Weird Colt Police Positive & Questions

[NRAhab]

I'm trying to get some advice on this funky Colt Police Positive I have.

It was used by my uncle for LAPD back in the '50s, the barrel has been cut down to 2 inches, and the gun has essentially no collector value.

Here's the weird part; while the cylinder is original, my uncle had it reamed for .38 Special cartridges - even though the gun is .38 S&W. He "said" that it worked fine with wadcutters. Now, I've got a box of wadcutters here for my .38 Special revolvers, but before I take this thing out and shoot it with these wadcutters, I'm marginally concerned that the gun is going to blow up in my face.

I know that the operating pressure of the .38 S&W is about 14,500 PSI; according to the SAAMI specs the .38 Special is 17,000 PSI.

Should I just bite the bullet and get some .38 S&W rounds, or do you think the wadcutters are "safe", since they're loaded lighter that your average .38 Special?

 

[Old Fuff]

Your Uncle should be shot!

Well maybe not, but...

The .38 S&W chamber is larger in diameter then a .38 Special one, but shorter in length. If you rchamber to .38 Spec. you get a sort of bottlenecked effect, and in theory the cases may crack because of this. In practice you can probably get away with it because the mid-range wadcutter .38 Special is downloaded and mild. Accuracy probably won't be too good. No, it won't blow up in your face. The .38 S&W cartridge is lightly-loaded out of respect to the many top-break revolvers that were made to use it. Any hand ejector Colt is much stronger.

But.....

Measure the length of the cylinder. If it is 1.250" (correct for a Police Positive, but not a Police Positive Special) Numrich Arms/Gunparts Corp. has cylinder assemblies chambered in the correct .38 S&W (.38 Colt New Police) size. (See item number 256280) at www.e-gunparts.com

Using one of these cylinder assemblies you can restore the revolver to it's original configuration. This may or may not be worth it to you, but I like these little guns.

Post a partial serial number (use xx for the last numbers) and I'll look up the year it was made.

 

[Cosmoline]

Check the auction sites and ebay for a replacement cylinder in .38 S&W.

 

[NRAhab]

Thanks for the advice Fuff, I'll tool around on the interwebs and see if I find a .38 S&W cylinder. I'll probably try it with the wadcutters, since I've got boxes and boxes of them laying around as well.

 

[Old Fuff]

Be sure any cylinder you find is a cylinder assembly that includes the extractor rod, spring, collar and star. The star in particular is fitted to an individual cylinder, and is not interchangeable into another one.

The one I cited is a cylinder assembly...

 

[slabsides]

Mr. Fuff:
Would you be kind enough to check the serial of my wife's old Pol. Pos Colt?
She inherited it from her uncle, who spent his life on the NYPD. He was in plain clothes, Pawn-shop detail, and the gun was carried a lot in one of those crappy DeMayo police holsters, refinished in worn nickle at Jovino's...all before the 1960's. We keep it as an heirloom only, though I've loaded a few .38 wadcutters in S&W cases to test the old piece. It still shoots well enough to convince me that Uncle Ben would have been a formidable opponent with his 'weak' revolver. Incidentally, the piece also has beautiful old genuine pearl grips. Ben was something of a dandy! Serial Number: 167xx. TIA!

 

[Old Fuff]

Boy he must have cut a figure... Almost worth getting arrested.

Anyway his Police Positive revolver as made in 1907, and I believe it was standard issue in the NYCPD at that time.

But not in nickel plate with pearl stocks...

 

[slabsides]

Fuff:
Thanks for the look-up! Yes, Uncle Ben was quite a character. Because he worked on a plain-clothes detail (not a detective, he served his whole career as a patrolman in rank) he could dandify his carry-piece a bit. His career ran from the 1920's through to the early '50s. That 1907 piece must have been an heirloom when he bought it.
On occasions when he wore a uniform (the 'bag') he carried a 4" Official Police .38 special blued, which another nephew now has and treasures. But he shot for extra days off monthly with the little Police Positive...and we're told, usually qualified.

 

[Old Fuff]

Why the low-life...

With the correct ammunition those little Police Positives have little recoil, and are very accurate. You just bet he could get qualified.

I forget the exact date, but I think the NYCPD didn't change to .38 Special until around 1927. Prior to that the Colt Police Positive in .38 Colt New Police (same as ,38 S&W) was standard. Further back they used Colt New Police .32 Revolvers, and early .32 Police Positives. As you probably know, Officers had to buy their own sidearms, with the money being deducted from their pay.

I hope he didn't take his coat off during the Summer - Dem poor crooks would have been blinded by the reflection...