Colt Agent 2" ....

[Swing]

I found a Colt Agent, with a 2" barrel, chambered in .38Spl for sale locally. It appears to be in great shape. The seller is asking $400. I'm really not up on Colt wheelguns so my question is if this is a reasonable asking price or nada? A quick peek at GB indicates it is not a bad deal.

Thanks much.

P.S. Are aftermarket grips readily available? How about those old hammer shrouds?

 

[scramasax]

I wouldn't sell mine that low. If it is in good shape, it is lower than buying a new five shot snubby for carry.

 

[Panzerschwein]

I'd run it through the "revolver checkout" (http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=695644) and if all is well and the finish was decent, I'd snatch up that lil' agent in a heartbeat.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

If it's one of the newer Agents with the rough finish and is wearing the factory grips, that is a decent price. I would not put more than $450 in a gun as I described.

 

[Swing]

Thanks all. The seller describes it as an "older Colt" and "close to unused." The pics I've seen appear to reflect that, but the soonest I will see it in person is tomorrow. It does have original factory grips.

 

[Gordon]

polished or dull grey finish? Shrouded or unshrouded barrel? Any way still worth that much if in great shape

 

[.455_Hunter]

My wife's primary defensive gun is a 1966 Agent with some aftermarket Pachmayrs.

Very reliable, easy to shoot, and prints right on the sights with standard pressure 158 gr LRN or SWC ammo- Perfect!

 

[Swing]

polished or dull grey finish? Shrouded or unshrouded barrel? Any way still worth that much if in great shape

Here are pics I received via email:

 

[Gordon]

First production of the "commando finish" Agent when the Colt Polishers went on strike around 1980 I think. (Ferris Wheel will date it exactly ) The good news is all the interior parts are well fitted just as good as other Colt old style action revolvers were at the time, which is very nice triggers and timing. Also being a latter shrouded series the metallurgy is superior to the earlier series (says I ) and thus a stronger and more durable gun. I have had 3 of these matted ones , wearing out the first one from using free +P+ Treasury 110 grain loads and it took thousands of rounds to do it! The second one got few of those hotties but saw thousands of my own 158 wadcutters at what is now called a +P load of Unique. That one was still tight enough, but hyper slick, to trade away before the timing went off. I have another now and took the nice wood grips off (which actually have a filler bottom which cancels the Agen't one plus over a Cobra- a shorter grip frame)for Colt Pachy Compacts and it gets carried in a cargo pants pocket or Motorcycle vest in a Myka holster. As you might guess I am pretty proefficient with an Agent by now. I also have the semi polished blued unshrouded Agent from the 60s with it's bitty checked walnut grip and it is in 90% shape and I don't carry it as I much prefer the later Shrouded barrel Agent like you are buying. Those Matte Agents are real sleepers accuracy wise and print bitty groups when held right.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I have bought more than one of the Agents as pictured. $400-$450 is a fair price in today's market. I use one as a front pocket gun.

 

[bannockburn]

Swing

I would do a very thorough check-out of the gun as I had one of those matte finished Agents and it was very poorly put together. The cylinder was not properly fitted with the end result being that it couldn't make it through a full rotation without being becoming stuck against the end of the barrel. The action was also rough and and somewhat heavy, primarily in double action use. I ended up taking a loss on it and traded it in on a Ruger Speed Six.

 

[Swing]

Thank you all for the details. I received another email from the seller. He said he researched it and found it is "collectible" and now is asking $1,095. That price may be in line or not, but I'm walking on this one.

Thanks.

 

[Panzerschwein]

Well for what ANY Colt DA revolver is going for today, or what some people think they're worth, this doesn't surprise me.

I'm not so sure the seller knows what he's talking about either.

 

[Swing]

I don't know enough about the current Colt landscape to make a judgement call on if his new asking prices is fine or out in left field. But I do know I was just looking for another snubbie, in .38 Spl, to shoot and pack. At four C-Notes, it was at, or beneath, what I'd be looking at to buy from GB, have it shipped, and pay the background/transfer fee. So at, almost, three times the original asking price, I'm moving on.

