Colt 1902 Semi Auto Pistol INFO PLEASE

[colt1902]

A gentleman I know has a Colt 1902 Semi Automatic Pistol. This pistol belonged to his father and he has no children to pass it down to, so he contacted me to help find it a good home. As of right now I am looking for any information on how to confirm that this pistol is indeed a military issued pistol.

Below you will find the information that I have on the pistol. Please help me with any further information that you may have on this piece or a good place to list it.

On the left hand side of the pistol it states
-1906 Made
-Serial # 12465
-"Browning Patent 4/20/1897 and 9/9/1902"
-"Colts Patent Firearms MFG Co." w/ Colts Medallion
-Lanyard Ring in also on the left hand side

On the right hadn side of the pistol is states
-"Automatic Colt Caliber 38 Rimless Smokeless Model 1902"

On both sides on the top of the grip it says "COLT"

It has a 7 round detachable Magazine
It has a 6 inch barrel
It has a blued finish with checkered hard rubber grips featuring the "Rampant Colt" molded into them.
It has a rounded butt and rounded hammer spur
There is no rust or pitting on the pistol. It does have slight holster wear from a shoulder holster.
Colt only manufactured 7500 of these between 1903-1908.
It has the checkered panels on the front of the slide unlike most others where it is on the rear.

How do I know if this pistol is "military"? Where is the best place to try and find out more information on pistols of this sort? Is there a good website out there or should I just try and contact COLT direct?
The pistol was last shot 3 years ago and it is in good mechanical condition.

The gentleman that owns this pistol also has about 295 rounds for this pistol. None of them are reloads. They are all originals, as you can not find rounds for this any more.
The spring in the magazine is in good condition as well.

My coworker advised me that this website would be a great place to start off my search for help. My coworker also advised me that I should contact Colt Directly to get a letter of authenticity for the gun. He stated that it will make it more valuable to a collector. Does Colt do that and should I do that?

So I am looking for information on this gun along with possible predictions on how much I should be asking for it? I do plan on selling this.

Any and all Information on this would be greatly appreciated. I do have more photo's if needed but I figure I have the most information possible for you all.


Thanks for any and all help!!!

 

[Mp7]

The grips and the loop for the strap indicate it´s the military model.

For price - check gunbroker, i guess.

awesome find. Hope u get a good price for it. There should be some collectors value.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_M1900

 

[west.22]

see, easy process. don't know if you read these or not. big difference in values.

http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/showthread.php?t=29799

http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-170428.html

 

[colt1902]

So do the grooves being on the front of the slide make this gun any more valuable? Or does it give this any more meaning?

Every picture that I see when I do research the 1902 model colt comes up with the grooves on the back of the slide. I am still trying to pin point exactly what that means.

Thanks for the couple quick replies already.

Also again, I am trying to sell this gun as well, so any thoughts on where I should post this to try and sell it would be great at well.

 

[rcmodel]

See this website:
http://www.coltautos.com/1902m.htm

Also this one:
http://www.collectorsfirearms.com/admin/show_inventory.php?catID=13&subcatID=163

Be aware that the .38 Colt Auto has the same case dimensions as current .38 Super +P, and it will fit & fire.
However, firing a .38 Super in your gun would very likely destroy it.

For that matter, I would think long & hard before firing it with the correct .38 Auto ammo you have.
The gun is over 100 years old, of antiquated design, and you aren't going to find parts at Walmart if you break something.

Colts Factory letters are extremely costly.
There is no doubt your gun is authentic, but whether or not it would add $300 to the value to prove it?
Maybe if it was shipped to Bat Masterson or somebody, it would be.
Otherwise, probably not.

rc

 

[west.22]

You can try contacting Colt directly, then you know for sure.

Colt’s Manufacturing Company LLC
Attn: Customer Service
P.O. Box 1868
Hartford, CT 06144 USA

Tel: 800-962-COLT (2658)
Fax: (860) 244-1379

 

[Dr.Rob]

DO NOT FIRE this pistol.

The green boxes of ammo look like they are modern 38 Super cartridges *(they are marked high velocity), and furthermore the boxes of UMC 38 automatic ammunition have collector value by themselves.

 

[HisSoldier]

The boxes in the lower left look pretty old, I wonder if they have collector value. I recently bought some specialty 38 auto, about $1 per round. The boxes marked "Super X appear to be 38 auto, and should be good. The ones marked "High velocity" may or may not be 38 Super.

I bought two 1903 pocket hammer models (It always sounds weird, "Pocket HAMMER" instead of hammerless. ) and they are the shorter models for sporting and self defense use (1903). Both fired well after inspection. These guns have bronze firing pins! Numrich has replacement firing pins that are apparently new old stock. Both of my guns firing pins had impact cracks radially out from the center at the rear and needed to be replaced.

It's hard to see the same level of genius in these designs that JMB showed the world in the 1911. No safeties, but at least yours has a slide stop or hold open. Does the slide stop work off an empty mag?

How does the bore look? Mine are both dark, one has strange damage inside the bore that I cannot figure the cause of. I suspect that though they used early smokeless powder they did not avoid corrosive primers yet.

These guns appear to have a pivoted trigger but it's actually a sliding trigger per the 1911, though not as robust. History, and transitional towards the lasting beauty of the wondrous 1911 design.