Colt Diamondback Price

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Olympus

Olympus

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I've got a lead on a Colt Diamondback 4" nickel. They guy wants $350 for it. :what:

From what I see on Gunbroker this looks like a deal. Am I wrong? Do I need to take off work just so I can go buy this gun? After I hung up the phone with the guy I thought maybe it was that cheap because it might be the .22 caliber. So I called back and he says no, it's the .38.

What should I do?:confused:
 
Run don't walk with cash in hand. OR, tell me where he is!

BTW the .22 won't be any cheaper. At this price I might even be tempted to buy one with some problems depending on what they are.

Print the sticky on how to tell if a revolver is any good from this forum and take it with you.
 
Actually the 22 would be worth a lot more money in nickel than in 38.
It's a Schmokin deal either way.;)

Good luck, Jeff (GUNKWAZY)
 
Well I snagged it for $300. I took the advice and went and bought it. Mechanically it looks like it's going to be awesome. Unfortunately the person had kept it in a humid basement and had pretty much forgotten about it for years. It has some dark spots on the nickel plating. I probably won't be able to buff them out, but I may try. I'm not too familiar with nickel so I may try to see if I can have it replated.

Also, I noticed that the pin on the hammer had some up and down movement. Is this normal? Should I run it by a gunsmith and have them look it over?
 
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Well I just checked with Colt and they said it would be $325 to strip the whole gun down and have it renickeled and make it look brand new again. I think I'm gonig to go ahead and have this done. After that, I'd still only have $625 in the gun and if it was in new condition then I'd feel pretty happy with spending that much.

What does everyone else think?
 
Hold on... Hold on.
before you just pass it along to Colt for a refinish (Which they do excellent work by the way). try to polish the spots with FLITZ. It comes as a paste in a tube. It's not cheap, but it works wonders.

Jeff (GUNKWAZY)
 
Where do I go about finding this "FLITZ"?

And what about the movement in the pin on the hammer? Colt says they'll fix that for free. I'm playing with it now and I noticed that when I cock the hammer, one of the cylinder doesn't lock in. What I mean is, I pull the hammer back and wiggle the big cylinder. I cock the hammer again and rotate it and wiggle it again. I do this for all 6. One of them doesn't lock when I pull the hammer back. When I wiggle, it then moves it enough to lock like the other 5.
 
I know you're the Colt man Jeff, so what about my other problems?

And is there anything special I need to do when using Flitz? Just rub it on a clean cloth and buff it off or what?
 
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Some up and down movement is normal with the hammer mounted firing pin.
As far as lock up goes, (Make sure the gun is NOT loaded) does the cylinder move when you pull just the hammer back all the way, now pull the trigger back all the way and release the hammer while holding the trigger back the whole time. While still holding the trigger back, try to twist the cylinder side to side and front to back. Does it wiggle at all, or is it locked up tight at this point ?

FLITZ: Use a soft cloth to apply the Flitz. A little dab will go a long way. Make sure you don't have a lot of nylon in the rag. Old worn out cotton T-shirts work great. Seriously, I have a very old cloth Diaper that I use to polish with. The diaper is for the guns, not me by the way. Although it does sound funny when I ask wife if she's done washing my diaper.:rolleyes:

FYI: I'm not the Colt man, that would be Dfariswheel or Doctor D, he's a wealth of Colt knowledge.;)

Jeff (GUNKWAZY)
 
No, I checked the lockup on the gun before I bought it. Dropped the hammer while still holding the trigger in and tried to move the cylinder. Very tight! It just does that little thing when it rounds around to one particular hole. Thanks for letting me know about the hammer mounted firing pin before. I have experience with those and just wanted to make sure it wasn't something that needed attention.

Sorry to get you confused. I just thought I had remembered you commenting on a bunch of Colt posts.

I'll try the Flitz if I can find it.
 
try to polish it yourself first.
re-finishing it will ruin the resale value, which is probably already over $700 without touching it. If it's *electroless* nickle/coltguard, then you're talking something crazy like $1500 if it cleans up nicely.

My partner has a refinished one in .38 and it's a tack driver. carry-up is best when cocking fast or shooting DA.

Standard pressure loads only in that gun, if you want it to last. No +P. If you want to shoot +P loads, sell it to someone on this board for $400 and get yourself a good used K-frame Smith or a Ruger.

-Daizee
 
If its been sitting for a long time ,don't forget a clean and oil before you make a judgement on lock up . Old lubes can stiffen and cause drag on parts like the bolt lock.

A few blotchy spots on the nickel finish isn't going to make it shoot bad - you sure you want to spend a bunch on a refinish ?
 
Well I'm going to try to polish the spots off myself. But if that doesn't work to my standards, I'll send it in. I'll send it back to Colt for the electrolis method that they use. It's definitely not going to be $1500. I don't remembered if I posted it already, but Colt will completely strip it and replate it back to factory for $325. They will also redo all the roll marks for $125. I don't really know if having the gun replated by Colt will hurt the resale value, I'd say it can only improve it.
 
Refinished guns are seldom worth what an original one is in the same condition. If I refinished a revolver, I would consider it a personal choice rather than a business choice. The collector choice is to leave it alone.
 
IDEA

As you can see by the limited # of posts i have i usually don't have much to say. But this is an exception.

Keep the gun as it is. Polish it up yourself & however it turns out is fine. It only cost $300. Use the $350 you were thinking about refinishing the gun with to buy ammo, reloading supplies, nra membership upgrade, take the wife out to dinner, ect, ect. Jim p

THANK YOU COACH DITKA I WILL SIT QUIETLY AND WAIT FOR YOUR REPLY.
 
A refinished nickel Dback will be worth 50% less than a Dback with some age spots on it.

Don't believe me? Find out the hard way then!
 
Fair enough....I'll polish it myself and leave it as is.

Just a question though, if I send it to Colt and they completely remove the plating and replate it and redo the roll marks, how would someone be able to tell if it was refinished?
 
I didn't mean that as I was going to try to pawn mine off as original. I was wanting to know for future reference. I'm still looking for a Python and I'd like to be able to know how to tell if one has been refinished or not.
 
The collectors I know will look for signs of aftermarket refinishing such as a finish on the trigger or hammer that does not match original production. I suspect that factory re-finish would not have this problem or the "fading" of roll marks that a sub standard refinishing job produces.

First examination of a gun whose finish is perfect but still exhibits subtler signs of wear will cause most collectors to assume a refinished gun. There are many subtle ways to asses wear and it is expected that finish will be consistent with other clues.
 
Before you make any decision, post some pics and get some of the learned guys to weigh in.

Trust me...you can get some serious expert opinion from the High Road community
 
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