Recently Acquired Colt Revolvers

[tleach]

Greetings all,

I just acquired 2 Colt revolvers this afternoon and could use a little help in dating them.

One of the guns is a Colt Frontier Scout Buntline in 22LR. The serial number is 98649F. The other revolver is a Colt Officer's Model Match in .38 special. Its serial number is 922048.

I have an Officer's Model Special that was made in 1950 so I am guessing that the OMM is similar in age. The actions are so sweet, however, the OMM's trigger is perhaps a little tighter.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Terry

 

[Black Knight]

Give Colt a call at 1-800-962-2658 and they will be more than happy to give you that info over the phone.

 

[Stoney]

Here ya go, this link will provide serial numbers dates for your Colt's.
http://proofhouse.com/index.htm

 

[moewadle]

On the Frontier Scout Buntline

the Wilkerson book would put that gun as being made circa 1959. The guns were not assembled in serial number order. The frames were made up and put more or less in a random mixed pile in a bin. Gunsmiths would assemble a complete gun so the smith would come to the bin, grab a frame that already had a serial number on it, and assemble the gun and then it would eventually be sent to the shipping dept. As you can see there was quite a bit of random factor to this. No one was logging the frames in order and telling the smiths which frame to use next. Just grabbed one from the bin. However, the Wilkerson book tells the first serial number shipped in each calendar year. This probably gets one pretty darn close to the year assembled.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Colt Frontier Scout Buntline in 22LR. The serial number is 98649F

1959 - 48800F
1960 - 106000F

Colt Officer's Model Match in .38 Special. Its serial number is 922048

Sorry, I couldn't find the date for this one.

 

[tleach]

Thanks for the info. I looked up the serial numbers in the website that was provided, The Colt Frontier Scout showed to be made in 1959. I think the Officer's Model Match was from 1968, however, the series of serial numbers that my Colt's serial number is a member seems to be for the Official Police and Marshall series.

Thanks again!

Terry

 

[Jim K]

A big defect of the early Scouts was the cylinder stop. It was made of bent sheet steel with the top parts (the stop itself) open. After the gun had been fired a few times, the ends were pinched in and the gun would not lock up tightly. Anyone buying a Scout should make sure it has the later stop with a little tab between the sides or the later solid stop.

Or be prepared to replace the early stop.

Jim

 

[tleach]

My Colt Officer's Model Match

Thanks for your help. FWIW I did a bit of reading from previous posts and found that the OMM and trooper are very similar and both share the same size frame. The serial number of my gun is shared with the numbers for the Trooper as well. I think that this dates my .38 spcl OMM to 1959.

Now if I could just find one in .22 LR!

Terry