Have two colts and was looking for values.,The commando appears to be refinished. I am not sure. It is also marked B.P.D. on the back strap. It is very clean and in great shape. The other Colt is a 4"viper well in good condition. No boxes or papers. Thanks for your help.
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Can't say anything about the Viper. The Commando is definitely refinished in blue, as they were parkerized originally. Looks like a nice job though. I believe the B.P.D. stamp may mean Boston; they're known to have received hundreds of Commandos and the acronym plus a four-digit number is typical, although I do not have a picture at hand to compare the font. The stocks aren't original either, obviously, although they look more valuable than the original brown plastic.

So no collector value, but if the mechanics are good, a solid shooter. A wild guess would be in the 300 to 400 range.

PS: See attached picture for what the Commando would have looked like originally.

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Thanks she is very solid! Thank you for your input.

The Vipers are seldom seen for sale. Big bucks in new condition with box/papers. Yours showing wear with no box is still likely in the $2000 range +/- a few hundred depending on how many folks are in line when you sell it. Good luck.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

The viper is pretty much worthless without a factory colt letter. There are hundreds of counterfeits vipers out there which started life as cobras only to have one of the many left over numerich viper barrels fitted to them. A nice no box used bona fide blue viper these days will bring about 1500.00. These are not nearly as hot as they once were.

FWIW.....barrel and frame bluing on the Viper.... don't quit match.....

bluing wear on the crain but none on the barrel muzzle..............???????

Could be the light. Will look at it closely. Would a call to Colt confirm that it actually is a Viper? Thanks for heads up.

Colt Firearm Serial Number Lookup - Year of Manufacture

You could try the serial number here.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

We have a couple of BPD collectors on the forum, if I can remember their names, I'll PM them about this thread. I only have one BPD Colt, and it is from the 1930's, but even back then, the stamping was in that format, but was engraved, not stamped. By the look of yours, the stamping could have been aftermarket, or even done by someone at home. I'm no expert. One would expect, that by this period in time they would have reached more than four figures of numbers. Mine is four figures back in the early 1930s.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

I think the barrel and cylinder on the Viper have the same appearance to the finish and different from the frame. Didn't realize they were that expensive - guess I'll keep the two dozen I stashed away for now .

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

From what I've seen a Commando will usually bring a premium over an Official Police, although the likelihood of the refinish diminishes that quite a bit as mentioned. Out here I'd expect to see one similar listed anywhere from 300-500, depending on the urgency and optimism of the seller.

The Viper as some have mentioned is a different story. You will need factory confirmation of its originality, but if that can be provided with a bit of patience even in this currently somewhat down market I'd be surprised if you didn't eventually find a player in the 1500-2k range, or even a bit higher if the factory docs reveal something quirky or interesting like a very early/very late date.

Just keep in mind that this is no confirmation of a specific serial number's authenticity.

And for the Commando, unless your gun has a two- or three-digit serial number, it will be incorrect. It will tell you 1942 for every serial number in the Commando range, even though only a few hundred were made in very late 1942. About 32,000+ were made in 1943, and the remaining 18,000 or so in 1944. The last one was assembled around January 1945. That should give you a ballpark.

We've discussed this with one of the Colt historians on the Colt forum. Apparently, Colt didn't even consult their Archives subsidiary when they last updated their databases. As a result, everybody thinks they've got a 1942 Commando, although basically nobody does.

Just got home, here is the backstrap from my Boston PD Colt Bankers Special from the 1930s. I have seen others on this and the Colt forum which showed identical engraving. But they may have changed the method by the time yours was aquired:



Here's another angle:



Edit: M2A2: the BPD collector I was thinking about earlier is Ben Cartwright SASS, one of our Forum and SWCA members. I sent him a PM with a link to this thread. Hope that this helps.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

Boston got both Commandos and Victory Models, I know on the S&W Victory models the armorers at BPD did the stamping on the backstrap. I would think they did the same on the Commandos since most of them were WWII left overs and you wouldn't send it to Colt to be stamped. These guns like all of the BPD guns usually received heavy carry wear, although they were very seldom shot. I have some BPD guns that look like they were run over by a tank but the bores are great. Several departments used the BPD markings but not always the rack numbers. Among them were Bloomington NY Bloomfield NJ Brownsville TX and others. The downside to trying to letter a Commando or a Victory to Boston or any department is that they usually went to the military or merchant marine or factories first until the government got rid of them.

