Colt Officers Model Match

DocB · #1 06-17-2017, 01:13 PM

Still not a Colt expert, but these days will buy about anything that looks like a real gun. . .especially a gun that I don't have in my collection. Made in 1967. Grips have been replaced with after market ones. Otherwise all original with no rust. The bluing is thinning in a lot of places. Maybe 85%. Super tight and in time. It's the post-war one. Not the Target, but the Match. 1953-1968, or so I've read. One of the last ones made before they dropped this frame size except for the Python. It is a big gun, and I've never seen one out for sale. How many did they make post war? Couldn't have been many, or I would have seen them out for sale in all my many years of collecting. Had to pay $600. Who knows. There was a baby Glock 43 out for $500 nearby. Figured it had to be worth more than the Glock.

JohnRippert · #2 06-17-2017, 02:08 PM

I picked up one from late 1965 a couple months back in slightly better condition that is wearing stocks from a earlier model Target. I did pay $800 OTD for mine. Good find on yours. I had never seen one in person before either. Just got lucky when I stepped into one of my out of town stops. Maybe someday I will find the proper 5th Issue stocks for mine.

rockquarry · #3 06-17-2017, 02:22 PM

Accurate production figures on Colts are not easy to find, but the Officers Model Match is far from rare in either .22 LR or .38 Special. These guns will generally shoot at least as well as any Smith & Wesson.

I don't know what a baby Glock is, but certainly it lacks the elegance of a Colt target revolver.

DocB · #4 06-17-2017, 03:24 PM

Here's what it might have been wearing back in the day. A pair of Herrett Target Stocks that somebody dated 1960 on the inside. Maybe they won a match that year. A bit much for my taste, but they do seem the handle good.

rockquarry · #5 06-17-2017, 03:35 PM

I'm not an expert on anything, nor am I a collector. However, in slower times, when shooter's used revolvers in competition and fired them with one hand, the Colts target models were quite popular.

I've been shooting Officer's Model Match guns in .22LR and .38 Special for a long time, though never competitively. These are big revolvers that are a bit easier to shoot well than K-22s or K-38s, at least in my experience.

Another Colt that's a great shooter and one to be on the lookout for is the Trooper in .22 LR. These were only made from about '54 to '61, though some erroneously claim the .22s were made into the late '60s. Last I checked, and that wasn't recently, these were "sleepers" and not really commanding top dollar. I can't verify the figure, but reportedly, there were only about two thousand made. Excellent shooters. Of course the .38 Special version is a good one, too, but these are more common.

Walter Rego · #6 06-17-2017, 09:01 PM

Good score DocB. I managed to find both of these Colt OMM's at SouCal gunshows over the last several years. They were (and are) finely built revolvers.

DWalt · #7 06-17-2017, 09:04 PM

The last OMM I bought, I paid $700 for. This was about three years ago. It was earlier (ca. 1960) and has the original full checkered Gen I target grips on it. And that's why I bought it. Today, those grips alone would likely bring at least $400. They look a lot better than the picture shows, all checkering is very sharp, and no damage at all. They are now residing in my gun grip goodie box where they will not be disturbed. I have Pachmayrs on it now.

jsfricks · #8 06-17-2017, 10:40 PM

A Glock 43 for $500! That's highway robbery!

DocB · #9 06-18-2017, 08:43 AM

Yeah, the Glock; and look at what you get. . .a $100 gun for the price of a "real" gun. I've got a pair of service stocks on the way for this Colt. Nice period ones for $80. They did ship with the service stocks, as did the Python. Just not that often. Not about to dump $300 into a pair of targets. Can live without those. These guns shared serial numbers with a bunch of other Colts. Just like many Smiths. It's hard to even estimate how many were produced. All the info and threads I've found on the internet indicate that very few were produced each year after 1953. A much rarer gun than the Python. A huge number of the SN's were eaten up by the Python. Very few by the Officers Model. These guns are real "sleepers" that should probably be bought now. . .if and when you ever see one for sale.

