bought this bout 5 years ago. didn't really have time/money to shoot since then so Its kinda been sitting since then. Its a Colt Official Police in .22, dated to 1947. got it for a steal, but not without a price. The rifling is near-pristine and the action and timing is crisp. If cocked very lightly in single action mode, the cylinder is just a smidgen shy of full lockup, but from what I understand thats characteristic of the colt DAs. one of the chambers has a notch on the edge. functionally its perfect.
Now the bad. the finish is maybe 60%, the cylinder 50% and what I can only describe as a splotch of complete loss of bluing on the side of the right topstrap. also some missing from the outside of the cylinder thought it could very well from being stored in a leather holster for a number of years. The front sight blade looks to be homemade or just horribly deteriorated by rust. It had a pin going lengthwise through the top of the blade that I drifted out trying to deciper what it was (this was before I cleaned it). At the end of the rear sight "groove" it looks like a piece of bar steel was either crudely welded or brazed onto the frame with an equally crude V cut down it distinctly right of center.
coltwood grips, though it has the checkered trigger and hammer of the "pre-war" models but not the cylinder release. I chock that up to being made in the year they transitioned models. My dilemna is what to do with it. I would like to restore it. Obviously the collector value is trashed, but its still an out of production Colt. I didn't get it as an investment but even in current condition it would be worth a pretty penny by the time I'm old and grey. On the other hand, It deserves better than to be a safe queen in my opinion. The way I see it I can either restore it to the glory of it's factory configuration. Reblue, authentic parts, or I could tailor it to be the perfect plinker. Just not really sure what I should do or even my options seeing as how its an uncommon variant, 80 year-old gun long out of production with maybe less than a dozen qualified people to work on it on the planet. Fixing the sights is likely to be the most expensive as well as difficult job if it's even possible so thats my first step, along with getting some grips to shoot it with, if not be it's permanent set.
I'll upload pics later. all I have right now is my crappy cel camera.
Now the bad. the finish is maybe 60%, the cylinder 50% and what I can only describe as a splotch of complete loss of bluing on the side of the right topstrap. also some missing from the outside of the cylinder thought it could very well from being stored in a leather holster for a number of years. The front sight blade looks to be homemade or just horribly deteriorated by rust. It had a pin going lengthwise through the top of the blade that I drifted out trying to deciper what it was (this was before I cleaned it). At the end of the rear sight "groove" it looks like a piece of bar steel was either crudely welded or brazed onto the frame with an equally crude V cut down it distinctly right of center.
coltwood grips, though it has the checkered trigger and hammer of the "pre-war" models but not the cylinder release. I chock that up to being made in the year they transitioned models. My dilemna is what to do with it. I would like to restore it. Obviously the collector value is trashed, but its still an out of production Colt. I didn't get it as an investment but even in current condition it would be worth a pretty penny by the time I'm old and grey. On the other hand, It deserves better than to be a safe queen in my opinion. The way I see it I can either restore it to the glory of it's factory configuration. Reblue, authentic parts, or I could tailor it to be the perfect plinker. Just not really sure what I should do or even my options seeing as how its an uncommon variant, 80 year-old gun long out of production with maybe less than a dozen qualified people to work on it on the planet. Fixing the sights is likely to be the most expensive as well as difficult job if it's even possible so thats my first step, along with getting some grips to shoot it with, if not be it's permanent set.
I'll upload pics later. all I have right now is my crappy cel camera.