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Free Advice is never cheap

Here are two of the searches on the Viper and the Commando
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The barrel and cylinder have a different shade of blue because the Viper was built on the alloy frame which gets a different finish. Perfectly normal, but still doesn't mean it is legit.

I was going to say the price quotes were way off for the Viper, but apparently not everyone thinks logically like me, and the prices are pretty close. In an educated Colt world, where actual design/build determine quality and cost, this Viper would be valued similar to a MKIII design gun, which bring about $700 in like condition. Maybe a tad higher for the lower production Viper.

This isn't the educated Colt world though, this is the world of following trends, being accepted, and bragging rights. So apparently $1500ish for that shooter is what folks are willing pay to chase the snakes. Glad I never jumped on that wagon.

I really like both your guns, mainly the Commando because it is the only true V spring action. I also like the refinish on the Commando, looks better than the parker finish.

I purchased a Colt commando from an estate. It's is stamped USAAF 680468 on the side. The actual serial# is 20#. I'm waiting on my colt letter but don't think it was actually shipped to the USAAF. I talked to a gentleman that had a colt commando that had the exact same stamp but his serial is in control 1600 range.

I have a Commando that is electropenciled on the right side of the frame W.P.D. No rack number. I think it was Worcester, MA Police Dept, which seems to support that yours is Boston Police Dept. However mine may just have been marked to prove ownership by Waldemar P. Dingbat.

It would be great if you could post a good close-up photo of that stamping. And please let us know what the letter says when you get it. The Commandos, like the Victorys, shipped in batches, and the serial says nothing about who got what. The majority shipped on Army contracts, which would have included any to the Army Air Force which didn't exist as an independent branch yet. So it might just letter to some central depot. Any unit it was shipped to from there could have decided to have their armorer mark and number the guns. So it might well be impossible to determine the origin of the stamp. But wait for the letter; sometimes they do contain surprises.

Sorry it took me awhile to get back to you. Hopefully the pictures loaded!

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Pictures are great. The inscription isn't anything I've seen before, but if, as you said in your earlier post, you've seen another gun with the same stamping, that supports its authenticity. The 7 on the butt is likely the gun's inventory number, so the six-digit had to have some other meaning.

It also looks like your gun has interesting stocks. The piece visible appears like neither the regular Commando brown plastic stocks nor the earlier wooden Official Police version, but an older pre-1924 black hard rubber Colt Army Special stock.

The original set was in a box with the revolver. They are checkered wood with a silver medallion. I took the pics before I changed them. I've tried to find the number in the USAAF records but haven't come up with anything yet.

Nice Viper you have. The colour is indeed a bit different on the barrel and frame. That is the case with mine example to. The grips are a bit bigger then Cobra grips. Just wrote an artickele for a Dutch Gunmagazine for it. There is a bit misunderstanding about the production dates 1977 is said the only year of production. My Viper is legit. Only the Colt site put the name of the Viper on 1978. That is also the only date that the Viper is published in the cataloge of that year. I love that revolver. It shoots very good and aldo it is a very light frame almost no recoil. It makes also nice groups on the target card on 25 meter. Congrats with it. Do not sell it. You have a Viper. I wont sell mine including the box.

Re the Commando, although I never saw any with the USAAF marking, I did see some in the USAF in the 1960's. We had far more S&W Victory Models. I also saw a couple of Official Police Colts, the commercial version of the Commando.


My understanding is the AF got these guns from the Navy, due to shortages of our official Combat Masterpiece 38.The Viet war was hot and heavy and the CM went there and to SAC bases first . Other commands often had to rely on the WWII guns.


I didn't know that the USAAF had issued those .38 Colts. Maybe they went to Intelligence and CID personnel. I've never seen a photo of an aircrew armed with them. Nor any runway guards. Has anyone seen a .38 in photos of the Army Air Force? Doesn't prove anything, but photos would be nice.


For those unaware, the US Air Force wasn't created until 1947. Prior to then, the AF was part of the Army.