It was raining Colts today......

[sigp220.45]

Well, only if two constitutes rainfall.

I have posted previously about a Colt Agent .38 I got disassembled in a bag for 80 bucks. I finally admitted I am not a Colt gunsmith and dropped it off at the Colorado School of Trades. I picked it up today (works great!) but made the mistake of stopping at Cabelas on the the way home.

I have previously said Cabelas new "you can't see if it works, and you can't return it if it doesn't policy" would keep me from ever buying a used gun there. Well, that high moral stand folded like a cheap lawn chair under Michael Moore when I saw a Colt Pocket Hammerless .380 in the Gun Library.

I often carry a .32 Pocket Hammerless, and have despaired of ever finding a .380 version for a decent price. I got the feeling they aren't selling a lot of guns these days - the price tumbled to $600 and I gave in.

Here they are together.

Its no collector piece. The finish is rough, especially on the left side. I like to imagine it sitting in a Private Eye's desk drawer, where some Scotch or the tears of a desperate babe with great gams got on it.

The best part is the "Calibre":

Grips (or stocks in Coltspeak) are pretty good.

The serial number puts it at 1914. No barrel bushing.

I'll shoot them both tomorrow. I'm sure the Agent will be fine, I'm interested to see how the .380 shoots. The bore looked like six miles of Somali sewer pipe, but cleaned up pretty well. My .32 also has a rough bore, but shoots fine. If this one shoots well, I may put the .32 on the block to mollify the Minister Of Finance. Or I may not.

 

[Xfuzz]

Good lick...
Stopped by my LGS yesterday.
Neat little .32 Colt hammerless is lyin
in the display case....same price.
Been buggin me all day.

 

[S&W ucla]

..............folded like a cheap lawn chair under Michael Moore...................

That's FAST!!!
Nice Colts too.

 

[Ozark Marine]

Colt M-1908.
Yours dates to 1914.
I've owned a few 1903's, still looking for a 1908.

Congrats, nice find.

 

[jmace57]

A suggestion for you. If you shoot that .380, think seriously about getting some stocks for shooting. The first round I shot through mine, the grips broke!

 

[6518John]

"The bore looked like six miles of Somali sewer pipe"

I think I have just read the greatest use of gun-related metaphor ever written!

 

[6518John]

Good lick...
Stopped by my LGS yesterday.
Neat little .32 Colt hammerless is lyin
in the display case....same price.
Been buggin me all day.

I am taking bets on the over/under on when he will be back at the store tomorrow. My money is before noon!

 

[walter o]

their is a company that makes new barrels for the 1903-or 1908 .
name is "in lead we trust"

 

[shell627]

Great gun. I think Charlie Chan used to carry one in each pocket.

 

[ColbyBruce]

You might want to have a structural engineer check the foundation of your home; to make sure it can support all that weight you add each month.

 

[Kiwi cop]

Please tell me you are joking!

US$600 for a 1908 Colt pocket hammerless in .380?

The same for a .32? (Presumably the '03 model??)

Heck and High Water! That's around NZ$950.

My '03 .32 cost me NZ$250 back in the early-mid 90's. I didn't think they had gone up that much since then.

Oh, and to the OP.

Niiiicccce......

 

[HCH]

The OP definitely has a flair for words.

 

[Texas Star]

Brad-

That's some good, colorful writing! I laughed myself silly over it.

I've read the old Colt .380's sometimes don't feed as well as the .32's. May need extractor adjustment. Good luck.

Tell us how they shoot.

Why the difference in finish on the Agent? BTW, Colt said those guns were good for 1,000 rounds of Plus P before needing factory inspection. Steel ones were good to go for 3,000 Plus P shots.

 

[Old_Cop]

I see a custom double shoulder holster for your 1903 and 1908, and a double breasted chalk pinstripe blue suit with a snap brim fedora.

 

[CelticSire]

I see a custom double shoulder holster for your 1903 and 1908, and a double breasted chalk pinstripe blue suit with a snap brim fedora.

And spats. Gotta wear spats.

 

[squidsix]

Even with the rough finish, that .380 would be mine for $600. WAYYY ahead of its time.

 

[LoadedRound]

Oh Boy

I'm loving both of those. Thanks for nursing that Agent back to health. I thought about it often since the first post.

Enjoy

 

[sigp220.45]

Yay, it shoots!

I had two failures to completely extract in the first mag, and thought: Uh oh.

