Today I picked up my last gun of 2011. In most years the last gun is a S&W, but this year it happened to be a semi-uncommon specimen of the Brand C persuasion. I know there are at least a few here who have a minor appreciation for the guns from Connecticut as well as those from Massachusetts, so let me put up this picture of a snubnose Colt Commando, a fairly uncommon model. And rarely, I think, seen in possibly unfired condition.
The Commando was Colt's unsuccessful attempt to wrest some of the WWII plain-wrap .38 Special market away from Smith and Wesson. But they never made more than about 48,000 Commandos, and over 40,000 of them had four inch barrels. The snubnose models are hard to find. All Commando production was confined to 1942-43.
A few of them -- but pretty certainly not this one -- got to Europe and saw theater action with the OSS guys. Those guns are really rare. For some reason they also seem hard to document.
The two-inch Commando is large for a snubnose revolver. It is built on Colt's Official Police frame, which is larger than S&W's K frame but smaller than the N. Here is a comparison photo with a postwar M&P snub (January 1947) that is one of my favorite revolvers; the grip adapter makes the S&W look bigger than it really is, so adjust for that. Compare the frame proportions and cylinder diameters. The Commando is one heavy gun for a compact revolver.
This new gun joins a four-inch Commando I picked up last January. Here are the two together.
OK, come January it's back to the S&Ws!
The Commando was Colt's unsuccessful attempt to wrest some of the WWII plain-wrap .38 Special market away from Smith and Wesson. But they never made more than about 48,000 Commandos, and over 40,000 of them had four inch barrels. The snubnose models are hard to find. All Commando production was confined to 1942-43.
A few of them -- but pretty certainly not this one -- got to Europe and saw theater action with the OSS guys. Those guns are really rare. For some reason they also seem hard to document.
The two-inch Commando is large for a snubnose revolver. It is built on Colt's Official Police frame, which is larger than S&W's K frame but smaller than the N. Here is a comparison photo with a postwar M&P snub (January 1947) that is one of my favorite revolvers; the grip adapter makes the S&W look bigger than it really is, so adjust for that. Compare the frame proportions and cylinder diameters. The Commando is one heavy gun for a compact revolver.
This new gun joins a four-inch Commando I picked up last January. Here are the two together.
OK, come January it's back to the S&Ws!
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