Need help with an old Colt

[savasyn]

I recently picked this up as an impulse buy off of gunbroker. I seem to have an affinity for beat up old guns, especially when they are fairly inexpensive. This one has 0% of its bluing left. Almost seems like it was intentionally removed as it's gone from all external surfaces and seems to only exist way up in the internals.

Anyway, the seller was not 100% sure that it was a Police Positive but, as far as I can tell it is. My FFL thought it might be a Pocket Positive, but those all appear to have round butts rather than square. Can anyone tell from looking at these pictures? If anyone happens to have access to a Colt book, can you please look up the year of production for me? The serial # is 818XX.

Unfortunately, with the barrel so worn, there is nothing discernible regarding model or even caliber, which brings me to my next question. We had assumed that it was chambered in .32 New Police/.32 S&W Long, but as it turns out the cylinder will not accept either a .32 S&W Long or .32 S&W(short), the cases are /slightly/ (as in barely, almost but not quite) too wide in diameter. I do not have, nor have I seen available, any .32 Colt New Police ammo so I can't try those at this time. I even tried resizing an .32 S&W Long case in a Lee die that says it's good for both S&W Long and Colt New Police end up with the same result, too wide. A .32 bullet will sit nicely up on the crown as expected, however. The question is, what caliber is it then? Or, are .32 Colt New Police and .32 S&W not interchangeable like I've been led to believe?

Thanks!!

[ojisan]

I've got a Cartridges of the World reference book here...hmmm...

From .32S&W:
".32 S&W is similar to the .32 Short Colt but bullet and case diameters are different".

.32 Short and Long Colt (proprietary rounds for Colt, seldom used elsewhere):
.32 Colt was originally outside lubricated and used a bullet of .313" dia. This was changed to inside lube type which which needed a smaller .299" bullet to fit in the case. .313" bullet was 90 grains, the .299" bullet was 80-82 grains. .32 Short Colt case is .650" long.

My guess is it needs one of the Colt rounds above....maybe measure the chamber mouths and bore to see if they are .312" or maybe .300" dia. as a clue to what is the right round to use.

No listing for .32 Colt New Police cartridge. (??? sounds familiar to me...same as the .32 Colt Long???...why oh why did they use more than one name for the same cartridges...)

[savasyn]

No listing for .32 Colt New Police cartridge. (??? sounds familiar to me...same as the .32 Colt Long???...why oh why did they use more than one name for the same cartridges...)

Excellent, thanks for the info!! I'll measure and see what I get. I'm not super-hyped to shoot it, given the condition, but it'd be nice to know what round it takes none-the-less.

And I'm right there with you about the naming of the various rounds. I think you are correct that the .32 New Police and the .32 Colt Long are supposed to be the same. of course, that would mean the Lee sizing die I have does not account for the difference in diameter.

[savasyn]

Haha, of course now that I /know/ they are not the same, I finally find a post on another forum laying it out:

"The .32 Colt is NOT identical to the .32 S&W (and I did double check SAAMI publication #205.)
The .32 Colt New Police/Police Positive IS identical to the .32 S&W Long except for its bullet shape."

Apparently mine is chambered in .32 Colt Long which will make it very difficult to find ammo for if I found myself wanting to shoot it.

This is what I get for being an S&W guy venturing into the Colt world
Either way, I have a fun conversation piece in my small Colt collection.

If anyone can confirm 100% that this is a Police Positive and/or tell me the year built based on my serial #, I'd definitely appreciate it!

[Chief-7700]

http://www.proofhouse.com/

[morrcarr67]

A Police Positive in .32 with your serial # would have been made in 1910

[savasyn]

Awesome, thanks guys!!

[VegasND]

Thanks for the pictures and good luck finding out about your revolver.

I would have picked that up in a heartbeat if the price was right too.

[morrcarr67]

I would have picked that up in a heartbeat if the price was right too.

Me too