I had cleaned it, but not oiled it well. I dosed it pretty good, and all was well after that. No more issues.

PPU ball at 7 yards. Barrel seems fine.

Same at 20 yards, the max distance on the range. Tiny sights + old man eyes = mediocre groups. It will get the job done, though.

So, I'm happy. I'll put a few more boxes through it, then start toting it.

Then on the way out, I see this:

As has been noted, I have been on a gun-buying roll lately. To keep peace in the house, I passed.

Of course, my 27 year old son did not pass.

It was a consignment gun, and they threw in this ammo:

Two boxes of factory .38 Special, some reloads I'll disassemble, three boxes of .22s, and some Oxycontin.

Just kidding - the pill box is full of more .22 ammo.

The Agent shot well, too. Life is good.

Thanks for all the nice comments.

 

[tinstarfirearms]

That 1908 is very cool. Do you find a difference when shooting the .32 from when you shoot the .380? Is the recoil sharper in the .380?

 

[sigp220.45]

That 1908 is very cool. Do you find a difference when shooting the .32 from when you shoot the .380? Is the recoil sharper in the .380?

Yes, the recoil of the .380 was more noticeable than the .32, which has virtually no recoil. But it was still very manageable.

 

[jmace57]

Great gun. I think Charlie Chan used to carry one in each pocket.

Maybe he gave one to "Number One Son"! That was a blast from the past.

 

[SPEEDGUNNER]

Those little Colts are great guns, and they fit in your pocket just right. There are repro wood grips available that will make it look 100% cooler and you then don't have to worry about the original factory grips getting cracked or chipped. Nice piece, looking forward to the range report.

 

[sigp220.45]

A quick update.

I started to get failures to extract on nearly every round. The empty would wind up just sitting behind the chamber, on top of the next round in the magazine. The slide would start to pick up the next round, and everything would come to an abrupt halt.

If I only loaded one round, the gun would cycle and then push the empty back into the chamber.

If the chamber was oiled the gun would work for a few rounds, then the fun would start again.

I replaced the recoil and magazine springs, but nothing changed. I cleaned the bejeebus out of the barrel and chamber with the same lack of result.

I figured the chamber was corroded, and I could see and feel some pitting at the very front of it.

Rather than find an old barrel that someone might be selling because it also sucks, I bought a new one from a place with the excellent name of In Lead We Trust.

In Lead We Trust

Here it is:

It is marked so it can't be passed off as original.

It dropped right in with no fitting.

I took it to the range yesterday, which was an adventure all unto itself. Lots of folks with new Christmas guns, which they waved to and fro with much merriment. I put 50 rounds downrange, a mix of round nosed ball and flat pointed ball. Not a single malfunction, and the new barrel was at least as accurate as the old one. Back in business.

The dark blue looked strange to me, so once I knew it worked I hit it with some blue-be-gone in the areas that showed.

I'll shoot it a little more before I carry it, but I'm happy with this new barrel, and based on my sample of exactly one I can say these barrel makers turn out a good product. Now if they would only make magazines for these things.

 

[chief38]

I LOVE the lines of those Colt 1903/1908 Pistols!! I have 3 that I bought just because I liked them - although I had no real practical purpose for them. Mine are between 90 and 100 years old and still look, function and shoot great! Each of them came with some two-tone Mag's. I do break 'em out once or twice a year and pop 50 rounds or so. They are really accurate Pistols and actually have great triggers for pocket pistols.

While I would not buy one (I always like "real deal" guns) I have seen the recent Repro's they made a few years back and they are not bad (but pricey). For the same money one could still buy the real McCoy however I do credit the Company that Colt licensed to make 'em for being so exacting and true to the originals.

 

[jmace57]

An opportunity to show off. I used to collect these. I have divested myself of most of them when I got into S&Ws, but I kept 4 of them. 1 a shooter, and these 3 that are in really nice condition.

 

[sigp220.45]

Just a quick update - I've put 250 rounds of UMC ball through this new barrel, and all is still well. No malfunctions, and the barrel has settled in to producing nice groups at 20 yards offhand. If the gun had better sights and I had better eyes I think it would be a real shooter.

 

[steelslaver]

A pre model 2" S&W for $200. Rust freckles be darn. Son be darn, wife don't question my gun purchases. Would have been mine.

I am sure the little Colts are fine guns. But, just don't feel any real interest in Colts.