I just got this rechambered Colt New Service .357. The little markings on the frame make me think it was originally a .455 New Service but not sure. Action, bore, timing, is great. The worn wood grips are nicely checkered. The non Colt barrel is marked "new service" and then "357". Scope mount uses two screws in the sight groove. I know nothing about scopes. Price was $425 plus fees. I thought this would be fun to play with for a while.

1950's and 60's gun magazines had many ads for New Service conversion barrels and cylinders.

Attached Images

Colt Ad New Service Parts 1955.jpg (134.1 KB, 34 views)

I’ll take a pair of stag grips for $5.95!!!

That looks like an old Bushnell Phantom scope. They were popular in the 60s and 70s. I think they were made in a 1.3x version and a 2x version.
They don't garner much interest these days, but they were nice and light (didn't mess up the balance too much) and generally stayed together under recoil.

Looks like fun!
Good deal, too!

I'm sure that someone had a lot of fun building and shooting that old Colt about 60 years ago. He was probably the envy of his peers at the range when he brought that Colt out and showed them what a .357 could do!

"Shooter grade" New Service revolvers, and surplus M1917's, could be had for $30 or less back in the 1960's. A new barrel and cylinder for about $20, and a gunsmith happy to have a half-day of work for $10 or $15 (or the old boy might have just read about how to rebarrel, made up his own frame wrench from scrap lumber, and did the work himself). So probably about $50 to $70 would have covered it (nothing to sneeze about, back when many families were getting by on one paycheck of about that amount per week). The scope is what really put it over the top! That easily pushed the project up into the range of a house payment!

I'm sure that the original owner was proud of that revolver and enjoyed it a lot. I hope you will also.

You’re right, Lobo. We’ve all read Skeeter Skelton write about how hard it was to find aS&W pre Model 27 back then. If someone wanted a .357 they did have to build their own sometimes. The scope was a turn off for me but I’m fascinated with it and will shoot it that way First, of course. If the scope is currently zeroed would I mess that up by carefully removing it and the mounts?

Still have my Dad's 1938/39 6 inch Colt New Service in .357...... King Sights and action job........ even after the King work and shipping.... Dad said it was $5-10 less than an Smith RM.

His duty gun as a motorcycle officer pre-war and a Sgt and Lt through the 60s and his centerfire target pistol w/ .38s while on the Department Pistol team in the 50s and 60s.

Way to big for me......hate the grips........

I have a Bushnell Magnum Phantom scope and it´s 2,5 X.
The one shown by the OP sure doesn´t look like a Phantom.
Regards, Ray

Nice old Colt at a fair price. Make sure we get a range report, will be interesting. Just bought a Colt Officer model match in .38 and made in 1926, fun to shoot. Larry

SWEET !
Brings back a lot of good memories of how we did it "back in the day".
That rig was just the ticket for whitetail hunting !

Range report is a must !
Gary