A Friendly Colt Appreciation Thread

[kwill1911]

My carry gun.

Regards,
Kevin Williams

[rhmc24]

Another of my major Colt projects. Ca. 1975 I had decided to learn to engrave so I could
avoid out-sourcing engraving jobs that were part of antique guns, mostly pre-perc flint &
wheellock pistols I restored for clients. I bought from Brownells the book of firearm
engraving by James B. Meeks, then newly published. I slavishly studied it & tried to master
its well explained & illustrated techniques. I had book of Nimschke's pattern which I
practiced on. Feeling I had them in hand I decided to engrave a gun. I had this 1860 Colt
that someone had started a restoration with the cylinder re-rolled. It is my first gun
engraving project.





I heat blued it in the kitchen oven & distressed it some to make it look more believable.
The grips I bought at a gun show, like new, probably Colt spares, for $20. Got them home
& learned why so cheap. They had shrunk about 1/16" too narrow to accept the trigger
guard. I saturated paper towel & stuffed it in the slot. Over night swelling made them fit.

[g27racing]

Last night I posted all of my D-Frame Colts. Here are the pythons, by barrel length: I have spared you from the box pic. I have original boxes for 11 of these.

[inspcalahan]

Some seriously amazing pieces in this thread! It was a nice mental break before heading out the door for work! No time to pull the ponies out for pictures, but I did have this one handy....

[bmcgilvray]

Some more .41 Long Colt promotion. It's really a pretty neato and effective cartridge not to have any real "reason to be" these days.

A 1925 vintage 4-inch blue Army Special in .41 Long Colt. The Army Special was overwhelmingly turned out chambered for the .38 Special and .41 Long Colt chambered versions are somewhat uncommonly seen.







This internet site target was prescribed in a Colt Forum match challenge requiring the use of any Colt Army Special or Official Police revolver and shooting the apple on the target target at 10 yards and the smiley face at 25 yards.

The .41 Long Colt isn't quite such a close range-only proposition. On one occasion, when some factory loads were being chronographed and the 100-yard range at the local gun club was unoccupied, I used a rocky outcropping as an aiming reference for firing over the screens, a ridge of white chalk 24 inches long that only stuck up a few inches out of the ground at about 85 yards from the bench rest I was using as a chronograph table. It was easy to register hits on the rock, sending up gratifying spurts of white dust at that distance. For those concerned about the practice of shooting at rocks on a firing range, our range is in a remote location with a large hill with a cut out of it for the target points. No chance of ricochets yielding an uncontrolled bullet here.

The Army Special is the gun that gave rise to the expression: Colt's ".41 frame." Built on Colt's E -frame, it's the same size as what later became the I-Frame 3 5 7 and Python models which means it's dimensionally similar to Smith & Wesson's L-Frame.

Since the Python was an outgrowth of what was originally the ".41 Frame" I've always thought it would have been great to have a .41 Long Colt chambered Python. Maybe have Colt Custom shop produce a one-off, hah! Or think of the possibilities of a 5-shot .41 Long Colt Detective Special! Might not be able to squeeze 5 rounds of .41 Long Colt within the diameter of a Detective Special cylinder so would have to do a 5-shot Smith & Wesson K-Frame snub in .41 Long Colt.

Crazy stuff, pondered while handloading .41 Long Colt at the bench. The cartridge'll do that to you.

Handloading for the .41 Long Colt. Initially, I thought I could perhaps "cheat" and shoehorn some .40 S&W cast bullets into the cases in order to inexpensively supplement the proper hollow base or heel bullet designs appropriate to the .41 Long Colt but no dice on that notion. Hollow-base 200 grain .41 Long Colt bullet shown with cast lead 170 grain .40 S&W bullets.

[Toyman]

A Colt New Service Target 45 Colt not 45 ACP shipped in 1921




A Colt New Service .38 special serial number 353XXX shipped to Texas Department of Public Safety in 1943. Has rack number 295 on the butt


t

[rhmc24]

New Service Colts, my DIY conversions into snubs. All came to me in badly distressed
condition, one made up from parts, all saved from being parted out ----


Detail clockwise,.45 Colt ca. 1921 rework barrel replace hammer & trigger; .44-40 ca. 1904,
a piece of .44 Mag barrel; .45ACP 1917 rework barrel & tune innards; .45 Colt, 1917 frame,
1909 cylinder, 1880s SAA RAC barrel, misc innards ---

[824tsv]

1902 Sporting .38ACP
My photo skills are sure lacking, but the fire blue is still vivid on the small parts including the trigger.

[824tsv]

A couple of Colt Model M pistols

1903 Pocket Hammerless .32





1908 Pocket Hammerless .380

[g27racing]

The King Cobras:
EDT in both 4&6"
Enhanced in 4"
Snubby
Blued and BSTS

[g27racing]

Gen 2 SAA's
The non-boxed guns are both 45LC
Stagecoach in 357
Black box is 38spl.

[g27racing]

Some more small frame guns:
SF-VI in both 2" and 4"
DSii in both 2" and 3"
Magnum Carry

For the semi auto:
Gold Cup in 38spl
1944 US property 1911

[DRYHEAT]

A better photo of the Fighting Colts.

[boykinlp]

Originally Posted by g27racing

Last night I posted all of my D-Frame Colts. Here are the pythons, by barrel length: I have spared you from the box pic. I have original boxes for 11 of these.

Looks like you have quite the Python collection! But............seems like there are some 3 inchers missing!

Probably wouldn't cost you but a buck or two to finish it out!

[BearBio]

I too admit to a love affair with the old 41 Colt. I have 5: 2 Bisleys, an SSA, an Army Special and a Thunderer. My favorite shooters after the 45 Colt. Next in line is the old 38-40 WCF.

