colt revolver

[mom4ever25]

I have what i think is a Colt 38. cal revolver. I no no little about it other then it was my grandfathers. I need to find out as much as I can about this gun and some others I have, as my Husband has passed away and I need the money. The only numbers on it that I can find are 810606. On the Barrel it says NEW SERVICE 38 W.D.F. On top on the barrel its say COLT'S PT FAMFG CO. HARTFORD CT. USA PAT'D AUG. 5 1884 , JUNE 5, 1900 JULY 4, 1905. Any information on this gun would be greatly appreciated. It also has little sliver buttons on both sides of the handle that says colt and has a little horse on them. The handle seems to have a plastic or other material with a dimond design on it. The guns appears to be in good to very good condition. Would like to know the value of it and where it was most likely used and when. Thanks for any help given.

 

[CHEVELLE427]

what part of the country are you in, you will need to put that in the title or the mods will poof the post

 

[average_shooter]

Better yet this should be moved to Firearms Research section.

 

[TexasRifleman]

Yes, moved to the research section since there is no actual sale offered here.

Hope you find some info on your Colt.

 

[Starter52]

The New Service was a large frame double action revolver made by Colt for the military and police organizations. They are most common in .45 Colt caliber and in .45 ACP. Your gun in chambered for the .38 WCF; also known as the .38-40.

Your gun has definite collector value. You should check the gun auction sites for the prices of recent sales.

 

[Old Fuff]

As as been previously explained, you apparently have a Colt New Service model revolver, chambered to use the .38-40 cartridge. This cartridge was also known as the .38 W.C.F (Winchester Center Fire) as it was originally introduced by that company for use in they're rifles and carbines. Colt made several revolvers that used the same cartridge so that one could carry both a revolver and rifle, and use the same ammunition in both.

The New Service revolver was made from 1898 to about 1944 or '45. During that time they made approximately 356,000 of them. The serial number is located on the frame behind the crane (the hinge part the cylinder swings out on) so you have to open the cylinder to see the number - just under the back end of the barrel. The number you posted (810,606) is greater then then the total number of guns made, so it must be in error. If for example the number was 310,606 the revolver would have been made in 1920.

The stocks should have been made out of molded black hard-rubber at that date, so I suspect the ones currently on the gun are replacements, dating from around 1940 or later.

The revolver is now considered to be a collector's item, and its value would be determined by the condition it's in. From your description I would give a rough estimate of $300 to $500, and perhaps a bit more if I have underestimated the condition.