Colt Army Special 38

Since you didnt give the full serial, type it in here, yourself.

https://www.colt.com/serial-lookup

Every colt with that SN will come up so match it up with the army special on the list

Nice old colt!

If it was refinished, it was done well, judging by how crisp the rampant colt is. I have a Colt where half of it is just worn away. And another where part of the colt is worn off/faint but the gun is a perfect 9.9995/10 condition with a beautiful deep blue.

Im no Army Special aficionado, but im not sure they ever came with a 2" barrel. Also not sure if they made nickel plated ones. @Driftwood Johnson could enlighten us im sure.

Somebody really wanted a belly gun, and shortened this one themselves (or had it done). They even had to shorten the ejector rod.

Just to make sure I have this straight, since this is an Army Special, if it is a 38, then it is a 38 Special, right?

Monac said:

Somebody really wanted a belly gun, and shortened this one themselves (or had it done). They even had to shorten the ejector rod.

Just to make sure I have this straight, since this is an Army Special, if it is a 38, then it is a 38 Special, right?

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Should be 38 spl. Army special came in 32-20 and 38 spl, iirc

The Army Special was made from 1908 to 1927.
In 1927, since the Army never bought it but the cops loved it, Colt changed the name to the Official Police and made it virtually unchanged to 1969.

The Army Special was usually made in .38 Special, but it would shoot the old .38 Long Colt, .38 Short Colt, and was also chambered in the 32-20 and the .41 Colt.

Barrel lengths were 4", 4 1/2", 5" and 6 inches.
Finishes were bright blue or bright nickel with nickel being lower production.
Original grips were black hard rubber with molded in checkering and Colt logos until 1924, thereafter with checkered walnut with silver Colt medallions.

The above revolver has been refinished. The "tell" is the flattened hammer and trigger frame pins. Originally the pins had rounded heads that have been polished flat.
Also the Colt Verified proof of a tiny "VP" in a triangle on the left-front of the trigger guard appears to have been been buffed off, and the stamp of the final inspector on the left-rear of the trigger guard also buffed.

The "K" under the serial number is the stamp of the person who assembled it at Colt.

So, you have a 1924 Army Special that's had a longer barrel cut down, refinished in bright nickel, and replaced grips.

Mine is from 1921, IIRC.

It's got quite a bit of finish wear, but it locks up tight and shoots as well as the small sights allow.

Very similar chop job Army Special like mine, except mine is in .32-20. Agree with the above poster about the flattened pins being a sign of refinishing., you can see the difference in mine.

I have since replace the barrel of this one with a 6" .32-20 barrel found on ebay.





One thing I notice about the OP's gun is the ejector rod looks to be shorter than mine...i've never heard of a factory snub Army Special, but who knows.

I do have an Army Special in .38, but its....ugly.
I bought it for the princely sum of $100 as a non functioning rust bucket because despite the condition of the gun, the grips are pretty much pristine. I found the problem with the gun to be a $5 part that needed to be replaced, and ended up just fixing it.

I'm strangely attracted to pitted Colt^^

Nacho Man said:

I'm strangely attracted to pitted Colt^^

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Rusty guns know things mortal Men aren't meant to discover.

Middletown said:

If the barrel was shortened it was a professional job, crown looks like it was done at the factory. "Army Special 38" printed on left side of barrel is centered and just looks right. I don't know if Colt would produce a gun that the ejector rod won't clear the cylinder of empties but like you said "who knows".

I am going to take the grips off tomorrow and start soaking the metal with CLP. First nickle plated gun I have cleaned that way, I am looking forward to see what the results are. Give the grips a cleaning with furniture cleaner and then furniture polish.

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A little something to keep in mind about these custom Colts from the 20's, 30's and 40's - John Henry FitzGerald was an employee of Colt Firearms from 1918 to 1944 and did a LOT more in the way of customer work than just split trigger guards and bob hammers. It may well be a Colt non-factory-factory modification. I have no idea how to find out if this went to Fitz or some other very talented gunsmith possibly associated with Colts... but I'm sure the information is out there.

GeoDudeFlorida said:

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A little something to keep in mind about these custom Colts from the 20's, 30's and 40's - John Henry Fitz Gerald was an employee of Colt Firearms from 1918 to 1944 and did a LOT more in the way of customer work than just split trigger guards and bob hammers. It may well be a Colt non-factory-factory modification. I have no idea how to find out if this went to Fitz or some other very talented gunsmith possibly associated with Colts... but I'm sure the information is out there.

Click to expand...

The perfectly centered roll stamp on the barrel had me thinking similar.

Middletown said:

Hey All! thanks for the replies. Challenge is on, we will see if I can get it back together in a couple days. I took a good picture of every step of dis-assembly so right now my confidence is high.
Can someone tell me how to dis-assemble the crane, I have never done that before. I can get the results I want without taking it apart as it operates smooth as is but would like to know. View attachment 970019

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The screw on the right side above the trigger lifts the crane lock and releases the crane.

DON'T DISASSEMBLE THE CYLINDER AND CRANE..... Unless you have NO choice.

This requires two special tools and for one, there is no substitute.

To disassemble the old style Colt cylinder assembly requires unscrewing the ejector from the rear of the cylinder.
This is RISKY.
The ejector is staked onto the ejector rod and the rod is slightly deformed by the staking.
Everything goes well until you try to screw the ejector back on.
The distortion very often causes a slight cross thread condition in spite of how careful you are, and the ejector will no longer seat flush with the cylinder.
This prevents the gun from operating.

When I had to disassemble an old style cylinder I used a special threading die to chase the threads on the ejector rod to make them uniform and correct the distorted threads.
If you're careful you can hand correct the distorted thread by using a small jewelers Swiss needle file.

To remove the ejector rod from the crane, you MUST have a special tube wrench. Nothing else will work.
To unscrew the ejector from the cylinder people have used a socket from a socket set, but you're better using a tool made for the job to prevent damaging the ejector ratchet......

Crane bushing tool......

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...ne-tools/colt-crane-bushing-tool-prod712.aspx

Ejector removal wrench. The hex hole fots over the ejector ratchet.......

https://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-...g-tools/1911-bushing-colt-wrench-prod605.aspx

To reinstall the ejector on the ejector rod, use Loctite Red instead of attempting to re-stake it. To stake it requires a flat faced punch similar to a small screwdriver bit, but made for staking.

A safer method of cleaning the cylinder and crane assembly is to use small wood or plastic blocks to hold the ejector back and the crane forward out of the cylinder and soak it in a solvent.
Blow dry then spray in a lubricant.

I'm smelling cheap rye and stale cigarette smoke and there's a blonde on the other side of the door, trouble, but I'm going to let her in.

That is an interesting pistol Middletown.
The left barrel markings look straight to me.
Are the right barrel address markings also centered?

Thanks for sharing,
JT

MartinS said:

I'm smelling cheap rye and stale cigarette smoke and there's a blonde on the other side of the door, trouble, but I'm going to let her in.

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Or maybe it was a cheap blonde smoking stale cigarettes bringing me a bottle of rye...? It's hard to know after last night's mix-up. Two things are for sure: she's still trouble and I'm still opening the door. But first, I'm gonna weigh my pockets down with some old Connecticut steel. When opportunity knocks, make sure you got a loaded .38 in your pocket before answering.
- Marlow

GeoDudeFlorida,

you sound more like Calvin....

wonder what it would take tp replace that front sight with something that looks right.

I am liking this project.

-kBob