Colt Police Positive .38 S&W
This is a Colt Police Positive in .38 S&W - not .38 Special. It's a traditional double-action six-shot revolver, with a five digit serial number that puts its manufacture date somewhere in the middle of WWI. This picture - and the fifty-odd others I took - doesn't do it justice, as the bluing is near-perfect, with only the slightest hint of a turn line on the cylinder.
I haven't shot this one (yet), as .38 S&W tends to be on the pricey side (as well as pretty hard to find) compared to .38 special. I suspect it would shoot just as well as any of my Official Police revolvers (the .22LR or the two .38 Specials) or the Detective Special, although the trigger is pretty stiff. I suspect it's nothing that a few hundred rounds downrange wouldn't cure.
And at the rate the previous owner (paging Barney Fife) shot this gun, I'd wager it'd take several millenia to achieve a triple digit round count...
That is all.
9 comments:
That's one sweet gun.
What's the difference between the two cartridges? (.38 S&W versus .38 Special)
Jay,
You're coming up on the century mark. Got something "special" lined up? Hope so.
- Brad
alan,
Thanks! One of these days, more than likely once I start reloading, I want to take it to the range and see what it can do.
The_Saj,
The .38 S&W is significantly less powerful than the .38 Special. The bullet diameters and rim thicknesses are different as well - IOW, do *NOT* shoot .38 S&W in a .38 Special handgun (due to the longer case you can't *get* a .38 Special cartridge in a .38 S&W chambered gun).
Brad,
I was thinking of a "family portrait" for the big one-oh-oh...
:)
Jay,
Sounds like you have a celebration of the century mark well in hand. Too bad you don't have anything chambered in 1.00 inch.
Have you got a wide-angle lens for the camera? To paraphrase Roy Scheider's famous line from JAWS,
We're gonna need a wider lens.
- Brad
"Special" was the "Magnum" of it's day......... as I understand it, the progression of American revolver rounds usually went something like this:
1. Someguy develops a revolver round, and calls it the .38 Someguy, after the caliber and himself.
2. It gets popular.
3. Someone else decides it's good as it is, but it would be even better if it was going faster, to deliver more energy (on that fine American maxim that More is Better!)to the target/penetrate barriers/kill it deader. They make the case longer to give more room for powder/prevent use in revolvers that may not be able to handle the new, higher pressures involved (and not accidentally creating a new market for the new guns chambered for it!), and dub the new round the .38 Someguy LONG.
4. If the new round gains popularity, step 3 (and 4!) is repeated, with a progression of new marketing words: Special, Magnum, and even Maximum.......
What is it for? Why to sell, of course! -Jeff Cooper
edit: I stand corrected- S&W changed the bullet/bore diameter when it rolled out the "Special" version...... another reason for consumers to spring for a new gun.... and Colt put a flat point bullet on it and called it the Colt New Police.... where would we be w/o marketing?
I have one of those! Mine was "lend-lease" so has Broad Arrow stamp and Birmingham proof marks. Barrel is marked ".380/200." That's the British term for the round. Local gun shop will order ammo in bulk and passes on discount if I buy 400+ rounds at a time. Action so smooth I can keep 6 rds. in X ring at 25yds. double action.
... I have a couple of guns chambered in 38S&W, two of them exceeding the 1-0-0 mark in age :)
I think I have the same Colt but it says 38 special on it.
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