Colt Police Positive Special Grips & Info

I don't know if it is much help, but here is a link of some information.

http://www.coltfever.com/Police_Positive_Special.html

There's a wealth of Colt information here: www.coltforum.com

I second the Coltforum.com website. There are MANY people over there who can tell you practically anything you can think of regarding your revolver. Friendly bunch too.

kcofohio

Thanks for the link to coltfever.com. Some very good info and photos on there.

gunsnbikes, I have too, been looking for info on old Colts lately. dfariswheel & ColtPythonElite are a couple of member names that I have seen on other forums that seem to have a wealth of knowledge on Colts.

Hope the Police Positive Special is a keeper for you!

or plastic with COLT spelled out on the top of the grips.

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Howdy

As far as I know, the grips with Colt spelled across the top of the grip are hard rubber. Hard rubber was a material used for gun grips during the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, before modern plastics were developed. This little 32 Police Positive was made in 1914 and it wears its original hard rubber grips.




This big Colt New Service was made in 1906, it is wearing its original hard rubber grips.





As I say, hard rubber was only used for gun grips up to the early years of the 20th Century. Hard rubber was very brittle and could crack or break easily. After better plastics were invented, the gun makers pretty much stopped using hard rubber for grips. One source I saw says that after 1927, smooth walnut grips became standard for the Police Positive Special, later checkered walnut grips like these:




Not really sure about the grips you mention with the pony medallions.

Regarding the light double action trigger pull, that's anybody's guess. What feels light to you may feel heavy to somebody else. When I buy a used gun I usually insist that it be functional, and most reputable dealers will stand by that, but a consignment gun is a different story. Perhaps if you reload you could show up with some primed cases, no bullets, no powder. Dropping the hammer on a couple of those will tell you if the gun will fire and will not put any wear on the gun other than dirtying the chamber and bore a bit. Perhaps the owner will allow that.

Other than that, sometimes with old guns you just have to go out on a limb. $300 is a pretty good price for a Police Positive Special today. Unfortunately, unlike Smiths, parts are harder to come by for older Colts, and they are fussier to work on than a Smith.

Sometimes you just have to go with your gut.

Be aware that firing primed cases in a revolver will almost always result in a locked up gun..

This is due to primer pressure blowing the primer back against the recoil shield & firing pin hole.
With no pressure in the case to re-seat it!

Then, the cylinder will not rotate.

If you want to try it?
Drill the flash-holes in the cases out to 1/8" or so to prevent the primers backing out and locking up the gun.

rc

Yes!

Common practice when loading wax bullet indoor practice ammo.

Otherwise, you can only shoot one shot before the gun locks up.

Every primer, in every round of revolver ammo backs out when fired, then is reseated when the pressure from firing re-seats the case over the primer.

Revolvers must have a lot of excess headspace and cases slipping back & forth in the chambers to maintain free clearance for the cylinder to rotate freely.

That's just the way they work.

More info on wax bullets.

http://www.americanrifleman.org/mobile/article.php?id=14619

rc

See you never know what you'll learn here. I guess auto loading pistols don't do it since the slide rests against the chambered round? I have some once fired empties I can deprime then drill the holes bigger. Guess I'd have to throw those away afterward or only use them for testing like this? It seems the larger hole would allow too much gas pressure,fire/boom to excape at the primer if trying to use the cases for loaded ammunition after drilling out. Am I even close or is there more to it?

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No, it happens with all primers; revolvers or semi-autos. There is always a small amount of slop behind the case. The primer backs out, then recoil reseats it. A very common occurrence with loads that are too light is that the primers back out and stay backed out because the recoil generated is not enough to reseat the primer.

Yes, absolutely do not use any cases with enlarged flash holes in live ammo. The enlarged hole will allow too much pressure back into the primer pocket. May puncture the primer cup.

Yes & no.

Auto pistols do it too.
But they don't have a cylinder that has to be free to rotate.

There is little evidence that big flash holes do anything bad.

All the current 'lead-free' ammo I have reloaded have hemungus big flash holes, because the lead-free primer mix is much more powerful then standard primer mix.

Many people reload them using the same data with no measurable difference in pressure, or velocity.

But do what you feel most comfortable with.

You probably only need six to test a revolver, if they will let you.

rc

Nothing takes the place of good photos when describing one person's idea of wear percentages.
Is it worth the price? Sure, but I'm not the one paying for it.
Just no giving honest opinion as to value sight unseen on a common gun.

My first thoughts would be no to a 75% (that is a lot of wear) PPS with replaced grips and possibly needing a new spring.

A Colt PPS from 1957 would have had checkered wood grips with the medallions.
The earlier post-war Coltwood grips were phased out by the end of 1953 from my observations of looking at a lot of Colts.

A screwdriver to remove and look at the back of the grips would solve this and also let you peek up into the
frame to look for evidence of someone having put a kink in the mainspring to lighten it.

Current pricing to replace the spring and grips for original parts on a 75% wear gun would run you between 100 and 125 IMO.
Just be happy you do not need grips for a 99% gun!
Just something to factor in if the gun has to be straight after you get it.

JT

So when did Colt use brown plastic grips with molded in checkering and silver colored pony medallions (rampant Colt = pony medallion)?

Did Colt use a factory nickel on any Police Positive Specials?

Please you folks that really know Colts take a look at the Colt ID sticky for the questions I asked of Old Fluff.

-kBob

Frist of all, be aware that the Colt Police Positive and Police Positive Special are similar but different model revolvers, and because they are different models this can sometimes be important.

For a short time following World War Two. Colt experimented with using brown plastic stocks in place of checkered walnut. When none of them proved to be popular they returned to the wood kind.

The unusually light double-action trigger pull should set off an alarm bell, because Colt always made the pull heavy enough to absolutely insure ignition when the trigger was pulled. Because parts for these revolvers as well as competent repairmen are difficult to find, any after-purchase work that has to be done can truly ruin your day.

Maybe in my mind it being a 1957 model it would have been a heavy/grittier trigger.

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No, quite the opposite in fact!!

You couldn't buy a Colt or S&W in 1957 with a heavy gritty trigger!

They were all uniformly good, or they didn't go out the door.

Maybe heavy on DA with brand new springs, but certainly not rough or gritty!

rc

^^^^

But I wonder about "because the lead-free primer mix is much more powerful then standard primer mix."

Is is not because the lead-free mix is LESS powerful and more flash is needed to ignite the powder, hence the larger flash hole?

Jim

No, it presents a more powerful explosion.

Early lead-free ammo was causing breech face peening from primers backing out.

Then they went to big flash holes to lower the pressure in the primer pocket, and crimped in primers to stop the peening.

rc