[Addicted]

Early Trooper, \"special order\"

In the BOCFA it mentions "for the master shooter - (on special order) fast-cocking wider spur hammer...., and tournament type custom Walnut Stocks....."

Has anyone seen one of these special orders? What do they look like?

 

[A1A]

Re: Early Trooper, \"special order\"

Strangely enough:
http://www.gunsamerica.com/guns/976623801.htm

 

[lonewolf]

Re: Early Trooper, \"special order\"

BOTH the wider hammer and the "Target stocks" were regular factory extra cost options,starting with the Trooper and the "357". Generally,4" "carry guns" will have had the standard stocks. Look at the catalogs,or reproductions in Gun Digest/Shooter's Bible from the 1954 period or a little later to see the options and their costs.

Nothing "strange" or "rare" here;just like buying the optional larger engine in a car and the automatic tranny. Buy no options,1 or 2. These options tend to be more common on the 6" models, or the ".357". But then the Trooper got .357 chambering and......then the Python introduced-so bye bye ".357" as top of the line,and as as an offering.

Bud

 

[Addicted]

Re: Early Trooper, \"special order\"

Sir, With all due respect this is not a special order.

 

[dfariswheel]

Re: Early Trooper, \"special order\"

From the get-go the Trooper was available with your choice of Target hammer and stocks or "service" hammer and stocks.

In the very early Trooper revolvers, it was intended that the Trooper would be the "budget gun" and the very similar 357 Model would be the "premium" model.

As such, the Trooper was to have been ordinarily fitted with the cheaper Service hammer and stocks, but on the customers option could be "Special ordered" with Target hammer and stocks.

Due to customer demand, this very quickly broke down and Colt just started producing a mix of revolvers with target and service parts for general sales.

So, if you went into a gun store you would find some Troopers with service parts, and some with target parts.

If you didn't see what you wanted, your dealer could order your choice from the factory.

The Target hammer was the same general design used by Colt since the early 1950's and is still used on the Colt Python.

The "Tournament Stocks" are the famous Colt target stocks that were ,again used by Colt from the early 50's and were standard on the Python until recently.

Here's a picture of a pair of early Colt Target "Tournament" grips as used on all Colt double action mid-frame revolvers:

So, the "Special order" advertising is somewhat misleading, since Colt almost immediately began using the target options on regular production Troopers.

 

[Addicted]

Re: Early Trooper, \"special order\"

Is it possible to have the 50's full checkered Python stocks on the mid to later 50's Trooper?

 

[dfariswheel]

Re: Early Trooper, \"special order\"

Absolutely.
Colt stopped using the First Type fully checkered grips sometime in the very late 50's-early 1960's.

 

[Addicted]

Re: Early Trooper, \"special order\"

I've got one of those full checker stocked 4" barreled .22LR'ed Troopers.....Mint. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[dfariswheel]

Re: Early Trooper, \"special order\"

I've got a first year production .22 Trooper with a target hammer, but later hardwood Second Type Colt grips, which aren't original.

MOST of the .22 Troopers were fitted with service hammer and grips, and I "think" the only way to get one with Target options WAS to actually order it that way from Colt.

I cannot for the life of me find it, but somewhere I read that Colt only made about 2200 original model .22 Troopers.

Not the best picture, but....an original first year production Colt Old Model .22LR Trooper with Target hammer and later hardwood Second Type target grips:

 

[lonewolf]

Re: Early Trooper, \"special order\"

I hope that 2200 figure is right,dfaris,makes them a "sleeper" on the market. But compare the sales of the .22 Trooper with the 4" M-18 S&W .22 Combat Masterpiece?? I had a 1953 vintage pre M-18 and it was not 1/2 the gun my Trooper is.Major problem,was hard ejection with any brand of ammo,and locking up due to rims. After I sold it,with box,found out this was a common problem with these S&W .22's, as discussed on the S&W Forum.

I shoot my Trooper,with service stocks,grip adapter and standard hammer as an understudy and practice piece of my 4" ."357",as well as other large revolvers. Even shoots well with "el cheapo" ammo! Heavy,yes,but I dislike "light" guns. I made the mistake of buying a Mk.III Trooper 4" .22,which totally soured me on any of the Mk.III or Mk.V post 68 Colts. Probably comparing apples and oranges with the earlier Trooper,but the older gun has always been superb,even though it has lost a few % points of bluing over the years,and probably10,000 rds through it in my 15 years of owning it!

Bud

 

[dfariswheel]

Re: Early Trooper, \"special order\"

Contrary to your experience I like the Trooper Mark III in .22.

Over the years I've owned around 4 or 5.
Some years ago, I wanted to see just how good I could get shooting a revolver DA-only.

I bought a Mark III with a 6" barrel and started shooting a 500 round carton of cheap Remington Thunderbolt ammo every Sunday.

I did this through the summer and into the late fall, and got extremely good at both stationary targets and at things thrown into the air.

Around early winter, I bought a Marlin 39-A and after months of pistol shooting, the Marlin was so easy, it was almost TOO easy.

The bottom line I've always believed since was, if you want to learn how to shoot, and get REALLY good, buy a quality .22 pistol and just SHOOT the Hell out of it, EVERY week.

You will astound yourself with what you can do after a few months.

Here's my current .22 Trooper Mark III:

I have a relative who calls this "The Chunk" because of the weight.

The large barrel and large diameter cylinder with that tiny .22 hole does make for a heavy gun.
This is one reason why I liked the Mark III: all that weight made it very steady and reduced movement.