italiansport · #10 06-18-2017, 02:47 PM

I am reluctantly "liking" the above thread as I have been quietly buying these "obsolete" Colt revolvers for years. Hand finished, hand assembled and hand tuned; We'll never see the likes of them offered again at a price most of us can afford to pay.
Jim

DWalt · #11 06-18-2017, 04:11 PM

" They did ship with the service stocks, as did the Python. "
The only Python which shipped with "service" grips (non-Target) as standard equipment was the 2" barreled version. Not to say that their owners couldn't have replaced target grips with "service" checkered wood grips. The Python's predecessor, the 3-5-7, could be ordered with either grip style and also with wide spur target hammers. I don't remember ever seeing any OMMs (other than the earliest ones with Coltwood grips, pre-1954) having anything other than target grips and wide-spur hammers.

cmansguns · #12 06-18-2017, 05:20 PM

Hello Forum;

Doc B you did very, very good snagging that Colt for $600. According to Rick Sapp, Standard Catalog of Colt Firearms (mine is 2006 printing) the OMM's were made 1953 until discontinued in 1970. There were five (5) "issues" during those years and the two I had were both fifth and final issue. The .22 was 1969, and the 38 was 1962. Both had the checkered walnut target stocks with medallions and wide spur hammer as all were shipped with.

I have pretty much left Colt for Smith & Wesson (better value for the money, more fun collecting AND shooting) but I can tell you both the 22 OMM and the 38 OMM both left my safe for larger than $1,000 and that was some years ago. The 22 was in 98% with box and docs, the 38 maybe 85-90% no box, no docs. Both were terrific shooters and as others say...real craftsmen, real hand tuning, but out-of-sight money wise these days.

I used to "cringe" when heading for the range with the 38 OMM, and more and more said to myself, "you enjoy the Model 10, you enjoy the Model 15-3, and your getting to like the 14-3 with the 8-3/8" bbl. so quit worrying about the prancing pony and sell it.

BlackAgnes · #13 06-18-2017, 06:50 PM

Here's mine in .22 Magnum. Wedding present from my wife, just 42 years ago!

SW_TopBreak · #14 06-18-2017, 07:13 PM

Nice looking Officer's Models guys! I only have one in my collection. First year OMM (1953) with some rare features. Also the Colt "dual tone" finish from the early/mid 1950's is one of my favorite finishes on a firearm. This one is wearing Sanderson stocks, but these guns should have come with checkered target stocks with Colt medallion from the factory.

MCorps0311 · #15 06-18-2017, 09:09 PM

Looks in very good condition.

Andyd · #16 06-18-2017, 11:48 PM

After the military I learnt pistolcraft with a club-owned Colt OMM in .22 l.r. and a few years ago I bought an OMM in a sentimental moment, mine is made in 1961. I prefer my 1952 vintage S&W K-22 over the OMM, especially in DA.

Here are my ugly ducklings

DocB · #17 06-19-2017, 04:17 PM

Still working on it. Got grips from the same year with a Tyler T. Don't have the target grips and not going to spend that much. I will find some for cheap. . .always do. New screws. Correct box, paper work, and SAT for the year 1967-1968. I've still got to do some detailing just like an old car. I still might find a pair of target grips among all my boxes of stuff.

Kinman · #18 06-19-2017, 06:35 PM

One of my major sellers remorse stories regards letting go of a Colt Officers Match .38 that had received the full King treatment, probably the sweetest shooting .38 I have ever owned including a very nice SAO .38 Masterpiece which didn't quite edge out the Colt. The Colt had been heavily worked on and was beautiful, I still prefer a Masterpiece all in all but it was a delight to shoot, ever bit as nice as any Python in single action mode. I traded it back to the guy I bought it from for a lousy Colt Trooper just because I had to have a .357, the warning bells and whistles should have gone off when he said he would be willing to trade straight across, "throw in a box of shells?" I said...."Sure kid, here ya go." Six months later I take a buddy into the guys shop and what do I see but my old Colt with a price tag of $450..."Hey Ed, whats the story on this old Colt I traded ya?" "Kid you probably didn't know it but King died." Live and Learn, the story of my life.