[Thunderhead]

I just purchased my first Colt. It's a Trooper MKIII, nickel, with a 6" barrel. It's unfired and in the box. Beautiful gun. It came out of Colt's custom shop but I don't know what all was done to it. Is there any way to run down what all was done to it? I know the grips are custom. It feels like the trigger is very light so they may have done a trigger job on it as well. From what I've researched, it's a 1977 model. Any idea what this gun is worth?

 

[ace]

the only way to know for sure is by posting pics so we can see it, but without seeing it I would guess that the reason for the custom shop label was that it's electroless nickel and not bright nickel.

 

[Thunderhead]

I'll have to take a pic of it. The guy I bought it from said he knew it had custom grips. They are smooth with a matte finish as opposed to checkered grips with a glossy finish.

 

[coltlondon]

Can you post a picture of your new Trooper MK III? We would like to see it.

 

[hookedon1911s]

" It feels like the trigger is very light so they may have done a trigger job on it as well."

A "trigger job" as we know it cannot be done on a Mk III. The springs can be changed out to lighten the pull.

 

[chaosrob]

I have two trooper mkiii's and 4 kc's now. They all have miserable DA pulls.

" It feels like the trigger is very light so they may have done a trigger job on it as well."

A "trigger job" as we know it cannot be done on a Mk III. The springs can be changed out to lighten the pull.

 

[smithrjd]

My new to me MKIII had a rather stiff DA trigger pull when I first got it. Took it apart, cleaned the lock works up lubed it and replaced the trigger and mainsprings with Wolff items. Made a world of difference, almost a different revolver. After a range trip, I got some light primer strikes so I replaced the 11# mainspring with the 13# one. Made the DA a bit stiffer but still as good as several S&W's that I own. I certainly would not call the DA miserable. I might have just got lucky, and others are not as good perhaps.

 

[Lawman67]

It is a common misconception that a Mark 3 series revolver cannot be tuned. You do not need to recut anything. You need to replace the mainspring with a Wolff 13lb spring ,anything lighter will feel good but not crack a primer reliably, the trigger return spring needs to be swapped out for a lighter Wolff spring ,any marks inside the frame can be polished out. After this you will have a revolver with a light .reliable smooth trigger ,that is stronger than a K frame Smith,and will stand up to magnum loads. Blowhard gunwriters put forth the myth about not being able to tune a Mark 3 ,and Colt unwisely did not go to the lighter springs. If your revolver went throught the custom shop they probably did most of the aforementioned things ,resulting in a sweet shooting revolver.

 

[smithrjd]

The trigger pull with the 11# mainspring was so light and smooth I was worried that it might not lite them all up correctly. Turned out that was the case. The 13# spring took the DA from I think this might be too light, to just about right. The SA and DA pulls now are as good as any S&W I have owned and as good as an old Officers Model Match that I foolishly sold. My Trooper had been fired very little, but I could still see where there were wear marks in the lock work. There were only a couple, trigger to frame and one area on the hammer. The bluing was worn off in these areas. I just made sure that I got the lube well into the pivot points and contact areas. Not really hard to do at all. The revolver is a 1980 model, and the factory grease was dry and sticky.

 

[Lawman67]

They shipped these with a fair amt of grease ,and some that were safe queens became congealed with the stuff. I bought a new Lawman that had so much crud in the action , I sent it to Colt ,had them remove all the gunk and check everything out. Now it is fine . Added the Wolff springs and good to go.

 

[Lawman67]

Another thing I like about the Mark3 size revolvers is that loads that feel like they recoil heavily in D frame and even S&W k frame revolvers ,feel light in the Mark 3. I remember shooting a plus p 158 lhp Winches.ter that I carried in my Detective Special out of a 6 inch Trooper Mark 3. A real pussycat out of the Trooper and going around1150 plus fps out of the Trooper. I handload a Keith type load for general outdoors use. A 158 hardcast fn 158 over 5.5 of unique. This will give you 357 velocity , little blast or muzzle flash. The Mark 3s will handle this forever and then some. This will still give around 1000fps or so out of a 2 1/4 inch barrel Lawman Mark 3. If You shoot a standard 158 at 850 or so ,it will feel like nothing out of the Trooper. Enjoy. Glad they made a lot of them . Should be enough for everyone on the forum. Will be picking up my newest Mark 3, a 2 inch nickel Lawman next week or so. Had a pr of the round butt grips in storage , put on new Colt nickel medallions ,and a new Tyler T grip in polished finish that just arrived . This will keep me from abusing my as nib 2 inch blue version. That is the logic I used to buy the nickel version. For under $600 in excellent shape I couldn't pass it up. Had a set of rubber Pach s on it ,and those are coming off before I leave the store. The herd keeps getting bigger.

 

[smkummer]

I picked up a MKIII lawman a few years ago for cheap as the action was stiff and didn't work right. Its the only Colt I bought that simply squirting some spay lube into the action fixed it perfectly. I still later disassembled it and clean the insides.

 

[Thunderhead]

According to my search of the serial#, it was made in 1977. It has silver logos in the handle as well.

 

[Thunderhead]

Btt

 

[Thunderhead]

Bump for more info.

 

[ace]

it looks like bright nickel and the grips are something that somebody, not colt, made up. nothing factory custom about it from what I can see.

I'll guess that whoever sold it to you told you it was custom as part of his sales pitch. without a letter from colt stating otherwise just take it for what it is. a nice nickel trooper with replacement grips.

 

[Thunderhead]

it looks like bright nickel and the grips are something that somebody, not colt, made up. nothing factory custom about it from what I can see.

I'll guess that whoever sold it to you told you it was custom as part of his sales pitch. without a letter from colt stating otherwise just take it for what it is. a nice nickel trooper with replacement grips.

"Made up"? Are you saying the grips and the Colt logos are "homemade" and not factory? I looked for an email addy for Colt on their website but found nothing but phone numbers. Does anyone have an email addy for them?

 

[Collects]

Thunderhead, those stocks are not Colt stocks. They are some sort of aftermarket stocks, as Ace so correctly indicated.

 

[Thunderhead]

Thunderhead, those stocks are not Colt stocks. They are some sort of aftermarket stocks, as Ace so correctly indicated.

That's not something they would ever do in their custom shop if someone wanted smooth grips?

 

[Collects]

No, I do not think so. The shape of the stocks, and the position of the medallions is unlike any Colt product I have seen.

Of course, there is a plethora of aftermarket stocks available online and elsewhere. I believe these stocks to be an aftermarket set.

Your stocks do not even fit the cutout in the box for the stocks.