Colt .38 N.P.

[tonyland]

Does anyyone know for sure whether the Colt .38 N.P. is the same caliber as the .38 S&W. I have a Colt Police Positive Special which is over 35 years old. The barrel says "Colt Police Positive Special .38 N.P. CIG". The serial # is 512632. I called Colt customer service and the person I spoke to said it would ony shoot .38 N.P. which haven't been made in decades. A 9/15/07 post on THR by "Old Fuff" seems to indicate it's the same caliber. Additionally, a dealer I spoke to at a local gun show said that the N.P designation was used by Colt because they didn't want to put S&W on their product. This dealer even chambered a .38 S&W for me and it seemed to chamber perfectly. Any help out there.

 

[TomcatPC]

Hello

According to my Speer Reloading Manual, it says that the .38 S&W was also known as the .38 Colt New Police. Hopefully that helps you out a bit.
I don't know much about Colt revolvers, so I could be wrong, but I always thought the the Colt "Police Positive" was chambered for the shorter cartridges like the .38 Colt New Police (.38 S&W), and other similar cartridges. Whilst the Colt "Police Positive Special" was chambered for the the longer .38 Special cartridge? Like I said, this is just what I have heard, or thought I had heard.

I work at a sporting good store in Toledo, Ohio and noticed a Colt Police Positive Special .38 Special revovler in the pistol case this morning. I like the older style revolvers more than the modern revolvers, so it was good seeing something like that for sale. I think they wanted too much....LOL, but still neat to see it.
Hope I helped.
Mark

P.S. It might be worth it to re-post this in the "Handguns-Revolvers" section.

 

[Old Fuff]

During the late 1890's and early 1900's Colt made a .32 revolver that was named the New Police model. It got the name because it was especially designed for the New York City Police Department, which at the time was headed by Teddy Roosevelt. Later, it was offered as a .38, but understandably Colt didn't want to mark their revolvers with anything that had S&W in it.

So they got the ammunition companies to make an identical cartridge, but with a small flat on the bullet's nose. This accomplished, they called it the Colt .38 New Police. Over the years at different times it was cataloged for use in New Police, Police Positive and Police Positive Special revolvers. The two cartridges (.38 S&W and .38 Colt New Police) are interchangeable in any revolvers designed to shoot either.

But by the middle 1950's the demand had slacked off, and the .38 C.N.P. was largely discontinued. Since .38 S&W rounds work fine in its place this wasn't any loss.

A Colt Police Positive Special, Sr. # 512632 would have been made during 1949, and they were cataloged in both .38 CNP and .38 Special. Many if not most of those made in .38 CNP were exported overseas.

 

[Lone Star]

I think that Fuff is right on. The Police Positive wasn't made after the war, but British Commonwealth countries wanted something they could shoot their official .38/200 ammo in. That equals the .38 S&W, although the bullet weight is usually heavier.

Colt just chambered some PP Special guns for overseas sale. I guess a few were sold here, too.

Prior to that time, the shorter round did indeed go into the shorter-framed Police Positive. (Not Special.)

Lone Star

 

[BHP FAN]

Nope,they are NOT interchangable.I can use .38 Colts in my S&W revolver,but NOT S&W cartridges in a revolver chambered in .38 Colt.Why?The .38 S&W is FATTER than .38 Colt.It has nothing to do with bullet shape they're the same [round nose] and everything to do with overall cartridge diameter.Also,the .38 S&W uses a .361 bullet,and the Colt uses a .357.