Comments on Colt Lawman MK III

[jaykellogg]

Yesterday at the LGS a Colt Lawman 2" smiled at me. It is the one with the shrouded ejector rod. There is no blue wear, but the backstrap has three or four patches of surface rust. The Colt medallions are discolored. There are four or five spots on the left side that are pinpoint spots of surface rust. These may clean up. Mechanically it looks excellent. The asking price is $450.

What do you think?

 

[Texas Star]

It has rust spots. The mechanism was sintered steel, a powdered alloy that caused some trouble and was replaced in MK V and King Cobra guns.

It has a hard, short DA pull and an excesssively long SA cocking stroke. Colts often require a gunsmith to rotate the barrel a bit to get the sights on target. The two-nch bbl. is too short for a .357 to achieve real ballistic advantage. I'd buy no less than three inches, but even a 2.5-inch bbl will be better.

Just go look at something better. There were good reasons why these guns failed to sell well, and now you know them.

Why you would pay $450 for a gun that has ANY rust spots alone is totally beyond me, but perhaps I have excessive standards. BTW, I'd be buying a stainless .357 in the first place. Go look at S&W or Ruger guns. Without any rust spots!

 

[Farmer17]

The one my girlfriend at the time had about 25 years ago had the hardest double action trigger pull I have ever encountered. I don't know how you could hit anything past 20 feet.

 

[Texas Star]

Colt hired engineers to design these MK III guns. They needed a gifted gun designer, not just an engineer.

 

[kudzu3]

Every double action Colt I've ever owned has had timing issues.

 

[semperfi71]

Seems a bit high for a Lawman in that condition. I woul dpass it up and keep looking, online as well.

I recently owned and sold a truly NIB Lawman MKIII with all accessories and just could not bring myself to shoot it.

I liked the balance, and fully understand that in a 2 inch barrel its recoil and muzzle blast (full house loads) might be fierce but I still want one.

Mine had a stout double-action pull but there are aftermarket springs for them.

The fixed sights might require turning the barrel a bit but it can be done.

The powder/sintered hammer issues are real though. I have read never, ever dry fire them.

I do believe that if one is careful in buying (hammer issues) and applies better springs it might make a nice carry gun.

 

[jaykellogg]

I think I will pass this one up. I don't really need it, I just liked it.

 

[Dragon88]

I purchased a Lawman Mk III snubby earlier this year for $350 with a nice holster. I shot it once. It is a nice enough gun, but I have no use for it and I am not a Colt collector. I plan to use it for trade fodder sometime soon.

 

[ladyT]

All I know is the trigger on mine is super nice and is hard to beat. Puts Pythons to shame. Of course I'm blessed with a quality gunsmith that knows how to do a proper trigger job without damaging the gun.

 

[safearm]

I had a 2" nickel Lawman Mark III when I first became a patrolman in 1978 and sold/traded it off decades ago. I finally found a replacement a couple of months ago. I personally think they handle heavy loads better than a K-frame revolver, even if they look like a Detective Special on steroids.
My favorite load when carrying this gun is the .38 Special +P LSWCHP. It's the same load I carried in my duty/off-duty revolver 34 years ago, and it's as good today as it was then.
$450 doesn't seem that high to me when you consider that these guns have been out of production for 30 years and Colt probably isn't going to make another double action revolver.

 

[ace22]

well i'm gonna go against the grain here because i love colts.
regardless of why you're considering that lawman, as a shooter or collectable, imo it's worth the price and i say buy it if you like it.
i believe it's worth more than 450 right now and it's value will continue to increase.

 

[mod34]

I think I'm with Ace22 on this one. The prices I'm seeing for stuff that would barely be considered "decent" shape is shocking me. I think $450 for just about any Colt revolver is not so bad. I'd try to negotiate a little (try $400 OTD) and go from there. Sometimes its OK to buy what you like as typically, when you do, you end up liking what you buy.

 

[Checkman]

$450 isn't a bad price. Rust spots can be taken care of. If you're going to dry fire it use snap caps and the issue with the sintered steel will be resolved. The action is stout, but it also smooths out with use. I own a 2" Lawman Mk III and I like it. I load it with +P 38 Spl 158 grain LSWCHP (the so-called "FBI" load), but you can fire hot .357 loads through it all day. It's a very strong design.

 

[mr.jbk79]

Sounds like a typical price for what you describe. Unless I wanted it enough, I'd wait for one in better condition. Then again, you may be waiting awhile, and they don't get cheaper.

 

[dhallz71]

I just sold a 4" a couple of weeks ago for $400. Had been carried A LOT. Seemed like it was getting timing issues, and I didn`t want to mess with it.

 

[27 Man]

I bought a 2" nickel Lawman at a Sheriff's auction several years ago that was in pretty nice shape. Didn't think I would ever get rid of that boat anchor.

 

[JcMack]

I almost bought a 2" for $300 about 8 months ago. As we were in the process of finishing the deal (Cabelas) I was doing a final inspection. I could get the hammer on DA pull to cycle (caught it so as to not destroy in frame FP) and the cyl wouldn't turn (trigger reset every pull). So no purchase. The appeal for these I think is the COLT label and the massive appearance of the 2" specimen.

 

[Checkman]

Wow this thread has really brought out the Colt haters hasn't it. It's not that bad of a revolver. I've looked at used S&W revolvers over the years that had problems as well in the interest of fairness.

 

[mr.jbk79]

This '76 Lawman has been a great revolver. No issues here. At least I know it would make a decent hammer if needed, as it is no lightweight. Seriously though, for a fixed sight snub, it's just fine.

 

[Checkman]

There you go.