Colt Forum banner
Cancel
Create thread New Forums

The Police Positive Target

Jump to Latest
161 - 179 of 179 Posts
#169 ·
Couple of fresh letters! At the top a 1928 example sold to R.H. Yurragan, shipped to Kim Supply Company in Philadelphia. This one has a stocks type of “Checkered Wood-Wide grip”. I have the box, target etc but the top portion above the designation label is lost. I am really curious about the wide grip note as the grips appear original to the gun, but do feel very slightly wider than the 1937 example on the bottom. The gun appeared like new and possibly unfired when I acquired it at the Vegas Antique show about 20 years ago. Minus the few spots of freckling as seen in the picture from storage…..

The bottom gun was shipped to Murray Appleton & Co in June 1937 Philadelphia also! We were chatting about the wide grips at the time I was relayed the info on this one and I failed to write down who it was sold to. Also fired very little as it shows almost no signs.

Image
 
#170 ·
Flattopbis said:
Couple of fresh letters! At the top a 1928 example sold to R.H. Yurragan, shipped to Kim Supply Company in Philadelphia. This one has a stocks type of “Checkered Wood-Wide grip”. I have the box, target etc but the top portion above the designation label is lost. I am really curious about the wide grip note as the grips appear original to the gun, but do feel very slightly wider than the 1937 example on the bottom. The gun appeared like new and possibly unfired when I acquired it at the Vegas Antique show about 20 years ago. Minus the few spots of freckling as seen in the picture from storage…..

The bottom gun was shipped to Murray Appleton & Co in June 1937 Philadelphia also! We were chatting about the wide grips at the time I was relayed the info on this one and I failed to write down who it was sold to. Also fired very little as it shows almost no signs.

View attachment 944084
Click to expand...
Would you please do a side by side grip comparison for us?
Thanks!
 
#171 ·
Private Smith said:
Would you please do a side by side grip comparison for us?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
I can give it a shot tomorrow. I am now wondering being its pretty close to the transition period in frames maybe that’s what was meant or possibly requested by the purchaser as to not get an earlier small frame?
 
Discussion starter · #172 · (Edited)
From what I see they both appear to be the larget "C" frame model. The smaller frame Police Positive Targets were produced much earlier. When we speak of wide grip we are referring to the measurement from the back of the bottom of the grip to the front of the grip when looking at the gun from the side view.

Cam
 
Discussion starter · #173 ·
Flattopbis said:
Couple of fresh letters! At the top a 1928 example sold to R.H. Yurragan, shipped to Kim Supply Company in Philadelphia. This one has a stocks type of “Checkered Wood-Wide grip”. I have the box, target etc but the top portion above the designation label is lost. I am really curious about the wide grip note as the grips appear original to the gun, but do feel very slightly wider than the 1937 example on the bottom. The gun appeared like new and possibly unfired when I acquired it at the Vegas Antique show about 20 years ago. Minus the few spots of freckling as seen in the picture from storage…..

The bottom gun was shipped to Murray Appleton & Co in June 1937 Philadelphia also! We were chatting about the wide grips at the time I was relayed the info on this one and I failed to write down who it was sold to. Also fired very little as it shows almost no signs.

View attachment 944084
Click to expand...
You mention freckling form storage. To prevent that happening do these two things. Give the metal a light coat of rust preventive gun oil each year and never store the gun in the original box. A Bore Stores silicone treated gun sleeve works great for storage.

Cam
 
#174 · (Edited)
thecoltguy said:
From what I see they both appear to be the larget "C" frame model. The smaller frame Police Positive Targets were produced much earlier. When we speak of wide grip we are referring to the measurement from the back of the bottom of the grip to the front of the grip when looking at the gun from the side view.

Cam
Click to expand...
Cam-yes they are both C frames. Didn’t the transition from G to C frame happen in 1926ish for the Target models? Maybe the factory still had random G frame targets shipping here and there for a while (Colt did some odd things) and just designated on the ledger? Being this one shipped early 1928. Wasn’t one of the advertised benefits of the “new” version a wider grip? Have you ever seen a "wider" set of grips for the C frame in all your travels? Heck you may have an example.........
 
#175 ·
thecoltguy said:
You mention freckling form storage. To prevent that happening do these two things. Give the metal a light coat of rust preventive gun oil each year and never store the gun in the original box. A Bore Stores silicone treated gun sleeve works great for storage.

Cam
Click to expand...
The storage issue was not on my watch!! I am a strong believer in Renaissance wax and silicone socks.
 
#177 · (Edited)
StenFreak said:
View attachment 943124
The letter for this is due soon.
View attachment 943123

im excited to see if the barrel is mentioned
Click to expand...
Letter arrived. First, the gun shipped Feb 11th 1947. This is serial 43973. Lookup puts it at 1938. That is almost a decade difference between lookup and letter!

I have one of the highest serial Ace guns that returns the opposite, 1946 for the serial and 1941 for the ship date. Goes to show you the lookup can be way off.

Barrel is not mentioned. (Insert you are not the father dancing gif here) :)

However, the gun was shipped to Abercrombie & Fitch Company, Madison Ave NYC. There's a strong case to be made that A&F made the gun modifications. It's a short throw conversion. The hammer especially is extremely well done. The front ramp is perfect. The trigger breaks under 2lbs. But the Barrel? Did they install and re-mark it? Order one from Colt? Unless the Colt did it but the records themselves didn't mention it one can only know it was done after it left the factory by someone who knew what they were doing. Maybe several gunsmiths worked on the gun over the years.

First A&F gun for me.

The re-textured cylinder release hid the fact that it could be a post war gun. Of course an easy swap but had the release been uncheckered it would be a clue that maybe the lookup wasn't accurate.

E: Only other possibility is that it was returned to the factory for the barrel. I'm basically taking this as a gun that left the factory stock and A&F did some or all of the mods.
 
161 - 179 of 179 Posts
About this Discussion
178 Replies
64 Participants
Last post:
Bully
Colt Forum
posts
2M
members
64K
Since
2000
A forum community dedicated to Colt firearm owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, gunsmithing, troubleshooting, reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!
Full Forum Listing
Explore Our Forums
Colt Revolvers Gun Collector Lounge Colt Semiauto Pistols Post-War Single Action Army Python