someone really knowledgeable about these is not so easy.

Any help or can someone point me in better driections. I have run searches here and at other places but have not found anything specific for identifying it other than the unshrouded ejector rod. And that still leaves a lot open.
 
The shrouded ejector was introduced in 1972.
It does have a transfer bar system.
Contact Colt to get the date of manufacture.
Detective Specials are getting fairly pricey, depending on condition.
 
You didn't tell us enough. Is the front sight a "half nickel" or is it ramped on the rear face? If it is cut at an angle on the rear face, it's a postwar gun.

Are the grips apparently original? If plastic, probably the 1950's.

Is the extractor rod almost as long as the barrel above it? Post-1958. If it's only about half as long as the bbl., it's probably before 1958.

These are clues, as would be the markings. Colt is your best bet, but this info should be helpful. Post a photo, if possible. (Guess that if you could have, you would have, eh?)

The Colt Positive Lock to prevent firing if dropped was introduced in 1905. The first Det. Spcl. dates from about 1926. The rounded butt was introduced in 1931.

Lone Star
 
Well I have some more info for you guys then. It is not a half nickel front sight, it has the ramp on the back. The ejector rod is almost as long as the barrel.

So I would guess I am looking at something made after 1958 then. But since the ejector rod is not shrouded it would be pre 1972 then.

It has pachmayr presentation/compac grip on it now. It is a rubber grip that covers all around the frame and is for righties.
No originals for it.

How much of a serial number would someone need? I will give the first part of it here.

942xxx makes me feel comfortable.

I will most likely give colt a call.

I dropped by a local gun shop and he says he would rate it as around 95% and original colt blue on it. Did not know much more than that but he agrees it is a nice tight speciman with some wear on it but nothing major.

It is having a problem with winchester winclean ammo, which some feel has hard primers. Using other brands no problems at all. The problem is a light strike and on the 2nd time around it will fire off the ones it did not get the first time.

Thanks for the fast info guys.

I am glad to know it can carry all 6 at once with no worries and if I had a digital camera or anyway to stick picks up I would have posted a pick since that would have answered the front sight and ejector rod questions, as well as showing the aftermarket grips on it.

Thanks again. And let me know if you have any more info. I will find colt's websight and check with them sometime this week to see what I got.
 
The serial number is stamped on the frame, under the barrel, inside the cutout for the carne. It should have a "D" prefix. If so, the gun was made in 1967. I think you have made a very good buy.
 
Well this is subject to interpretation and is where my not knowing colts is a problem.

If I open the cylinder like I was going to load it I have a number exposed on the arm that the cylinder is on and I have an identical number on the frame of the gun.

I think the number is a complete number with no letters. The 9 has a long bottom that curves like a lower case g, but it looks a lot more like a 9 than a g to me. That is a 6 digit number regardless of what the first mark is. There is the first mark and 5 numbers after it.

On the frame of the gun think of the serial number as line one. Then skip a line and on line three we have another mark. I would vote it is a captial T, but the tail of the t seems short. Nothing else on the frame.

On the arm the cylinder is on there is a capital B above the serial number. It is sort of above it and is definately there.

And after looking at this again, I have it right here in front of me while typing this, there is a letter E on the section the gun grip covers. I have not taken off the grip and really don't care to but the E is barely noticable.

I assume carne is crane but don't do revolver nomenclature real well.

Hopefully this helps a bit more.
 
Given your description of the gun as to front sight shape, ejector rod length, etc. I think it was probably made in 1967. Maybe they missed stamping the "D". The other letters you refer to are inspector's marks. The number was also stamped on the crane because this part was individually fitted to that particular frame before they were blued or plated and it was necessary they be matched again afterwards.

In 1969 they ended the "D" series of numbers and changed to different letters ("A" - "B" - "C" - "F" - "H" - "M", etc.) and never got into numbers in the 900,000 range again.
 
I like knowing the two pieces were matched up later, I was wondering why they were both stamped.

Everyone here helped a lot and in less than a day I learned about all there is to know about this gun. I will most likely call colt eventually, but am not real worried about it since things seem to match up with a specific year and age for it. My main concern would be a possable piece meal gun.

Thanks for the help once again. :)

I bet I would have been on hold longer than it took to get this done on here if I messed with colt today.
 
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