Help with Colt Detective serial number

Irn-Bru · May 31, 2015

Maybe be a bit of a long shot and I know it's not a Smith, but wondered if anyone could tell me what year or generation this Colt revolver is. Also a price range would be helpful as I'm thinking about buying it. Condition is about 99% with no box or papers. Grips are rubber Colt grips and it's a .38 special with a 2 inch barrel.
SN# 8138RD

Dick Nissen · May 31, 2015

Colt Firearm Serial Number Lookup - Year of Manufacture

Irn-Bru · May 31, 2015

Dick Nissen said:
Colt Firearm Serial Number Lookup - Year of Manufacture

Thanks Dick. I did try that but for some reason the database doesn't work. Thought I may have the wrong serial number, but it didn't work for any of my rifles either. Only other way it seems is to phone them, and they charge $25 for this service.

Davinman · May 31, 2015

well, by dropping the D from the end of the serial number. it comes up as a 1977 detective special so 3rd gen. i hope that might be of some help, sounds like a nice gun. Shhh... im a colt guy hideing amongst all these smithy's lmao. but im not prejudice, i own my share of smiths too.

Irn-Bru · Jun 1, 2015

Davinman said:
well, by dropping the D from the end of the serial number. it comes up as a 1977 detective special so 3rd gen. i hope that might be of some help, sounds like a nice gun. Shhh... im a colt guy hideing amongst all these smithy's lmao. but im not prejudice, i own my share of smiths too.

Hey appreciate the help finding out the year. Never even thought to drop the letters. I handled it earlier and it's very nice wheel gun.

Davinman · Jun 1, 2015

your welcome, you should put up a pic of it so we all can envy it, gotta love those colt snubbies. heres some of mine

Irn-Bru · Jun 1, 2015

It's on layaway at the moment. Should have it in a week or two. Paid six bills for it which may have been a bit high, but it's a very nice looking gun. Blued and in very nice shape. That's two very sharp looking Colts.

Davinman · Jun 1, 2015

thank you very much. 6 bills is a good deal, your looking at 700 - 900 around here for a nice 3rd gen

Dennis The B · Jun 1, 2015

Irn-Bru said:
Thanks Dick. I did try that but for some reason the database doesn't work. Thought I may have the wrong serial number, but it didn't work for any of my rifles either. Only other way it seems is to phone them, and they charge $25 for this service.

Are you sure about this? I've called the Customer Service folks a number of times, and they've always provided the ship date when I asked for it. The only thing they've charged for is a letter.

The serial number ranges in the mid-1970's was either an alpha character followed by 5 numbers (AXXXXX), or 5 numbers and an alpha (XXXXXA).

The 4-digit, two alpha character serial numbers didn't come about until the 1990's. The later models also had Colt logo Pachmayrs.

robertrwalsh · Jun 1, 2015

I am confident you will like the gun. I carried one for many years and it is still on the list of weapons I qualify with regularly. I had a hammer shroud put on mine to make pocket carry smoother. I own to others as well, a very early .38 special and a mid-60s .32 long.

Irn-Bru · Jun 1, 2015

Dennis The B said:
Are you sure about this? I've called the Customer Service folks a number of times, and they've always provided the ship date when I asked for it. The only thing they've charged for is a letter.

The serial number ranges in the mid-1970's was either an alpha characterf followed by 5 numbers (AXXXXX), or 5 numbers and an alpha (XXXXXA).

The 4-digit, two alpha character serial numbers didn't come about until the 1990's. The later models also had Colt logo Pachmayrs.

I'm not 100% sure they charged for the phone call. I just briefly looked over there website which had an extensive list of what they charge for letters and other services. The one I put on layaway has the Colt logo Pachmayrs.

BLUEDOT37 · Jun 2, 2015

Colt Detective Special serial#

well, by dropping the D from the end of the serial number. it comes up as a 1977 detective special so 3rd gen.

I bought my DS new in 1977 so I checked the SN# in their database & it checked good. My SN# is "028**M". If I enter the whole six digits it says it's a DS made in 1976. If I enter just the "28**M" it also comes back with the same info. So it seems the lack of the leading "zero" can make your SN# "8138RD" look like an earlier model by dropping the "D".

From your description, & what Dennis The B said, it seems yours is likely a much later year model, even though it's not found in their database. You might just call Colt to see what you can get from them on it.

.

Irn-Bru · Nov 1, 2015

Turned out to be 1994 production. Thanks for all the help on this one.

DWalt · Nov 2, 2015

$600 is pretty good. The last really nice one I saw was much like yours, but essentially NIB. Seller wanted $895 for it, and I thought it to be a fair price. I bought a very nice second variation DS (1960) a couple of months ago for $540, and I thought it was fairly priced.

bronco45 · Nov 6, 2015

Nice DS my favorite snubby. Own lots of snubbies but the Colt DS 3rd Gen. is my favorite. Shoot standard pressure loads in it, then the old FBI SWCHP for social work.

Help with Colt Detective serial number

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