Quote:
Originally Posted by Fishslayer
My LGS has a lend/lease on consignment. It has some Brit marks on it. The .455 (something) has been partially erased and .45AR marked for caliber.
I was tempted. The finish is pretty darn posh for a .mil weapon. Lockup is rock solid. What put me off was the timing. The cylinder doesn't lock until the hammer is all the way cocked. Is this normal for Colt?
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The finish is pretty darn posh because it was made to Colt's commercial standards and it WAS NOT a Lend Lease gun. Lend-Lease was a WW II project. Some were sold to Britain for general issue, but many were privately purchased by officers. I've seen them with names and regiments marked on them. S&W's equivalent Triple Lock and MK II .455's also had commercial finishes.
The Colt timing is as you and Joni Lynn described. But it wears sooner than the systems used by Ruger and S&W, and a famous pistolsmith once told a friend of mine that he could hand tune a Python, and it'd be out of time again within as soon as 500 shots! Most aren't that bad, but it makes the point.
The larger ones are said to hold their timing longer than the small ones, like the Detective Special.
The system is flawed, and Colt should have fixed it far sooner than they did, with the MK III, in 1969.
Today, many gunsmiths won't/can't even tune older Colts, and if they do, it costs real money. If you want a shooter, get a Ruger or S&W.
But those old Colts were beautifully made, and otherwise pretty rugged. I've owned some and liked them. I just couldn't handle the timing issue, and many need to have the barrels turned slightly to align the sights. The late Col. Chas. Askins told me that when he ordered Colts for the USBP in the late 1930's, he had to re-sight almost all, and they were New Service .38 Specials.
I asked why he didn't just order M&P's, which would also be lighter to carry. He said that the Colt reps were nice guys, and those from S&W were snobby elitists, and he didn't want them to get the business.
I forgot to ask why he didn't specify Official Police .38's, but he may have wanted to use existing holsters, made for the M-1917, which was the prior Border Patrol issue gun. And he was aware that many times, the revolver was used as a club. The NS made a better club.
Bill Jordan later made the point that it was often better legally to shoot a man than to pistol whip him. A nightstick or lead-loaded "slapper" is a better club and using one won't damage the revolver!