 

[Gordon]

$400 was good, $450-500 doable, $1095 is friggin nutz! Get a new S&W 642 for $449 and call it good

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I have one that is NIB. I doubt if it would bring more than $750 on GB. In all honesty, it's finish is awful.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I have one that is NIB. I doubt if it would bring more than $750 on GB. In all honesty, it's finish is awful.

Depends on what the buyer wants it for. I have a Detective Special I bought for $300 -- not NIB, I didn't care about that. I cared about the internals. This is a gun for carry and shooting, not displaying.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Other than the novelty of being a NIB 30 year old gun, mine is not fit for displaying. It is nothing beautiful....I paid $385 for it 3-4 years ago.

 

[rswartsell]

That one looks like the side-plate has been lifted by an amateur. Never a good sign, especially so with Colts. Do the revolver check out thoroughly and buyer beware.

 

[bannockburn]

Swing

This new asking price of $1095 to me is way out of line with what the gun is worth. I wouldn't care if it is NIB; these were "economy" versions of Colt's revolvers made during their ongoing years of labor problems and their sub-standard fit and finish reflected that. Keep looking as I'm sure there are better deals to be found on Colt Agents out there.

 

[HexHead]

$400 was a very good price on that. $1000+ is, well he's crazy. Now if it was a nicely blued 95+% condition gun, $1000 would still be high. But no where near that for a Parkerized UAW strike era one.

 

[smkummer]

Very smart to walk at that price

These were $199 retail in the early 80's when introduced. I love mine. Since it was made after 1965 it has the short modern grip frame and you have several options for stocks. I like the wood stock that they used, it was fatter at the bottom and gave a good feel. Like stated, this was more of a cobra because of the longer stocks. The parkerized finish is at home today and its really tough! Earlier agents had a anodized finish on the aluminum frame and my 1962 agent that I currently carry has scratches that are hard to cover up. I don't care as its a carry gun. My 1982 agent is tight as ever, functions perfect and when I carry it, it is with plus P. I practice with standard pressure though and even prefer mid-range wadcutters for mild recoil. If you still want this gun, just print off a competed auction from gun broker, and show him what they sell for, I have recently seen these in the 300 range. Since the parkerized finish wears really well, about the only way to see if it was cycled or shot a lot is to check for wear in the cylinder bolt slots. Its pretty rare to find any of the alloy frame guns such as the cobra or agent that were fired a lot. Most are carried more than fired.

 

[Old Fuff]

The Old Fuff, who is a long time Colt D-frame fanboy, would not be in any hurry to buy one of the sandblasted Agent or Commando revolvers. The reason for the rough finish is because the management had let they're best polishers go because they were trying to cut labor costs. Being number-crunchers they didn't realize that the basic design of these revolvers - dating back to 1908 - required experienced/skilled workers to come out right. Of all the D-frame snubbies, these are the worst. Also they have no particular collectors' value because serious (in the sense they have money to blow) collectors have absolutely no interest in them.

For $400 to $600 you can still find examples of either Detective Special's (steel frame) or Cobra/Agent's (aluminum frame) that are mechanically fine but have a little minor finish wear. These represent a much better buy then the ones now under discussion.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

For $400 to $600 you can still find examples of either Detective Special's (steel frame) or Cobra/Agent's (aluminum frame) that are mechanically fine but have a little minor finish wear. These represent a much better buy then the ones now under discussion.

My DS was made in the '50s and is as fine a revolver as you could wish for.

 

[Old Fuff]

My DS was made in the '50s and is as fine a revolver as you could wish for.

I would expect so. During that time period most of Colt's problems lay in the future, and the management was reasonably competent. Their biggest failure was to not recognize they couldn't keep making revolvers as they had been since 1908, and survive. That said, what they did produce was top quality.