Police Postive or Police Positive Special?

[Kaylee]

Hrmm.. okay, well after making my own and not liking the result, I finally decided to give in and order a replacement set of grips for Granddad's ol' .38. Based on TFL recommendations, I went over to gunpartscorp to find a set... and saw they listed "Colt Police Positve" and "Colt Police Positive Special" separately. So um... which do I order from?

The revolver is chambered in .38 special, has a square butt, and is marked with patent dates 1884, 1900, and 1905. No serial # that I can find, I'm GUESSING Granddad got it after WWII and before the 70's, but I have no way of confirming that now.

Can anyone tell me whether I need to be asking for "Colt Police Positive" or "Colt Police Positive Special" grips? Or is there a difference?

Thanks!

-K

 

[Thirties]

My Colt is stamped "Police Positive Special" right on the barrel. Then it says .38 special ctg.

What does yours say on the barrel? I would order whatever it says on yours. however, I don't know enough about Colt revolvers to tell you if there is any grip difference between the two, sorry.

As for the serial number, open the cylinder and look for the serial number stamped in the crane. Mine is 2476xx and I've been told it dates from 1922,

 

[Kaylee]

ah! thank you! serial # 1926xx.

The barrel marking just says "police positive, .38 special" I had thought the "Special" model meant .38 special, as opposed to earlier .38 cartridges, but perhaps I'm wrong?

-K

 

[Mal H]

I think you're right Kaylee. When Colt's swapped the .38 S&W chambering with the .38 Spcl for the PP, they called the new model the "PP Special". The PP Special was still chambered for the previous calibers (.32-20, .32 NP, .38 NP), not .38 Spcl exclusively

 

[Old Fuff]

The Police Positive Special was introduced in 1908 with serial number 1. Your revolver in the 192,600 range was made in 1920. It most likely had black, hard rubber grips. Original ones are somewhat hard to find, but The Gun Parts Corp. has modern plastic replacements that duplicate the original style. Note that in 1920 this revolver had a square butt. After World War Two, Colt changed to the rounded version used on the Detective Special.

In my Parts Corporation Catalog #23 on page 1069 they have some oversized Jay-Scott inletted stock blanks that can be worked into almost anything you want, including some for the “Detective Special, Narrow Square Butt.†They’ll cost you $5.20 plus shipping. I’d take a chance.

 

[Jim K]

Hi, Kaylee,

On that gun the serial number is under the crane and is on the crane itself and on the frame. On an S&W that would be the assembly number, but on those Colts it is the actual serial number. If you give it (use a final x if you want) we can tell you when the gun was made.

The term "positive" meant that the gun was made with Colt's "positive" hammer block to prevent the gun from firing unless the trigger was pulled fully to the rear. When Colt brought it out, they redesigned several guns to use it and added the word "Postive" to the previous name.

Jim