[greenmachine]

Here's my SA Colts. A 7 1/2" .45 Colt SAA and a 7 1/2" NFSSA .44 Special.
I need to get some pictures taken of the Pythons. They're nice too.

[BRush]

Some more Colt semi-auto pistols.

A Model 1902 Military.




A Model 1905.





A Government Model from 1913.





A Government Model from 1957 accuratized for Bulls Eye.





Series 80 GCNM and Series 80 GCT.

[g27racing]

Originally Posted by boykinlp

Looks like you have quite the Python collection! But............seems like there are some 3 inchers missing!

Probably wouldn't cost you but a buck or two to finish it out!

I would love to fill in the holes, but I don't think I am ready to afford those guns yet. I enjoy collecting but don't quite have that kind of discretionary funds.

[turnerriver]

Ah, Colts!
.32 OM Heavy barrel with Roper front sight, target hammer possibly Roper as well and Sanderson grips. I shot it just this last Saturday. The Heiser shoulder holster is maker etched "32 OM".


.22 Trooper

Colt BB Government Model with a factory letter stating it was made up from parts on hand-"we...found that we could assemble one more..."

.22 Officers Model.

Long flute 1860 Army with shoulder stock.

.357 model with Colt model C16 shoulder holster.

5" Official Police revolvers.

Regards,
turnerriver

[Art Doc]

[WC145]

[rhmc24]

Colt 1872 Open Top ---
Colt's first big bore cartridge revolver that was not a conversion. Altho open top & held together with a wedge, it was a revolver redesigned for cartridges. It has a new barrel with integral rear sight, new frame without the conversion ring & cylinder with straight sides. Its innards are the same as the 1860 Army & '51 Navy. It was made with both the Army grip & the Navy grip. The latter more scarce as seen on my example ----

Cal .44RF --

[Richard Simmons]

So many beautiful Colts. Mine aren't particularly rare or anything but I love'em all the same.

Trooper MKIII





Python



Marshal





A pair of NIB Agents.

[WoodSmith]

Colt .22 LR Conversion Unit on a pre series 70 NM receiver.

[inspcalahan]

Had a few hours before work today and figured it was a good time to wipe some of the herd down - also figured I'd finally send away for letters on a few of them...good excuse to post a pic.

[oneflycowboy]

I have 2 LE6920's and 1 LE6940

[Harkrader]

Accumulated over the years.
Anacondas small.jpgPythons.jpg

[JohnRippert]

My only Colt, and the very first centerfire handgun I bought.

[Blind Boy]

It's a refinished Bisley in .45 Colt. It shoots great, and now I like the caliber.

[MarkAlt]

Just picked up the Colt Talo Royal Stainless. It's a beauty, but like trying to photograph a mirror! Wanted a BS or nickel 1911 for a long time.

Got very lucky with a low, single digit serial on the 250 gun run.

[bigl1911]

Sorry Rick my good friend I am a little late on this one:
1900 sight safety

Woodsman Match Target Nickel

1908

1902 Military

1908 General Officers Issued

Commandos

Python Special Edition Wyoming Fish and Game

1911A1 Issued USS Lungren

Vest Pocket

1903 Hammered

1905

National Match prewar "S" safety

[LimaCharlie]

[eb07]

My Colt

1970 Cobra

[LedFowl]

Official Police, made 1966.

[SAFireman]

Colt in 380



Colt Commander Lightweight - First Year production



Colt Delta Elite National Match 10mm (now sold)



Colt Commercial c1919



Colt Combat Commander with Ed Brown bob-job

[SHOOTER13]

Awesome thread !!

[old bear]

Colt made some quality handguns in its' day. The main reason I first turned to Smith and Wesson revolvers, over Colt, was simple. Colt's target grips were to big for my hand and their magna/service grips were to small. Nor did I like the looks of the unsupported ejector rod on many of the Colt revolvers.

[oldman10mm]

picked this up today at Fin Feather Fur in Middleburg Heights Ohio. Sitting in their used gun case area,unusual to see a Python at a LGS. Couldn't pass it up.

[ladder13]

I have a few, not nearly enough though.

[Faulkner]

A couple of Model M pocket pistols

[Thuer]

Just all my single action Colt revolvers.

[mic214]

My collection of Colts. From the left, Diamondback, PP converted to a 3" Detective Special, Diamondback and finally, a Python:

[policerevolvercollector]

Very nice thread!

Here are a some of my more unusual ones:

A Colt Metropolitan .38 Special from the University of Texas PD at Austin:



Here's Border Patrol .357 in a scarce matte nickel finish that was issued by the Department of Public Safety in Alabama:



A Trooper in .38 Special ,not the typical .357, from Boise ID PD that was converted for training use at the Idaho state police academy:



An Officer's Model Target .38 Special from 1932 that was 1 of 6 used by the NYPD Pistol Team:



Best,
Charles

[OLDSTER]

S&W and Colt ? Need say any more? Here are my two favorite iconic old "shooters"

[CLASSIC12]

1991 Delta Elite

[Hunter Keith]

My only Colt revolver. 1978 Mfg.

[CLASSIC12]

My 1943 Colt 1911 A1, happily retired in Switzerland after being stationed in Germany







And with a S&W Victory, both 1943, both G.H.D. stamped

[SC_Mike]

My only Colt, a Frontier Scout in .22 Mag. Used to belong to my father circa 1965. First handgun I ever shot.

[CLASSIC12]

1973 Diamondback





1996 Python





Together

[BRush]

I see this thread has come back to life so I will add a couple Of 44's from the 1880's.