New to me 1958 Colt 357

should be an excellent shooter!

Very nice. Just get some wood to replace those goodyears.

Very very nice find on a classic old Colt. Honest wear only allows you to take it with you more when you go and not worry about depreciating it.

Please, for the love of Samuel L. Colt, ditch the Goodyears! That old Colt is just waiting for you to restore it to its former dignity.

Congratulations on your new Colt.

Sweet deal. I'd rather have it than most new .357's on the market today.

I'd rather have it than most new .357's on the market today

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"most"?


Great buy.

good going, i just bought a 6" 1960 born model 357 myself less and a week ago. took her to the range yeserday morning, (1st time) and immediatly started clearing the rails of chickens and pigs, 50m & 100m resectively. never had to touch the sights. certainly put a smile on my face. i'll bet yours will shoot like no other! many happy ones to you! 48 hour delay seems a bum deal though.

Here is mine with wood Colt stocks and Tyler T-Grip:

The gun looks and feels great with this setup. Too bad Tyler recently went out of business (while screwing over 6-8 months worth of cusotmers who sent money but did not receive their orders). You will have to find both the stocks (Colt guys do not refer to them as grips for some reason) and the T-Grip on the used market.

I like my 357 so much that when is came down to selling my Python or this gun, I chose to sell the Python. Pythons are beautiful guns, but to me the 357 is more the epitome of the classic Colt double action revolver.

Here's mine with the 6" barrel and the target grips - not original Colt target grips, but (as I was told when I bought the gun) dupes that were handmade by a previous owner (!). The originals are selling for megabucks these days, but I was noticing on Fleabay that someone is selling very inexpensive but very nice looking Python grips made in Thailand that are copies of these older fully checkered target grips. I believe the 357 and the Python (and also the original Trooper) all used the same frame, so a pair of those might dress your new 357 up very nicely.

IMHO, the factory Pythons are the most comfortable factory DA grip ever devised. Maybe even the only comfortable factory DA grip ever devised. It's what I put on Dad's old Army Special .32-20.

This is what I try to tell folks about Gander Mountain, usually to no avail. While a lot of stuff there is overpriced, you can sometimes find a good deal. Especially on used guns.

Waiting period in WI?

the older 357s are great pistols. These are Pythons without the heavy barrel. Great price even with the rubber grips (which HAVE to go!). I have a couple of Troopers which are similar to the 357 Model.

I carried my Colt M357 on my first tour in Viet Nam. It is currently wearing Hogue rosewood grips, but I naturally saved the original target grips.

The M357 is identical to the Python, except for the cosmetics like the barrel underlug and special blueing. The action and trigger are superb.

Hello friends and neighborss // Nice save/snag, at $300 that is an outstanding buy around here.

I'm the same, rather have an oldie but goodie than put the money into a new revolver.
Not lucky enough to find a deal like that let alone see an Colt M357 locally.

I do stop by the Gander Mt. when near but other than a $300.00 Ruger single six not much has popped up.

Congrats

$299 must be the magic number. I found a really nice Marlin .444 at the one in Jackson last year for that amount. If it had been a later model with the faster twist and Ballard rifling, I probably would've brought it home. Maybe should've anyway.

these little jewels are addicting. at lunch today i showed my buddy the model 357 that i just bought a few days ago. well...he went home and before the afternoon had ended he'd ordered a 6" specimen "buy now" on GB. heh heh....incidently i was able to clear the 50m rail of 7" & 9" steel rounds this am with factory loads, double action, no misses...i'm not that good at it, but this old school weapon makes up the difference i think.

I really like the badger grips that I have on my Trooper .357 (same gun, less polish on the finish). I frequently carry that gun.

My Colt Official Police has the same grip set up as clang has on his 357. It works really well too.

wlewis,
I cannot tell from the photos if this is the earlier Colt 357 or the Colt Trooper in 357 Mag. I believe they changed the name of the gun since S&W had 357 amgnum as the registered trademark of their large size 357 Magnum chambered revolver. I owned a Colt 357 many years ago and it was an excellent shooter.

I was lucky enough to pick up a original Trooper for $75.00 bucks last summer didn't have much blueing left but a great shooter although it may have a timing issue now. I have since stripped the remaining blueing and going to send it back to colt.

TonyT said:

wlewis,
I cannot tell from the photos if this is the earlier Colt 357 or the Colt Trooper in 357 Mag. I believe they changed the name of the gun since S&W had 357 amgnum as the registered trademark of their large size 357 Magnum chambered revolver. I owned a Colt 357 many years ago and it was an excellent shooter.

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Actually it had nothing to do with a S&W trademark. The Trooper in .38 was to be Colt's entry level adjustable sight utilitarian gun. The 357 was to be the Premium gun. A couple of years later they introduced the Super Premium Python. People who wanted a basic gun bought the Trooper. People who wanted a Premium gun, bought the Python. 357s sat on shelves. Almost no one bought them. So after a few years of this, Colt rechambered the Trooper to .357 and dropped the 357 from the line up. At least that is what marketing says they did. In reality, they dropped the Trooper, put a lower level of finish on the 357 and renamed it Trooper .357. The Trooper .38 has a hammer mounted firing pin like the Official Police, Officer's Model, etc. The 357, Trooper .357 and Python all have a frame mounted firing pin.

I got a great deal on a COLT .357 that dates to 1954,first yr. of production. Original grips were going for about what I bought the gun for. I went with eagle service stocks with a gold colt medallion on them. Tey are made of rosewood & are well worth the $60.00 I paid for them.