"Colt's Very Best" in 1940.

[Papa Lee]

Founded in Chicago in 1882, Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. sold a large selection of hardware, tools, cutlery, paints, sporting goods and many more items with different brand names.
Some HSB & Co. Trade Marked brand names include: O.V.B. (Our Very Best), Revonoc, and True Value. In the later years, HSB & Co. also sold Keen Kutter pocket knives and Marbles hunting knives.
In 1962, Hibbard, Spencer, Bartlett & Co. was sold to John Cotter & Co. for the True Value Brand Name that now is used by the True Value Hardware stores everywhere.

This Third Issue Heavy Barrel 38 Special Colt Officers Model is circa 1940. I bought this Colt on GBR recently and was able to pick it up locally. I already had the Colorado Saddlery holster shown that had the carved "CVB" on the front, signifying "Colt's Very Best", (which is what the Colt Officers Model was at that time), and "OM 6" scribed on the back. The action is superb - probably better than most Pythons.
The 6" barrel has an excellent bore with bright, strong rifling. The very scarce heavy barrel was made from 1935 to the early 1940s in .38 caliber only. The left side of the barrel is marked COLT OFFICERS over MODEL followed by 38 over *HEAVY BARREL*. The last patent date on the top of the barrel is OCT. 5. 1926. The gun retains approximately 95% blue. The revolvers' back strap is checkered and it sports a wide trigger shoe.
I had previously owned a 1951 Officers Model .38 with the un-tapered bull barrel, and I found that one to be rather "clunky". This one just feels and looks right and is a real joy to shoot. I am currently looking for a set of original walnut grips with the silver Colt insignia.

 

[DWalt]

I happen to have a 1914 HSB Catalog. It is about 6" thick with thousands of pages and is very interesting reading, and not just in the gun section, which is very extensive. About every gun existing at that time was cataloged, and they also sold numerous house brand guns under the Rev-O-Noc name (Conover spelled backward - no idea who he was, maybe the HSB President). At that time, HSB was a wholesale house that seems to have sold only to independent hardware stores. Most everything in the catalog was priced by the dozen, gross, hundred, thousand, etc. They stocked only Peters ammunition, and had at least a dozen pages of ammunition listings. See below pictures. Unbelievable how many different shotshell loadings were available. I remember reading that after WWI, all the ammunition manufacturers cut way back on the number of different shotshell loadings that they offered. They also sold things such as blasting powder, dynamite, fuse, blasting caps, etc., in fact the catalog had several pages showing those items. If something existed in 1914, it was probably to be found in that HSB catalog. Much more comprehensive than Sears catalogs of that era. It is one of my most prized possessions. I found it while hunting, in an abandoned barn in deepest darkest rural Southern Ohio back when I was a teen.

 

[hannstv]

Very handsome revolver and holster.

 

[Trooper224]

That needs a set of Ropers.

 

[BAM-BAM]

Nice; I have my Dad's 1938/39 Service Revolver, a 6" New Service he sent off to King's in Calf for an action job and target sights....... in .357 magnum!

It also served as his target pistol on the Dept's Pistol Team where he shot "Master" class >640 out of 700

 

[Grayfox]

HOLY COW! I have that gun's twin!
Mine is also a 1940 3rd Issue Officer's Model Heavy Barrel with the exact same markings. Mine also has the cockeyed hammer, checkered back strap and a modified wide trigger.
I always thought it was a one of a kind custom job by some unknown gunsmith. But now I see it has a twin! I'm completely flabbergasted!
Would anybody happen to have any information on these?
BTW: this is the best shooting .38 I own and the trigger is smooth as silk.

I always thought it wasn't worth much due to the modifications. Anybody care to guess as to its value?

 

[Muley Gil]

I have a very similar pair of grips, only for an N frame Smith.

 

[Targets Guy]

Nice looking Colts. As close as I can come is my wife's 1941 Detective Special.

 

[Onomea]

At one point I owned, if I recall the dates correctly, a 1938 OMT HB, a 1929 OMT, and a late '30s Shooting Master.

The 1938 OMT HB was interesting in that it had a unique hammer, one that the then historian of the USRA, Joe Miller, who has passed on, thought was a Roper hammer, something I had never heard of before.

They were all beautiful guns with terrific actions. I'd be hard pressed to choose which of those was Colt's very best!

 

[Inland7-45]

Old Colts

Nice looking Colts. As close as I can come is my wife's 1941 Detective Special.

Thank You for sharing the photo. I love old S&Ws but have quite
a few older Colts. One of my favorites is my first model Cobra.

Ya gotta love that style, right out of a Film Noir.

 

[Targets Guy]

Thank You for sharing the photo. I love old S&Ws but have quite
a few older Colts. One of my favorites is my first model Cobra.

Ya gotta love that style, right out of a Film Noir.

I hear you. My EDC is my 1957 Colt Cobra. Great gun.

 

[Papa Lee]

HOLY COW! I have that gun's twin!
Mine is also a 1940 3rd Issue Officer's Model Heavy Barrel with the exact same markings. Mine also has the cockeyed hammer, checkered back strap and a modified wide trigger.
I always thought it was a one of a kind custom job by some unknown gunsmith. But now I see it has a twin! I'm completely flabbergasted!
Would anybody happen to have any information on these?
BTW: this is the best shooting .38 I own and the trigger is smooth as silk.

I always thought it wasn't worth much due to the modifications. Anybody care to guess as to its value?

Wow, your gun is also a beauty and remarkably similar to mine. Same front sight, hammer and checkered backstrap. Your trigger sure looks modified, but I have seen others of that age with checkered triggers also.

 

[skilled]

While it wasn't colts best…that honor belongs to the shooting master. The OMT are fine revolvers.

 

[lestert357]

The thing that surprises me most about the Colt OMT's is that they are beautifully made in all respects, but yet actual sale prices for them have continued to linger in the $1200 - $1500 range for years. I know asking prices are often higher but they don't move very fast if they are. Here's mine from 1935, which is a .22 LR dressed up with period correct factory ivory.

 

[chief38]

lestert357,
those Ivory grips are Gorg!

 

[moosedog]

Nice guns. A slight correct on the original post, Colt Officers Model Target Heavy Barrels were also made in 32 Long in 1939.