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What You Think? A "TAKE-HOME FROM FACTORY" COLT DETECTIVE, No-Finish:

3K views 30 replies 21 participants last post by  gvf 
#1 · (Edited)
#2 ·
Not being a DS person, more into the oldies like New Service & pre-1911 autos, I checked this out, best I could. At the starting price I could be interested but not for much more. From the pix it looks clean & wouldn't take a lot of work to prep it for a finish. I do my own nickeling & that's what I'd do. Before getting into it I'd learn more about what's not seen such as bore & function.
 
#8 ·
I looked at it a few days ago, and that's pretty much what I thought as well. Still, those engraved markings under the grip puzzle me. It appears to be dates and initials, like if the gun has been tested or inspected at those dates. Just to thicken the plot a bit, this could be a test gun used to try out a new finish, sitting in a salt mist environment and taken out for inspection ever so often. Yeah, I'm sure that's what it is. You can bid with confidence now. :D
 
#10 ·
To 'me', they look a lot more like evidence/property room markings.

Then, after the case had closed, the piece may've been sold - and a lot of agencies used to do that.

On the other hand, 'lunch box gun' adds a certain cachet, doesn't it?

*********

All those old stories about 'lunch box guns' brings this one to mind:

After the Berlin Wall had been up for awhile, and some production had resumed in East Germany under the Soviets, a new factory opened.

It was heralded as a being a step forward towards a 'new' Soviet Republic - a more progressive one that was tired of war, and wanted to promote Peace.

What was this factory to build?

Baby buggys and strollers...

And so, men queued up to be hired, because decent jobs were hard to find, and this looked to be a good one with a future.

Things went merrily along, when Hans discovered that Maria was pregnant, so naturally, he wanted to do something nice for her.

He decided that he'd make Maria a brand-new baby buggy for their first child, and since he worked the night shift, he figured that taking a part here, and a part there would never be noticed - and before too long, he'd have her present.

It was a great plan, except that his best friend Dieter found out, but being his best friend, and working in a different part of the factory, he could get the other things needed, so between the two of them, soon everything made it past the sleepy guards.

A couple of weeks went by - Maria was as big as a house, and Hans had a puzzled look, so Dieter finally asked how the buggy turned out.

Hans shook his head, and told him - 'Dieter, it's the damndest thing - no matter how many ways I try to assemble it, it 'still' turns into a machinegun...'
 
#13 ·
What's so special about a gun in-the-white? I could take any of my blued revolvers and have them look like this in minutes. I think it was prepped for a refinish. The engravings look documentary. It's a nice little gun that was left in the hands of Bubba for a make-over and ended up being shelved.
 
#14 · (Edited)
I think everyone's missing a good buy for a weird story that can be off-putting to some.

I don't think it'll sell. But lookit, if you could get it for $395 there a lot worse Buys than an unfired Colt Detective at that price. (I guess Seller means that, and there's no sign of it being fired).

Who cares about the story. Guy said the same.

You'd have to do something with that area behind the barrel on one side, just to keep it from rusting, but other than that...

Anyone able to check the serial #? I think it must be past Proofhouse's list.

Now here's my question: I kinda like the unfinished look, so how would you keep that and not have the gun turn into rust quickly?
 
#18 · (Edited)
GVF, who says it's unfired? Looks plenty fired to me, then roughly polished. It was probably a surface rusted dog. Look at the edges that are supposed to be sharp, but are now rounded. Why again would this be a valuable gun at all? Here is my story so the seller can update his ad:

"Rough, polished to bare metal old pistol. Probably stored in a tackle box in a salt water environment or damp garage by quite likely a busy fisherman. He was most likely lost at sea, during a fishing trip, and his friends gave the tackle box to his widow. She, being in mourning, didn't open it for years. Later, her son found the gun, badly surface rusted. He took it to Ed's Gun Shop to see what they could do, but lost interest after they polished it and quoted him a $100 price to complete the refinish."


There....another story for the gun.
 
#29 ·
GVF, who says it's unfired? Looks plenty fired to me, then roughly polished. It was probably a surface rusted dog. Look at the edges that are supposed to be sharp, but are now rounded. Why again would this be a valuable gun at all? Here is my story so the seller can update his ad:

"Rough, polished to bare metal old pistol. Probably stored in a tackle box in a salt water environment or damp garage by quite likely a busy fisherman. He was most likely lost at sea, during a fishing trip, and his friends gave the tackle box to his widow. She, being in mourning, didn't open it for years. Later, her son found the gun, badly surface rusted. He took it to Ed's Gun Shop to see what they could do, but lost interest after they polished it and quoted him a $100 price to complete the refinish."


There....another story for the gun.
Yeah but yours isn't mythic.
 
#19 ·
1. Way too much dinero being asked for the revolver (story is probably not true), e.g. I'm just selling this for a widow.......
2. The initials and dates are probably stenciled with an electric pen or engraver. If it had only one date I would say it might be initials/date that it was evidence in a criminal case. It might be possible that is still true and it was stenciled by several different officers or evidence custodians but that would be highly unusual in my LE experience. Usually you have marked it just once. Today many departments do not mark like this because of intrinsic value and claims against the department. You simply record the serial number and description and tag it.
 
#20 ·

What is a "Take Home From Factory" Detective Special? It almost sounds like you're describing something that was stolen (by a Colt employee?) at the factory! Would this not be an illegal transaction being conducted via the Internet? And if indeed that's what it may be, would not Colt Mfg. be looking into it? Does it not have a "serial number"? Please forgive me, I've led a sheltered life... :cool: ;)

nowinca
 
#22 ·
Colt has shown that someone making fake boxes is of no interest to them, but an employee stealing guns is another. The time to steal a gun is before it has a serial number. Once it has a serial number it has to be accounted for, and they could have traced it's progression through the factory. Just looks like someone's idea of a fun way to spend an afternoon removing the finish from an ugly gun.
 
#27 ·
I know that seller, his stuff is never as nice as the pics in pesrson and everything they have is way overpriced. A single action OMM with a story sheet of two pages and a not in great shape for I think 3800. I would pass personally from knowing the place and their prices and write ups.
 
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