Picked up a 4" Colt Trooper (.38 Spl) yesterday.

[Checkman]

Well I picked up a Colt Trooper 4" (.38 Special Heavy Barrel) yesterday. I was looking for either a . 38 Special Trooper, Official Police or a pre-1972 Detective Special. I found this Trooper yesterday. I haggeled with the owner a little bit and he dropped the price to $375.00. It helped that I could pay in cash. I went in with my Surefire flashlight and a jeweler loop. I had him take the grips off and checked it as completely as I could. The previous owner (or owners) had taken very good care of it. The serial number gives it a DOB sometime in 1960.

According to the store owner it is one of several revolvers that he is selling for a widow. Her husband passed away a few months ago. She had given him some leeway in the prices. Evidently her late husband knew how to take care of his firearms. I've been wanting a clean little Trooper for awhile so this wasn't an impulse buy. Also I spent yesterday shopping and I found one worn out OP and two Post-1972 Detective Specials for sale (I already own a post-72 DS).

The Trooper was at the end of the day and a pleasent surprise. It had what I believe are Herrett grips on it. I think they're Herretts, but I couldn't find any identifying marks. I took them off and put them on my OM Target. They just seem to fit better on the OM. I then installed the duty grips that were on the OM onto the Trooper. They also just "look" right on the Trooper in my opinion.

I've gotten into buying the older 38 revolvers - both S&W and Colt. Not as many people want them, I tend to find examples that are in better shape and the prices are usually lower than they are on the .357 magnums. Old Fuff turned me onto them many years ago. Guess it's a loud secret now.

Anyway a couple photos. Of the Trooper and laying next to the Officer Model.

I now own
Detective Special (post-72)
Lawman MK III snubbie
.38 Special Trooper - 4"
Officer Model Target - 6"

P.S. I know the photos are dark.

 

[PabloJ]

Nice revolver but I would gladly pay little extra and get Colt "Cop Duty" .357Mag.

 

[Zebraranger]

Congratulations on the find. Nice looking pair of Colts with barely a turn line on either.

 

[Checkman]

PabloJ

Nice revolver but I would gladly pay little extra and get Colt "Cop Duty" .357Mag.

Sure. Of course it would depend on the price. But I haven't seen either a Colt 357 or a .357 Trooper in several years here in my area. And I guess I'm old fashioned, but I still prefer to be able to physically inspect a gun before I spend several hundred dollars on it. Which is why I like to search the various gun auctions, but I don't buy from them.

I guess if I was willing to do that I would probably own many more interesting revolvers, but then again my finances can only go so far. So perhaps it's for the best that I'm limited to shops here in my corner of Idaho after all. It helps to keep me grounded.

 

[Checkman]

Zebraranger

Congratulations on the find. Nice looking pair of Colts with barely a turn line on either.

Thanks. Of course I wouldn't be honest if I didn't admit that I am also pretty happy with my recent finds.

 

[dfariswheel]

It appears to have the wrong grips on it.
Colt's that were originally fitted with Target grips have a flat headed rear side plate screw.
Guns fitted with the Service type grips on your gun had a rounded head rear screw.

With the price of Colt Target grips gone through the ceiling and heading for orbit, it's very common for guns to have the Target grips switched with something else.

However, your gun still has the Target hammer.
Still in all a very nice original Trooper.

 

[Checkman]

The Herretts were on it when I purchased it. I switched the service grips from the Officer Model to the Trooper and the Herretts from the Trooper to the OM.

 

[Tmygun]

I love the 38spl round, tain't a thing wrong with it. With modern ammo it's an effective and controllable round for defense.
Long live the 38spl!!!!

Tmygun

 

[Lucky Derby]

Congrats! I am very fond of the Trooper and Trooper .357. In fact my Trooper .357 from 1969 is on my hip right now.
I did something similar with the grips. This Trooper had the service grips on it as original. I purchased an Official Police that had a set of Badger grips on it. I put the badgers on the Trooper and the Service grips on the OP. They just seemed more appropriate.

 

[royal barnes]

My first issue handgun when I joined our PD in 1973 was a Trooper .38. It had the larger target grips and had been used by a member of the shooting team. The action was like glass. I purchased it for $75 when we transitioned to the Trooper MK III and had an action job done on it. I bought it for $100 when we changed over to the Smith 66 which I also purchased for $150 when we went to Smith semis. Of those three, the Trooper .38 is still my favorite and I still own all those plus a couple of semis bought during transitions.

 

[Checkman]

royal barnes

My first issue handgun when I joined our PD in 1973 was a Trooper .38. It had the larger target grips and had been used by a member of the shooting team. The action was like glass. I purchased it for $75 when we transitioned to the Trooper MK III and had an action job done on it. I bought it for $100 when we changed over to the Smith 66 which I also purchased for $150 when we went to Smith semis. Of those three, the Trooper .38 is still my favorite and I still own all those plus a couple of semis bought during transitions.

I like how the price kept going up on the used revolvers. You got some great ones there. My dad did the same thing when his agency switched models.

 

[edwin41]

colt

very nice gun indeed...
reminds my ... a month or two ago i was in a little gunshop in belgium..
was there to pick up some reloadingstuff , but was invited to go in their chamber
where they keep their guns..
my attention was caught by a brand new colt police positive, that just was laying there for decades , with the original colt labels still attached to it.
the price was 380 euros , thats some 400 dollar...

so there are still very nice handguns laying around somewhere...

 

[Checkman]

That is a good price for a Police Positive

 

[jimniowa]

I own a 4" Trooper I bought in the late 60's as The Python was not available. It is a heavy barrel 38/357 with combat sights in nickle plating. That is curious as I think the same gun had another name in .38sp at that time.
Jim

 

[Checkman]

In the late Sixties Colt introduced the MK III line of revolvers. There was the Mk III Trooper with adjustable sights (357), Lawman (357), Metropolitan (38 Special) and the Mk III Official Police with adjustable sights (38 Special) and a handful of Officer Model Mk III with adjustable sights and ventilated barrel rib were also made.

The Trooper Mk III was available with either a blued finish or a nickel finish. Not sure about the other Mk III models.

 

[Rshooter]

Nice acquisition, sounds like a good price also.

 

[Checkman]

A couple more photos. Better pictures.

 

[Old Fuff]

I sure hate to see you spending so much money on junk iron...

I don't believe they're is a piece of polymer in the whole lot...

Ain't no modern MIM parts in them, and nothing was likely turned out on a CNC controled machine...

And looks to me like they have human fingerprints all over them.

Such a waste of $$$$$$.

 

[Checkman]

Yeah I thought about wiping them off first, but decided to leave them.

 

[Remllez]

Very nice Colt, please let us know how she shoots!