Menu
- How To Read Colt Serial Numbers For First Timers
- See Full List On Coltautos.com
- Colt Revolvers - Official Police For Sale
Apr 28, 2011 The original design was made in 1884 then called the Colt New Army (or Navy I can't remember which one) in 1926 Colt started calling it the Official Police because it was more popular among policemen than the military (which prefered the 1911.45 auto).
- The serial number of a gun carries information about its background.Let's explore the secret behind Colt serial numbers now! Outdoor Fact Outdoorfact.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to.
- Jul 05, 2018 Colt Official Police - Wikipedia. Regular production deliveries of two-inch 'Junior Commando' revolvers began in March 1943, at approximately serial number 9,000. More than 12,000 of the two-inch Commandos encountered today are actually postwar conversions from four-inch models produced during the war.'
- May 25, 2019 Well, Colt serial numbers tend to go across the board in a rather unpredictable pattern so it’s near impossible to read without reference books. All it takes to get the numbers to changes could be minor changes in the design, the beginnings of new time periods and many others.
Reading colt serial numbers can be hard for people who are not experienced. These codes have a slight impact on the firearms, but they are the best way to trace down the origin of guns.
Colt serial numbers contain the history of every gun, but detecting them accurately is a bit hard.
If you are looking forward to learn reading colt serial numbers for the first time, then this article may have something beneficial to offer you. Read below to know more!
Reading Colt Serial Numbers – Here’s How!
There are many techniques that you can follow to find the meaning of a colt serial number. However, some are damn easy and quick, and some are freaking hard. In this written piece, we talk about the comparatively easier ones, okay?
The Quick Method
Game pc bus simulator versi indonesia free. This one is the easiest way to read colt serial numbers, and all the credits go to the advanced technology. Just head over to the “Colt” homepage and click on the “Customer Service”.
Right after clicking, you will see an option appearing as “Serial Number Lookup”. Click it, and enter your serial numbers. Wait for it, and Bingo!
It is the easiest and quickest possible way you can read a serial number. Skyrim hearthfire houses mod.
However, I don’t prefer this way; the best way is learning to read the numbers manually. Because this easiest way often doesn’t show the accurate result.
The Reliable Method
This method will cost you few dollars, but guess what? It’s the most trusted one – the reliable method. Colt offers a research service to their customers which provides the brand’s official archive letter as a proof of the gun's history.
The letter will have all details of the firearms including genuine features, and specs along with delivery address as well.
Mainly, the archive letter carries essential historical information which can enhance the collective value of that firearm.
Though some custom modifications like the barrel, changed caliber, aftermarket engravings, and finish would not come included in the letter.
As I said earlier, to get this service, you will need to spend few bucks. For your information, the fee is around a hundred dollars in most cases, but again, it depends on the guns.
For example; stuff like the 1851 Navy, you may need to spend couple hundred dollars but it will worth the greens.
Prefix & Suffix
Don't run for a grammar book.! This method has nothing to deal with your Oxford's Dictionary. Mostly, colt numbers contain abbreviations of the firearms’ name. Therefore, you may find some of them are easy to understand.
For example;
- NF means New Frontier.
- MT means Match Target.
- SA means Single Action.
- SP means Sporter.
Capital “C” prefix or suffix on the gun means that is for commercial use, but sometimes these characters indicate the manufacturing year. Confusing, isn’t it?
Model Codes
Checking colt model code is worth the time and effort as they hold lots of information about a particular gun’s history.
The ability to understand these codes will let you know some important features of your gun inside the holster.
Like, the Single Action model of a colt usually has one prefix character and four digits, where prefix shows the frame type and digit indicates the barrel, stock, version, caliber, etc.
The first digit of your gun’s model code “1” means, a basic frame with the first model, and “2” “3” “4” are the later versions of the gun.
