My wife's uncle Mike gave me this gun yesterday. He thought that I might appreciate it. He was right. I love it.

The 1962 Colt Trooper .357 originally belonged to my wife's great uncle, William Strader of the West Virginia State Police from 1951 through the early '70s. He carried this on duty and also later when as the second captain of the West Virginia University Department of Public Safety (police) in Morgantown, WV. I went to WVU in the 1990s. This might be the same revolver carried in the photo below, not sure.

Sometime thereafter, he traded the revolver to his brother / my wife's grandfather, Walter Strader, who had retired from the US Army after years of distinguished service and returned home to Buckhannon, WV. Walt carried this gun on his post-retirement gig as a security guard at West Virginia Wesleyan College. I never met William but had the pleasure of knowing Walt for nearly 20 years before he died in 2014.

Everything about this gun is cool. It was carried and used by two legitimate old-school badasses. Typical LEO gun bluing wear with freckling in the backstrap from exposure to rain or use as a handrest. You can see clearly on the right side, between the grip and cylinder, where a finger rested often enough to create a shiny spot with pitting. Left top grip panel is cut down, probably to clear a speed loader. Mechanically this is 100%. It has an excellent trigger. This era Trooper shares internals with the Colt Python. A permanent resident in my collection. Will shoot it a time or two.

Here's an article from 1964 or 1965 about the Strader brothers.

Great gun with a family history, enjoy!

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Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

that revolver has class!...dont hold back from shooting it....they are fun

Outstanding!

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Sure you did

That is a real beaut.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

You always hear, "buy the gun, not the story" but this story makes this gun priceless! What a wonderful legacy piece to own. Thank you for sharing both the gun and the story.

Very nice! Great family history! I like the trigger shoe.

GREAT history...

The stocks on that gun come from 50s era TROOPER, COLT .357 or Python... You can tell that the gun did originally come with Target stocks because it has a Target hammer...for a $5.00 upgrade one got the stocks and hammer. Colt didn't have a Target trigger option.

Another way to tell if the gun came from the factory with Target stocks is remove the stocks and look at the upper sideplate screw...if it has a round head it came with Service stocks...if flat, Target.

The Target stocks on your gun were the fully checkered style that were on Colt target guns from about 1950 to 1957. Then a second style from 57 to about 1961 when the TROOPER (which was a .38 Special and .22 LR) was combined with the COLT .357 to make the TROOPER .357 and .38 Special. The .22 was dropped... The last style stayed till 1969 when the MKIII was introduced.

Have a great time shooting yours... I have a 1968 .357 and a 1954 .22 and they are great shooters...

...hope I didn't bore you...

Bob

Bob,

Bore me...heck no. That's great information. Thanks. I just shared your post with Mike', who's sitting here next to me. He said that it definitely would have been William who swapped out the grips.

There is nothing more appealing to my eyes than a well used gun. Thanks for taking the time to show us this Colt and tell of its history served with some mighty fine men.

Very cool and interesting gun and story.

Thank you for sharing it.

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BTDT, Got The T-Shirt

...I actually did the same thing... Took the original Target Stocks off the .357 and replaced it with a set of 50s vintage stocks to match the stocks on the .22 I have. The .22 didn't have Target stocks from the factory nor the hammer...

Here is picture of the stocks that came on it...Last picture is the .22 before it got Target stocks. Notice the difference in the hammers...

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If those Colt medallions are gold, that set of grips came off a Python...if silver a Trooper, Colt .357 or Officers Model Match...

They appear gold. Not sure if time or grime has altered the color. They look gold now. SuperMan also suggested that the grips may have come from a Python. Interesting.

Don't worry about minutia over stocks. These older Troopers are great shooters regardless of the chambering. They'll usually do at least as well as any S&W and I think that's pretty high praise.

I had one of those early Trooper .357's. Wish I kept it.......Good gun.

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Thanks so much for sharing the gun and the story!! Both are heartwarming!!

And I would t be afraid of shooting the gun...I’ll bet it’s been shot a lot, and shooting it won’t hurt it a bit!

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

I love V-spring Colts. I've got a bunch of 'em and they are all great shooters.

Parts are still pretty readily available. Hopefully you shoot it a lot!

Absolutely. Just took it to the range this afternoon but could not get any time on the lane. Some sort of police qualification going on. Will try tomorrow.


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That is really cool! What an awesome gun to have! I'm glad that it ended up with someone that obviously appreciates the gun and the history.

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'Merica!

I would only shoot .38 Specials through the revolver. Why beat the old girl up with .357 Magnums to punch paper?

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USMC 69-93 Combat Pistol Inst.

Just outstanding! You are fortunate.

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No baby we aint

The reason he probably traded grips was the 50s vintage full checkered one have a better feel than the later raised cherckering grips... The full checkered ones also go for a lot more money...

I have a " 68 " model Colt Trooper in 357 . It belonged to a full time boy scouter as an adult . It came with a set of target grips , gold medallions . He had his name engraved , on the right side ( very well done ) . If he ever shot it I would be surprised as it showed no signs of use . I have considered " retiring " those target grips for a set of service grips . Don't be afraid to shoot 357 ammo . I have 2 V-spring colts . My other is a " like new " Colt Police Positive Special in 38 special , 4" barrel . It was not reblued , just didn't see any useage . It came with correct grips . Regards Paul

I like it and the family connection is wonderful. Given where the gun has been and its service history, I'll bet it could benefit from a detail strip and thorough cleaning and lube with a modern gun lubricant. It will probably be even smoother.

A 1962 Trooper with target hammer spur would have come with the second style target grips, not the fully checkered target stocks made from 1960 to 1973. The 2nd issue target stocks were checkered about up to the medallion lower half on the left side and lower on the right. Silver medallion. The fully checkered gold medallion was used on the Python about 1954 to 1960.

I suppose there's a chance the 4" version came with small service stocks. "Never say never" applies to Colt too. In either case the fully checkered would probably be considered an upgrade from whatever was on there. I doubt that in 1964 or so anyone would have figured those grips, Trooper or Python, would be selling for $250.00 to $400.00 (or more) nowadays. Was well into the late 1970's when we were tossing them into the "store parts bin" marked "$2.50 for Any Item" and replacing them with Pachmayr rubber.

Occurs to me this is the kind of gun we'd see starting a "just bought this, should I re-blue it?" thread. Now knowing the story a "heck NO!!" would be the answer. Maybe something to think about when we read those
posts.

Very cool gun and story from your wife's family. I noticed the reference about Beaver Falls, PA right away. I grew up across the Beaver River from BF in New Brighton. Used to be nice area, both towns.
Very nice gun.

Extremely cool gun & history, congrats Ryan.

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Sam
S&WHF 333 S&WCA 2198

I forgot to mention that the grips appear to have a lanyard ring hole. The revolver has no lanyard ring.

A credible poster on the Coltforum, in response to a similar example 11 years ago, wrote that Colt made to "regular production" Pythons with lanyards so the hole is either an owner modification or something from the Custom Shop. I have no idea either way. Does anybody have any information about this issue? The hole may have some other purpose of which I am unaware.





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