Colt Police Model .38 ???'s

[K-Man]

My father-in-law owns a Colt Police Model, Limited Edition, .38. Since he knows I make holsters for a living and deal with a lot of different guns, he asked me to find out what I could about it.

This is what I know:

a. It's blued - excellent condition. I would say 95%+.
b. He says it's a 6" barrel - looks more like 5" to me.
c. Has the brown, checkered grips with the silver inlaid colt mustang emblem. Grips are not cracked or marred.
d. Also has the colt mustang engraved on the frame on both sides just forward of the grips.
e. Does not have the box.

He says it functions flawlessly. I'm making a western style gun belt and cross-draw holster for it for father's day for him.

Can anyone provide any other history as to this model by Colt?

Thanks!

 

[Jim Watson]

I have never heard of a "Colt Police Model Limited Edition." Is that how the gun is marked?
The main Colt service revolvers with "police" in the model name were the Police Positive, the Police Positve Special, and the Official Police. Should be on the left side of the barrel.

 

[Lone Star]

Measure the barrel from the face of the cylinder to the muzzle. Weigh the gun. These will give us major clues.

Or, as a last resort, READ THE MARKINGS ON THE BARREL! Unless the gun is quite old, a Colt will usually have the model name written on it.

And you can find gun books that illustrate virtually all models of Colt firearms.

Lone Star

 

[K-Man]

It was marked as Colt Official Police Model.

I'll get him to make a measurement so we know for sure on the barrel length.

 

[Josey]

It should be marked on the left side of barrel; COLT OFFICIAL POLICE 38. These had walnut with silver medllions grips. The front sight should be serrated, the rear sight trough should have serrations on either side and the length of the topstrap. There should be a address line, patents and the last date would help date it. Is the rear sight a insert? It would be a drift adjustable, square notch. I would assign a value of $450-475.00. Standard pressure 38 Special ammunition in 158 gr is a good load.

 

[dfariswheel]

The Colt Official Police started out in 1908 as the Army Special. This was wishful advertising since no army ever bought it.

In 1927 Colt renamed it as the Colt Official Police.
From 1927 up until the mid-1960's that's just what it was, THE official police revolver for many, many police departments and individual police officers, private guards, and civilians.
From the 20's through the 50's if you were a cop, especially in the Eastern US, you likely carried an OP.

The OP was available in about any configuration you could want, with the standard being:
Calibers of .22LR, .32-20, .38 Colt Short, .38 Colt Long, .38 Special, and in the early days, .41 Colt.
Barrels of 2", 4", 5", and 6".
Finish was blue or bright nickel.
In it's early days, grips were hard "Gutta Percha" rubber with molded in checkering.
In the 1930's this was changed to checkered walnut with silver medallions.
During WWII and until the early 1950's the grips were brown "ColtWood" plastic grips.
In the early 50's they went back to checkered walnut.

During WWII an unpolished, parkerized model was made for war-time issue to police, defense plant guards, and military issue. This was known as the Colt Commando.

The early guns were built on what Colt called the "41" frame after a very early similar sized revolver chambered for a .41 caliber round.

Later, they renamed the frame size the "E" frame, and after WWII, renamed it again as the "I" frame.
This "E&I" mid-frame size was used for an entire series of revolvers in calibers ranging from .22LR to .357 Magnum.

Among other guns built on this frame were the:
Officer's Model series target revolvers, like the Officer's Model Target,
Officer's Model Special, and the Officer's Model Match.
The rare Marshall Model.
The 357 Model.
The original Trooper.
The Python.

The OP was Colts "bread and butter" model and was sold in the many hundreds of thousands in America, and all over the world.