The second digit of the model code refers to the weapon’s caliber, like;
- 4 means 32 to 20
- 6 means .357
- 7 means .44
- 8 means .45
- 9 means .44 to 40
![Serial Number Lookup - Colt Serial Number Lookup - Colt](https://nationalinterest.org/sites/default/files/main_images/1920px-Colt_Official_Police_32-20_1927.jpg)
The third digit shows the caliber of the gun, such as;
- 1 means 12 inches
- 3 mean 3 or 4 inches
- 4 mean 4.75 or 5 inches
- 5 mean 5.5 inches
- 7 mean 7.5 inches
The fourth and last digit shows information about the weapon’s finish or stock. For nickel and blue finish, “1” and “2” means nickel or blue casehardened finish and 6 specifies nickel finish.
To conclude, reading colt serial number can seem tricky and little tough. This article will give you a basic sense of reading colt serial numbers. And, let’s face it, wordy articles won’t help much than any visuals in learning to read colt serial number.
Consider watching at least a couple of videos on YouTube, or meet your fellow gun geek friend or neighbor next door. This way, you will have lessons that are prone to engrave in your brain easily.
Last Updated on
At the War Department, a Captain Baker approved of the Colt Commando prototype. Two other Colt Commando prototypes with Official Police serial numbers 724348 and 724347 were shipped to the Springfield Ordnance District (SOD) and to the Office of the Chief of Ordnance on October 27 and November 2, 1942, respectively. Then, the full-scale production of the Commando began in earnest in late November 1942. When Colt Commando serial numbers were utilized, the first revolver was 1747 and was shipped to the Office of the Chief of Ordnance on November 26, 1942. The initial batch of Colt Commandos, including two-inch barreled Junior Commandos, was shipped to the War Department on December 7, 1942, the first anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack.
How To Read Colt Serial Numbers For First Timers
The CMC implemented several cost-cutting measures to meet the government’s price point as well as shorten the manufacturing time to meet the demand for revolver production. The Colt Commando was simply a cheaper version of the Official Police model made more quickly for wartime service. From a Commando manufacturing standpoint, CMC eliminated unnecessary exterior polishing, giving the revolvers a dull, parkerized finish instead of the usual high-polish bluing of the steel. The term “parkerizing” is synonymous with bonderizing, phosphating, or phosphatizing. It was a method developed by Richard M. Parker, Jr., as a means to protect steel surfaces from corrosion and increase the handgun’s resistance to wear through the application of a chemical phosphate conversion coating. Parkerizing is considered to be an improved zinc or manganese phosphating process.
In addition, the trigger, hammer, and cylinder latch of the Colt Commando revolver all lacked the usual metal checkering that was characteristic of the Official Police model. Checkered walnut grips with metal medallions were replaced with “Coltwood” on the Commando. These were essentially reddish-brown molded plastic grips, which early on were known for shrinking, leaving gaps in the fit to the handgun’s frame.
The cost of the Official Police model now fell from $28 to less than $25 per unit for a Colt Commando. This latter revolver would then be the handgun to arm military police and armament installation and security guards through the DSC and merchant ship crewmen via the U.S. Maritime Commission.
Weapon of Choice for the OSS
Approximately 49,000 Colt Commandos were purchased by the U.S. government during World War II. Based on factory results, the U.S. Army directly procured more than 16,000 Commandos, while only about 1,800 went to the U.S. Navy in the early war years. The remainder of the manufactured Commandos was purchased through Army Ordnance contracts. A total of 12,800 Commandos were issued to U.S. Military Intelligence, the Counterintelligence Corps, the newly formed Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and other intelligence organizations.
![Colt Official Police Serial Numbers Colt Official Police Serial Numbers](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2701/9842/products/667009_2.jpg?v=1556898752)
About 3,450, of the roughly 49,000 Commandos produced were in two-inch “snub” variants that were commonly termed Junior Commandos. These short-barreled revolvers would primarily serve overseas and behind enemy lines among the espionage agents and military intelligence liaisons of the OSS. Only a few shipments of two-inch revolvers were made for stateside civilian use, and these were produced late in the war. Regular production of the original two-inch barreled Junior Commandos began in March 1943. These revolvers had a round front site and bore the marking “CONN” abbreviated for Connecticut, since the handguns were manufactured in Hartford.
