Colt Trooper Value Question

[Billy Sparks]

Saturday I had some time to kill so I wandered into a local pawn shop to look over his firearms. In the case he had a Colt Trooper III in .22 magnum, blued with a 4" barrel. I didn't have time to look it over in detail but it has me intrigued. What is a good price for it and what should I look for?

 

[dfariswheel]

The .22 Magnum Trooper Mark III was a fairly low production model.

Value depends entirely on actual value, but a good starting figure would be at least $350 or more.

The Mark III is certainly the strongest .22 rim fire revolver ever made, and the guns are tanks.
Accuracy is almost always astounding and the blue job is a quality no longer seen.

What to look for is the usual "dinked up" screws, whether the grips are original Colt walnut Target types, rust, pitting, any signs of abuse, corroded bore or chambers, battered cylinder locking notches, etc.

The Mark III should be dry fired ONLY with empty cases in the chambers. If dry fired empty, the firing pin "may" break, and this requires a trip back to Colt to have a new pin installed. This IS NOT a do-it-yourself job or a job for the local gunsmith. It takes some special equipment.

 

[Confederate]

I didn't even know there was such an animal.

My biggest gripe with the Colt Mark III is the grip. I personally wouldn't care if it came with a Colt wood grip, the design was made for an ape. Thin at the top where it should be thicker and thicker at the bottom where it should be thin. I'd rather have a Pachmayr.

The revolver itself is very heavy -- but they are built well; and if the gun still has a significant amount of bluing left, it might be a real keeper. I myself wouldn't have much use for such a beast, but I'd sure pay $350 without blinking if it didn't have any rust or pitting. Four hundred might be reasonable, too, if it is in good shape. The frame is forged and the workmanship is superb. Even so, there was a period where some shoddy Mark IIIs were popping up. The workers were members of the United Auto Workers if I recall.



This is the .22LR version.

 

[Gordon]

I got one of those and the Farisswheel is spot on. The Blue work rivals my Python! The mag is noisy and fun and accurate. I get 1400+fps from 40 grain Winchester in my 4" barrel-whats not to like? Around $350 is a good price, but Colt revolvers are all going thru the roof.

 

[atblis]

I would say

$400-$600 would probably be what you could get for it assuming it was decent.

$350 is a good price. 22 mag ammo aint too cheap though.

 

[R. Deckard]

Trooper

This is my like new in box 6 inch 22 lr, maybe 50 rds through it. Took it to the gun show this past weekend to maybe trade towards something new and the most any of the venders would offer me was $300.00. I know they are trying to make a buck but I thought that was way too low a price. Are the Troopers that less a quality pistol as the Diamondbacks and Pythons? one guy that offerred me $300.00 had a 4 inch Diamondback 22 that he was asking $1000.00 for!

 

[dfariswheel]

The Python and to a lesser extent the Diamondback are considerably more expensive guns than the Trooper Mark III.
The Python was essentially a semi-custom built, hand made revolver that was the finest production double action of all time.
The Diamondback wasn't made to the same standards as the Python, but it too was a hand assembled revolver that's higher quality than anything offered today.

The Trooper Mark III and all the later Colt DA revolvers were targeted to sell at lower prices, and were in the same class as the S&W 686, albeit slightly higher quality.

The Colt's like the Python and Diamondback are "hot items" and are bringing skyrocketing prices.
FOR NOW, the Trooper Mark III and later models are seen as shooters.

The people who offered you only $300. for a nice Trooper Mark III .22 are in the business of buying LOW and selling HIGH.
I'd bet that if you sold it, they'd have it out next show for anything from $450 to $650, or even more.
Take a look at the online gun auctions for finished auctions and you'll see that the .22 Trooper Mark III's are selling for MUCH higher prices than $300.

Since the .22 rim fire Mark III's were not produced in huge numbers they typically bring higher prices than the much more common .357 Magnum models.

 

[johnny blaze]

I would say that it being a 22 Magnum, that it is worth much more than the standard 22. The reason that I am saying this is that the 22 Magnum is scarce.
A Diamond Back in 22 is around 700 to 1000 right now.
If you find a 22 Magnum, it will bring 2000 to 2400. While the demand is not as high for this particular revolver, it should bring more than the standard 22.
The above is assuming that the revolvers are in very good condition.

 

[22-rimfire]

If the 4" 22WMR Trooper Mark III is in 98%+ condition, it has increasing collector value. For shooting, I would rather have a 6". If it is in great condition and I wanted one, I would be hard pressed to turn it down unless the price was over $600.

The $300 number does not surprise me at all. You can get more on a private sale.

I think the main issue that caused the demise of the Trooper was the availability of the Diamondback. The Diamondback was more expensive, but not unreasonably so. Per the 1983 Gun Digest (c 1982), the Trooper Mk III pricing ranged from $324.00 (4" Blue) to $356 (8" Nickel finish). The Diamondback was priced at about $400 ($397-$406) depending on 4" or 6" model. I would have purchased the Diamondback 22 since it is lighter, had a great reputation for accuracy, and was smaller in a D-Frame. The 22 version of the Mark III did not last long.

My dominant shooter 357 is a 6" Trooper Mark III. I love it!

 

[skeezix]

E-Nickel .22 mag

Here's a picture of my 6 inch Trooper MKIII .22 mag finished in electrolys nickel (aka Coltguard). I've seen some information that this particular configuration is rare and the gun might be worth "something". No box or papers, so I guess it would sell only as a "shooter grade", even though it is definitely a 98%+ gun.