Colt Trooper MkIII 22mag thoughts?

[bikemutt]

I spotted a nice Colt Trooper MkIII in 22 mag this week, dealer, $1000. Seems like a very lightly used gun, bore is mint.

My big trepidation is the bluing on the frame looks classic Colt, the barrel is not so blue and appears more dull. Dealer says it's the way Colt polished the parts, not so sure about that.

Thoughts THR Colt experts?

 

[Vern Humphrey]

He's right -- the MKIII is a late Colt, after polish and blue standards had dropped.

 

[dfariswheel]

Even if it dropped the finish on the barrel and frame should match closely.

When you have a barrel one level of finish and the frame another alarms should go off.

 

[22-rimfire]

I feel the same way. They should be pretty consistent, dull blue perhaps, but consistent. We all know it is no royal blue python. The Diamondback bluing was never as nice as pythons either.

 

[Jim K]

A good picture or two might help in determining what you have.

Jim

 

[Confederate]

I remember reading reviews at the time saying the Diamonback was no Python. Accuracy was only so-so. It supposedly greatly improved with the Mark V.

What's the barrel length?

 

[bannockburn]

bikemutt

Kind of depends on when it was made. I can remember seeing a lot of uneven finishes and less than perfectly fitted parts on Colts during their labor unrest years.