I have been so fortunate as to have benevolent supervisors who have allowed me to retain my Colt .38 Service Revolvers for continued duty use. My primary sidearm is the Official Police and my secondary is the Metropolitan MK III, a sixgun I purchased in 1990. I elected to stay with my revolvers back in 1992 when the changover to pistol from revolver started happening here in Columbus. The differences between the two are pronounced, as most of the fine people here are aware. My OP is a straight thorough-bred, with much precise, coordinated, engineering going into it's construction. A trigger-action, hand-honed and hand-fitted by the "best" artesians of gun craftsmanship! No other heavy duty fixed sight .38 Cop Service Revolver was this refined. It was the best of the best, hands down! My four-inch Heavy Barrel Metropolitan was another story in sixgun engineering. The story of the Mark 3 line has been widely circulated on this forum by very respected and learned members of this forum and I won't enter into that arena for fear of repetition-aggravation. But, in short, the difference in manufacture-approach was pronounced. My Metropolitan required none of the precise hand-honing/fitting attention that was demanded of the OP design. It was a parts-in-the-bin-put-together sixgun that turned out to be one of the strongest and sturdiest .38 Special double-action revolvers ever designed that came out (1969) when the .357 was gaining traction in law enforcement sales across the country. From research, I was to learn of the short production time period for the Metropolitan, a roughly 3-year period running from 69-72. The NYPD was a big customer of the Metropolitan, but even that large PD couldn't keep the Metropolitan alive at Colt with the declining interest in the .38 Special in the early 70's.
As the years past, no, flew by, I was to utilize my Metro as a backup to my OP for duty use. Now the Metro had the same barrel twist (1:14") as my OP and, being a very stout revolver, it could take the hottest of .38 rounds that ammunition companies made. I never like that hot-hot stuff because, after much shooting, I was to find out that my rugged Colt preferred the old .38 Police Load. You know, the one so many experts repeat, ad-nauseum, is 'not' effective and launch into a long diatribe about its weakness and why the super-duper +P++ is the 'only' effective' .38 round. I load that old .38 Police Load of the 158-grain lead round nose with the standard factory loading that generates about 200-foot pounds of energy at muzzle distance while traveling at 755 feet per second at that same distance. That is "THE" round for my Metro and it groups this round the best of all the other .38's known to man! Yes sir, the old .38 Police Load, poo-pooed by so many, is my duty load as well as qualification load as well as my competition load. My Colt, both of them, group the closest with this round. For all my Metro's given strength and reliability, its ability to withstand any and every .38 Round, I retain the old .38 Police Load because of the given reasons. The Mark 3 Metropolitan was the strongest, most trouble-free of fixed sight service revolvers ever. The previously mentioned barrel twist helps my stout friend to be a very accurate shooting sixgun! With precise bullet placement on the target, the 'only' factor a cop should consider in defending himself or others from deadly attack, the Metropolitan can still "SERVE AND PROTECT", like mine does for me! Thank you my friends and sorry for the length.
David
As the years past, no, flew by, I was to utilize my Metro as a backup to my OP for duty use. Now the Metro had the same barrel twist (1:14") as my OP and, being a very stout revolver, it could take the hottest of .38 rounds that ammunition companies made. I never like that hot-hot stuff because, after much shooting, I was to find out that my rugged Colt preferred the old .38 Police Load. You know, the one so many experts repeat, ad-nauseum, is 'not' effective and launch into a long diatribe about its weakness and why the super-duper +P++ is the 'only' effective' .38 round. I load that old .38 Police Load of the 158-grain lead round nose with the standard factory loading that generates about 200-foot pounds of energy at muzzle distance while traveling at 755 feet per second at that same distance. That is "THE" round for my Metro and it groups this round the best of all the other .38's known to man! Yes sir, the old .38 Police Load, poo-pooed by so many, is my duty load as well as qualification load as well as my competition load. My Colt, both of them, group the closest with this round. For all my Metro's given strength and reliability, its ability to withstand any and every .38 Round, I retain the old .38 Police Load because of the given reasons. The Mark 3 Metropolitan was the strongest, most trouble-free of fixed sight service revolvers ever. The previously mentioned barrel twist helps my stout friend to be a very accurate shooting sixgun! With precise bullet placement on the target, the 'only' factor a cop should consider in defending himself or others from deadly attack, the Metropolitan can still "SERVE AND PROTECT", like mine does for me! Thank you my friends and sorry for the length.
David