The American officers of the OSS Special Operations (SO) branch had the primary missions of gathering military intelligence, conducting sabotage, and training local resistance fighters, while avoiding direct contact with the enemy. These operatives often carried just a small pistol for self-defense. Since detection of these handguns was immediately incriminating, the stronger desire was for these agents to carry the shorter and more compact two-inch barrel Commando concealed in a pocket. In addition to the Colt Commando of both two- and four-inch barrel lengths, the Colt M1903 and the M1911A1 semiautomatic pistols were also employed by OSS personnel.
Using the two-inch barreled Junior Commando was not problematic for gunfire accuracy since British intelligence operatives of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in 1940 began learning the Fairbairn-Sykes method of pistol shooting. William Fairbairn and Eric Sykes were both former pistol experts on the Shanghai Municipal Police Force. Ejercito argentino 1911 serial numbers. As described by military and espionage historian Terry Crowder, an intelligence operative would assume a forward-crouched stance with “one foot placed in front of the other as if running or stooping.” The handgun was to be fired from the “hip level with a crooked arm.” This method was contrary to the orthodox military-type target shooting style of holding the pistol’s rear sight at “eye level with the arm fully extended and then taking aim.”
Both Fairbairn and Sykes trained future SOE agents to fire two shots quickly after drawing their hidden handgun on targets less than four yards away. OSS agents shortened many of the four-inch Commando barrels to two inches. Two shots fired in rapid succession without taking the time to re-aim the revolver enhanced the stopping power of the shorter barreled handgun and further disoriented the target at the reduced distance.
A variety of other markings also appeared on the Colt Commandos. Some had a small Ordnance Department “bomb” marking, which was similar in appearance to the number 8. Others were stamped with GHD, the Army inspector’s initials, Lieutenant Colonel Guy H. Drewry, on the left side of the frame. Later Commando revolvers sometimes had a “P” on the upper left frame that was associated with defense plant use.
The Colt Commando After the War
In 1945, the military realized that the end of the war was in sight, so the Commando revolver contract with CMC was ended with the factory still having about 1,500 guns undelivered. After the war, CMC resumed production of the Official Police revolver. The prewar highly polished blue finish reappeared, but the plastic “Coltwood” grips were maintained until as late as 1954, when the checkered wooden grips were reintroduced. Due to both competition and the costs of manufacturing, CMC ceased production of the Official Police model in 1969 with more than 400,000 of them having been made.
Many states that had received Commandos for their National Guard units passed them on to Civil Defense, prison staff, police, and military schools in the late 1940s-1950s. As an intriguing side note, early in World War II the U.S. Army withdrew the M1911A pistols from the Alabama National Guard to distribute them to regular U.S. Army soldiers. The Alabama National Guard immediately placed an order for Colt Commandos to replace the M1911A pistols, perhaps 200 in all. Before the Commandos were delivered, Army Ordnance reissued .45 semiautomatics to the state National Guard.
When the Colt Commandos arrived, they were placed in storage and never issued. They remained in storage for 68 years, from 1943 to March 2011. This batch of new Colt Commandos, still boxed in Cosmoline, was placed on sale as surplus by the Alabama National Guard.
The Colt Commando was produced during wartime for the sake of both manufacturing expediency and cost reduction in a booming rearmament economy. The revolver fulfilled its role in arming a broad swath of military and nonmilitary personnel. Today, the appearance of a Colt Commando generates curiosity among those interested in both the lesser known weapons of World War II and the nuanced history of revolver firearms production.
See Full List On Coltautos.com
This article by Jon Diamond originally appeared on Warfare History Network.
Image: Wikipedia.
Colt Revolvers - Official Police For Sale
This article first appeared in 2017 and is being republished due to reader interest.