Colt Hammerless 32 Auto 1897/1903 - Value?

[zbock]

Hey Everyone,

A good friend of mine was gifted this gun from a friend of his who was a rather old gentleman. He would like to know it's value, could any of you help me figure out what it's worth? It's pretty old, the finish is somewhat ugly, and there is a chip on the left grip as you can see. The gun is in working condition albeit it looks a bit grimey/dirty ( I have no idea how to tear it down, neither does he).



Anyway any idea what it's worth? The goal is to sell it to buy a modern 9mm for carry purposes, or to trade it directly for one. Is this actually worth something or it's just an old piece of junk due to its condition?

Thanks!

 

[gwnorth]

There are field stripping instructions at the bottom of this page:
http://unblinkingeye.com/Guns/1903C/1903c.html

Looking on http://www.gunsinternational.com/ and searching for "1903 Colt" there are a bunch of them listed from several hundred dollars to well of $1K. So I'd suggest cleaning it up and getting it assessed by someone.

 

[Cfish]

Check out this site for some great info. http://www.coltautos.com/default.asp

It appears yours was made in 1919. Clean it up, they're fun to shoot.

 

[Comanche180]

I picked up two of these. The chipped grip is pretty common. For one I paid $165. It looked sad, with rust & pits on the left storage neglect and the bluing was gone. I cleaned it up and it's a good shooter. The other went for about $250 and was in better shape. The values have gone up since then. These are fine pistols, I wouldn't sell mine.


Also go to this address for info and instructions:

http://www.coltautos.com/

 

[colt1903]

These are great little pistols. Colt put a tremendous amount pride and workmanship into them that probably could not be replicated today (although I would love to see a company like USAF give it a try). The specimen shown is in pretty rough condition and would be lucky to fetch $400 in it's current condition. Original replacement grips are sometimes available at Numrich Gun Parts www.gunpartscorp.com and Gun Grips www.gungrips.com. In fact Gun Grips has a set for the pistol show.

I picked up this one in very poor shape for $150.00 and let my local gunsmith loose on it. Normally you wouldn't want to do this but this pistol did not have much collector value in it's original condition:

Here is what I wound up with: