Colt Trooper help please!

hittman77

hittman77

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Local guy wants to show me and maybe sell his Colt Trooper III, 6 inch, 357 Magnum, blued, that's 98% condition. Original excellent stocks, no box or other goodies.

What prices do these command in your area? Been years since I've seen one for sale.

Thanks.

EDIT to add: It's blued in case they made these in stainless or nickel too!
 
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I do not have a large number of gun stores and pawn shops around me that get in a lot of nice used pistols. That means I haven't seen one for a long time either. The last one I saw, I bought, and was happy to do so.

My guess for "around these parts" is that $750-800 would be a reasonably good deal. I haven't searched completed auctions on that well known on-line option, but that is where I usually start to see what is actually being paid for something as opposed to how much is being asked.

As with so many things that have gotten relatively uncommon in the gun stores, it is likely that someone has told the seller that it is a "rare" gun, and his expectations will be high.

Good luck, as my Trooper is a great pistol with which I would not part for less than $1000.
 
A MK III won't bring the same money as a .357 or earlier Trooper. In my mind, the gun you describe is worth about $600 and I'm not sure I'd pay that. Prices in Michigan tend to be lower than in other parts of the country. We have a number of out of State dealers who come to our better shows just to buy.
 
Asking prices here in overpriced CA. Are around a grand or more. But these guns cannot be shipped here like most others. Colt made them with a more economical action than the Python and other DAs but they didn't light the world on fire. I think prices are so high because they see what Python prices reached and think it applies to all Colts. In the real world I'd value one about the same as a S&W Model 19.
 
I don't know anything about money. :eek:

But over on the Colt Forum, the Mk III seems to gaining a following, just because they weren't produced as long, or in as great a quantity, as the real Colt's. :) Kidding, I'd love to have one.

Has the seller mentioned an asking price?
 
No mention of the money demands yet ...... also haven't seen it ...... time will tell. Thanks for the great info so far.
 
If you look at it and say to yourself "Super nice!" $700
If you look at it and say to yourself "A little bluing wear" $600
If you look at it and say to yourself "Looks old" $500

Assuming all three involve perfect mechanical condition.

Prices seem to be all over the place to some degree. Some go for big money, but generally not 6" blue .357's unless unfired with box & papers.

It's the rimfires and the nickel/electroless nickel ones that in perfect shape seem to go over $1000. I believe the scarcest model is the 8" electroless nickel in .22 Magnum.
 
Pawn guy here had a blue 4" at $950. He finally sold it but it took a long time and I think he was about $200 too high.
 
I bought this one two years ago for $625. Great shooter, no regrets at all. ;)

tmBErN8.jpg


Unfortunately, these days some people seem to think that any gun with Colt stamped on it is worth a fortune. I've seen common $500-600 guns priced at $2000 or more. :eek:
 
Prices on GB for Trooper MK III are high right now but many high priced have zero bids. I would say around $600 to $800 max.
 
My only MK-lll gun right now is a Colt Lawman - Same basic gun as the Trooper MK-lll only fixed sights and a shorter barrel.

My impressions? Very nice single action trigger. DA isn't bad, but its not the same feeling as a S&W, and I don't like it as much for DA work. Don't like the grip feel either, compared to a K or L Frame gun. It is very nicely polished and blued. Accurate. Has kept time fine, and has had no issues, but then it only gets shot infrequently. My opinion, these MK-lll's are nice revolvers as long as they fit your hand and you are comfortable with their DA trigger pulls. Maybe $600 guns, really clean, W/O accessories. From what I have read, the "sintered metal" parts used are not as strong as forged, or MIM for that matter, but are available if needed with a little interwebb searching.

Larry
 

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Prices are down somewhat, I just sold a mid 70's MKIII 6" for $700 in 98%+ with no box. They are regional in price.
 
Most blued 6" .357 Mag Colt Trooper MK III recently SOLD on GB have been between $550-$650. BB of gun values have it at $950 at 98%, $775 at 95% and $575 at 90%.
 
Mdclinks said:
Most blued 6" .357 Mag Colt Trooper MK III recently SOLD on GB have been between $550-$650. BB of gun values have it at $950 at 98%, $775 at 95% and $575 at 90%.
Click to expand...

That being said I think everyone has a different definition of the condition of firearms.
 
hittman77 said:
Oh my! That's a beauty. Love those short barrels.
Click to expand...

Me too, or so I thought. I bought the identical gun in 1976. Thought it was great until I tried to find a holster for it or a set of Pachs for its RB frame. Adios muchacho.

Kaaskop49
Shield #5103

P.S. My grail gun is sill the nickel 2" Lawman with the exposed ejector rod. Go figure...:rolleyes:
 
I find Colt's revolvers to be works of art. Just beautiful firearms, but like many works of art, collectors have driven up the prices.
 
They were made in Stainless and in nickel plated finish.

Prices for a pristine example in either 357, 22LR or 22Mag can be quite high especially with the orig box. You are in collector heaven at that point as it says Colt on the gun.

The revolver itself is OK but nothing really special IMO.
They are a somewhat heavy (not necessarily a bad thing), strong revolver that rarely goes out of time like the older SA/DA Colt Vspring action.
The MkIII uses all coil and wire torsion springs.
Some complaints about the Sintered Metal internal parts. That was an early version of the MIM process. It saved time and $$ in both mfg'r and required no fitting when assembling the revolver. That was the whole idea. Cheap and easy to build.
Some hammers and triggers broke and Colt and the MKIII took a lot of heat for that as they probably should have.
I haven't heard or seen one of the MkIII parts break in a long time now though. Maybe the weak ones have been weeded out.
The other thing that I've seen is that the trigger return spring breaks. It's a wire torsion spring and one arm of it snaps off. But from the owners reports it seems to be after multiple 10's of thousands of rounds.

They're only machines like anything else and things break. Springs are generally vendor supplied in the industry and bad batches can get in if QC doesn't do it's job.

I've replaced them with Wolff spring Paks and never had any other problems.

The guns were assembled in such a manner as to avoid having to hand fit anything on them. Time and $$ savings again.
I think Colt was learning from Ruger and others that in the era they were now in, high priced skilled labor to hand fit a complicated mechanism and keep them going was not the way to go. Plus those people needed to do that type of work were less and less available or willing to be trained to do so. Just like finishing and polishing work.
Nearly all the polishing on the MkIII was done by Vibratory methods en-masse , again a time and money saver. The one by one hand held polishing the part against a shaped polishing wheel just too labor intensive. The skilled labor itself nearly gone from the factory anyway.

Are they worth $1000,,or $800 ???
I personally wouldn't pay that for one,, but I don't set the world price on anything.
I've paid $1000 for somethings that others wouldn't pay anything for!

Buy what pleases you and pay what you think is fair.
Make yourself happy.
Don't make it all about 'investment'.
 
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One thing I have read about the sintered metal parts used internally on the Lawman/Trooper guns is to not to try to polish or otherwise mess with the surfaces on the sintered parts. That is because, unlike MIM, sintered parts have an extremely thin hardened surface on them and even polishing it is liable to remove the greatest majority of the surface hardened area of the part, leading to part failure shortly thereafter. I don't have actual experience with this mind you, it is something I read.
 
I have one of the 6" Colt Trooper MKIII in 357 magnum. Think I paid about $350 for it. Spare barrel,complete spare cylinder,hammer assmbely and trigger assembly as well as some internal parts and a spare set of stocks.
Don't get to take her out and shoot her as much as I would like. I have been repaid in just having an accurate revolver. Fran
 
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