Did I miss a good buy today?

[coltsixguns]

Okay.....I'm a prewar single action guy but saw something in a double action today that piqued my interest.

It was a 6" factory nickel .22 colt police positive TARGET model with about 85% or better finish. The sides of the trigger and the back of the hammer were pretty fire blued. The sides of the hammer were bright and I wasn't sure if that was original or not. It had a 64xx serial number on it and the stylized C hard rubber grips.

The guy had it tagged $550. I tried to negotiate with the fellow because I'm a fish out of "my" water and he only dropped it down to $525 because he said "I don't know much about this model either".

Not knowing for sure, I walked away from it......

Did I mess up?

[JudgeColt]

You did if the gun is REALLY factory nickel. The standard finish on the Police Positive Target is blue. Wilson does not mention a nickel finish for the PPT at all in TBOCF. That said, maybe there was at least one PPT in factory nickel. You may have just passed by it. Probably not, but maybe.

[coltsixguns]

Perhaps I should have said "it appeared to be factory nickel". Everything on it was crisp and sharp and I didn't see anything that made me even doubt the finish. The guy laughed and said I was the only person all day that even asked to look at it because in my area it's all about hunting and shooting guns......not many followers of older collectible colts at all. I may follow up and get the exact serial number and check it at the archives. Not knowing the nickel was a rare finish I had no idea!

[swamprat]

Okay.....I'm a prewar single action guy but saw something in a double action today that piqued my interest.

It was a 6" factory nickel .22 colt police positive TARGET model with about 85% or better finish. The sides of the trigger and the back of the hammer were pretty fire blued. The sides of the hammer were bright and I wasn't sure if that was original or not. It had a 64xx serial number on it and the stylized C hard rubber grips.

The guy had it tagged $550. I tried to negotiate with the fellow because I'm a fish out of "my" water and he only dropped it down to $525 because he said "I don't know much about this model either".

Not knowing for sure, I walked away from it......

Did I mess up?

Probably not factory nickel, but still....I would have bought it! I just checked some of my factory nickel Colt DA's and they all have nickel hammers & triggers.

[coltsixguns]

Probably not factory nickel, but still....I would have bought it! I just checked some of my factory nickel Colt DA's and they all have nickel hammers & triggers.

I chatted with the guy who knows his double actions and he said there were a few factory nickel plated police positive targets and that the bright sided hammer with the blued back would have been factory for the time period it was made.

Perhaps I'll get a chance to see it again and either get it bought or pay better attention to all the details.