A piece of history- Colt 1902 Military Model in .38 ACP

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

My wife and a number of wonderful folks online collaborated to get me this for my birthday in June. It required a minor repair; the hammer was following the slide and falling into the safety notch. This is a known issue and was easy to fix. I removed the hammer and carefully redefined the full-cock sear notch. The gun now works properly and has proven very reliable.

I have to reload my own .38 ACP ammo, but the brass is the same as .38 Super so that's not an issue. I fire a fairly mild 115 grain load and it works a treat.

The gun represents an important historical step in the development of the 1911. And it's fun!

 

[Rock185]

These are certainly interesting old pieces of firearms history, and yours looks like a nice example. I reload mild .38 ACP for a 1903 Pocket Hammer. Like yours, mine is reliable with my reloads; plated 124 grain Speer TMJ at ~940 FPS.

BTW, I'd read somewhere that early .38 ACP was actually .359" diameter. Sure enough, an old box of Peters .38 ACP has .359" diameter bullets.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Thats a gorgeous example, Mike, easily nicer than any Ive seen outside of books or a museum. Congrats!

 

[Michael Tinker Pearce]

Thats a gorgeous example, Mike, easily nicer than any Ive seen outside of books or a museum. Congrats!

Thanks!

 

[CapnMac]

Color me jelly.

 

[HPJeep]

Cool piece of history!

 

[Golfanaticshooter]

My wife and a number of wonderful folks online collaborated to get me this for my birthday in June. It required a minor repair; the hammer was following the slide and falling into the safety notch. This is a known issue and was easy to fix. I removed the hammer and carefully redefined the full-cock sear notch. The gun now works properly and has proven very reliable.

I have to reload my own .38 ACP ammo, but the brass is the same as .38 Super so that's not an issue. I fire a fairly mild 115 grain load and it works a treat.

The gun represents an important historical step in the development of the 1911. And it's fun!
View attachment 1092000

Very cool!