Colt OMM in .22WMR/ and It's Brother

[glenncal1]

Well I was foolishly looking at the Cabelas gun library and ran across a listing for a Colt Officer's Model Match in .22 WMR. A little research on the Colt forum shows that only about 850 of these were made in the 1959/1960 time frame. The price while not a deal was reasonable and they ship the gun to your local store for free. Should have it early this week and will post photos when I get it. I will have to do a side by side with my 6" model 48 at the range.

P.S. Ran into this .22LR OMM so I decided to add it with it's brother in .22 WMR.

 

[AJ]

Would be an interesting item.

 

[glenncal1]

New photos

 

[BlackAgnes]

My wife gave me this ,22 Magnum OMM for a wedding present 49 years ago. Both are keepers!

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

My wife gave me this ,22 Magnum OMM for a wedding present 49 years ago. Both are keepers!

Nice aftermarket grips.

 

[glenncal1]

Finally picked up the .22WMR gun. Anybody recognize the grips?

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

Interesting variation of a much underappreciated revolver IMHO.
When Colt shifted to the Mark III action they made a small run of Officer's Model Matches Mark IIIs. Saw one years ago.

 

[iPac]

Finally picked up the .22WMR gun. Anybody recognize the grips?

They look like genuine Colt targets. Someone may have sanded the checkering off of them.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

Yes…genuine Colt…and someone did a nice job of sanding them.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

Interesting variation of a much underappreciated revolver IMHO.
When Colt shifted to the Mark III action they made a small run of Officer's Model Matches Mark IIIs. Saw one years ago.

Less than 500 were made…numbers vary but less than 500. Many sources quote 496 but Colt says 450 were produced. All but 150 were exported. I have one that appears to be NIB. I received a Colt Archives letter on it and it was originally shipped to a US Navy nuclear ballistic missile submarine…the USS Von Steuben. It was addressed to the boat’s medical officer.

 

[6string]

Just asking because I don’t know:
Would that OMM have shipped with gold medallion grips or silver?

I do know that gold was customary for Pythons while silver medallion grips were used on Troopers, Lawman, etc…

 

[dsf]

Just asking because I don’t know:
Would that OMM have shipped with gold medallion grips or silver?

I do know that gold was customary for Pythons while silver medallion grips were used on Troopers, Lawman, etc…

Silver for the OM Trooper, 357 and OMM.

If the grips are removed and the sideplate screw head under the grip is flat it's an indication the gun came with target stocks. If flat that indicates service stocks. At which point one checks the foremost screw to check they weren't switched out at some point.

With the "Python style" hammer spur I'm guessing the gun came with target types, although not the ones on it now.

 

[AJ]

They look like genuine Colt targets. Someone may have sanded the checkering off of them.

Yes…genuine Colt…and someone did a nice job of sanding them.

Ruined them from a collectors standpoint.

 

[BlackAgnes]

On the subject of proper grips for this particular model, discussions on the Colt Forum over the years has indicated that some of these were shipped with the "smiley" half-checkered grips, and some (like mine) were shipped with full-checkered grips. Also, both gold and silver-colored medallions have been noted as originally supplied, primarily on the full-checkered grips.