Colt Official Police

[Walkalong]

I picked up a Colt Official Police last week off GB and picked it up today. It's a non converted .38-200. I love shooting my S&W Victory Model in .38 S&W and I am looking forward to shooting this Colt side by side with it.

If I can believe my pin gauges (+.000 / -.0002) four throats are .359 and the other two are .358. The chambers have a beautiful taper from them to the throats. They are nice and smooth and the bore is excellent.

It has marks from use, some scratches, but mostly honest wear. It was clean and rust free under the grips. It was bone dry with a little bit of fouling in the cylinder. I cleaned it up and wiped it down with RIG grease. I also dribbled Slip 2000 down in the lockwork etc. After just a little bit of working the action the Colt clickity clack when you open and close the cylinder came back and everything smoothed out. DA is nice and SA is crisp.

It's the first gun (Except for an AR upper), that I have bought in some time, but I couldn't resist this one.

 

[Paul7]

Nice, love the 5" barrel. How do you get the Slip2000 in the action, do you take the grips off for that?

 

[Walkalong]

Dropped it in from there, plus in front of the hammer, removed the crane and cylinder and cleaned \lubed it, dribbled it in around the cylinder stop, dropped some in above the hand. Let it sit, work the action. Let it sit, work the action.

I forgot to mention, four chambers lock up "bank vault" tight, while two have slight movement.

 

[Old Fuff]

Colt blueprints call for .358 chamber throats. Barrel groove diameter should be .354-.356.

Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, and by 1940 had conquered most of Western Europe. The British quickly approached both Colt and Smith & Wesson concerning .38 revolvers chambered to use their service cartridge, that was identical to the .38 Colt Police Positive/Colt New Police - that were clones of the .38 S&W.

Colt responded by changing the cylinders and barrels of revolvers they had in stock, while making new ones under the name Commando.

Colt Official Police .38 revolvers that are not found with British or Commonwealth property stamps and proof marks are between scarce and rare. Most, if not all were diverted from foreign orders and sent to US defense plants and law enforcement agencies, and the quantity was only a few thousand at best.

You have a nice piece of history there.

 

[bannockburn]

Walkalong

It's the first gun (Except for an AR upper), that I have bought in some time, but I couldn't resist this one.

I can see why! Nice acquisition of one my all time favorite Colt revolvers.

 

[Walkalong]

What is this mark?

 

[Will_G]

From what I have read, that appears to be a "Crown W" mark that indicates the revolver was inspected at Woolwich Arsenal in the UK. What a cool Official Police you have!

Will

 

[Old Fuff]

According to my reference, the stamp was used on Colt .38-200 Official Police revolvers supplied under British contract, (not Lend Lease).

Another story concerning the mark claims that the "W" stood for Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands who had fled to England in 1940 during the time of the German invasion.

Britain supplied a number of expatriate forces from occupied countries, so the tale may, or may not be true. I do know that a Polish Commando Unit ended up with Colt .38 Super automatics because they're weren't enough to supply a larger outfit.

As a rule, any arms that were used by regular UK forces were heavily stamped with all kinds of property and proof marks. The lack of these makes the above story seem more possible.

 

[Walkalong]

Very interesting, and thank you.

The only things on the gun are the Rampant Colt, the Crown looking stamp with the W in it, COLT OFFICIAL POLICE 38-200 on the left side of the barrel. (Official & Police are on top of each other in between Colt & 38-200.)

On top of the barrel are two lines. They read:

COLT'S PT.F.A.MFG.CO.HARTFORD.CT.USA.
PAT'D.AUG.5 1884,JULY4,1905,OCT.5.1926


The crane has 663627 stamped on it, which matches the frame. There is nothing under the grips.

 

[Old Fuff]

All of the indicated marking are standard except the "W one. The crane is serial numbered to the frame because it was individually to it. It was eccentual that the right crane get back on the correct frame after both were blued (or whatever).

In 1940-41 things were going on that we know about, or think we do, or haven't got the foggiest.

What makes you're revolver interesting is that it is highly likely part of a British order, and supposedly intended for their armed forces. Thus it should be covered with proof and property marks. This would seem to mean that it didn't go through the regular channels.

My first thought was that it was still at Colt's after Pearl Harbor, and the Defense Supply Corporation (DSC) that controlled distribution of firearms not allocated to our military services had sent it to a defense plant or law enforcement agency.

But then it wouldn't have the "W" stamp, as it wasn't something Colt apparently did.

In other words what you have is not what I would expect, and that's good.

 

[threefeathers]

What an interesting find, good job.

 

[reddog81]

Nice looking, interesting, good condition, old Colt. In my book it doesn't get much better than that.

 

[Hondo 60]

Absolutely nothing like a Colt with some honest wear.

I have an Army Special 38 made in 1915.

Congrats on the nice find.

 

[Tallball]

Great find! I am more and more thinking that I really ought to own at least one Colt revolver...

 

[bannockburn]

Walkalong

Got to love the history behind these wartime revolvers. I have a S&W M&P revolver in .38 Special that was in all likelihood used by the DSC to supply armed guards at some installation or factory involved in the War effort. On the right side plate "GE Co." was electropenciled on it; possibly indicating it went to a General Electric plant. The serial number does not have a V prefix and there are no U.S. Government acceptance marks or any other markings on the gun.

 

[Walkalong]

Nice!. They are fun to shoot.

 

[Jim Watson]

Neat. I wish I had bought every TVA gun I could find when our Public Safety "modernized."
Things like S&W revolvers, but especially the Reising Guns and Thompsons.

 

[stoky]

very classy old gats guys
congrats!

 

[Old Fuff]

The serial number does not have a V prefix and there are no U.S. Government acceptance marks or any other markings on the gun.

I will speculate that the serial number is below 999,999.

Which is the reason it doesn't have a "V" prefix, nor U.S military markings common too "V" guns. This does not mean it couldn't have been government purchased however.

Smith & Wesson had the odd practice of making and serial numbering frames before they were made into complete guns. And when this was done the frames were picked out at random, not in numerical order. So when a reference says the gun was made during a certain year, the truth is that the frame was, but maybe not the complete revolver. What really matters are the company's shipping records that document when it left the factory as an obviously complete revolver.

So it is quite possible it was shipped after December 8, 1941, and it indeed did go to the DSC, or perhaps directly to GE or whoever.

 

[Walkalong]

My "Victory" model has a 5" barrel, is parkerized, has serial number 83166 with a 5 above it. (No V)

It has NOTENGLISHMAKE on both the barrel and frame. The frame also has two crossed swords with letters E, B, & I.

It has markings that look kind of a crown on top of a circle mark.

There are three on the barrel. They have a BV, a BP, and one I can't read inside the circles.

The frame has one with a BV in it.

The cylinder has one in between each cylinder notch. A BV, a BP, one I can't read, another BV, another BP, and another I can't read.

 

[bannockburn]

Old Fuff

Thanks for the historical background context; I wasn't aware of S&W's practice of serial numbering frames before they were made into finished revolvers and then taken at random to fill a particular order. My gun's serial number is in the 9XXXXX range. Very interesting information to know in reference to wartime production.

As a side note, the neat thing about the possible GE connection is that my Dad briefly worked for General Electric before he went into the Army. His enlistment was deferred as the company needed him at the plant to offset all of the workers who had left when they enlisted after the war began.