- Official Police - Coltfever
- Colt Official Police 38 Serial Numbers
- Colt Official Police Serial Numbers
- Colt Official Police Serial Numbers
- Colt's Manufacturing LLC
Colt Official Police 'Customs'. This is a high condition gun with U.S. Customs roll stamped on back strap. The only wear is on the grip frame. Really neat old gun. Serial number is 24376. (read more) Gun #: 936842048. Seller: Gulf Breeze Firearms. Gulf Breeze Firearms.
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.
- Colt Official Police - Collector's Information -.38 Special Serial Number 611921 (ca. 1936) Colt Official Police Serial Number 611921 with 4' barrel - Blue finish with checkered walnut grips. Special features noted in the letter include a 1/8' front sight and a 3 1/2 lb. Trigger pull. Marked on left of barrel.
- Enter the serial number, without spaces or dashes, to search the database. If multiple models appear for your serial number simply match the date with the appropriate model, as certain vintage firearms can share serial numbers between different models.
- Jun 30, 2009 Colt Model 2 Serial #476-25000 Colt Model 3 Serial #0 Colt Model 3A and 4 Serial #1-2400 Colt Model 5 Serial #2401-8000. Colt Official Police Colt Commando Model Colt Marshall Model Colt.38 SF-VI Colt.38 SF-VI Special Lady Colt Detective Special 1st Issue.
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.
![Official Official](https://s3.amazonaws.com/mgm-content/sites/armslist/uploads/posts/2017/03/21/6612524_03_colt_police_positive_32_calibe_640.jpg)
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. 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.
Official Police - Coltfever
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.
This article by Jon Diamond originally appeared on Warfare History Network.
Image: Wikipedia.
This article first appeared in 2017 and is being republished due to reader interest.
Colt Official Police | |
---|---|
Type | Revolver |
Place of origin | United States |
Production history | |
Manufacturer | Colt's Manufacturing Company |
Produced | 1907–1969 |
No. built | 1,000,000[1] |
Variants | See Variants |
Specifications | |
Barrel length |
|
Cartridge | |
Action | double-action |
Feed system | six round cylinder |
Sights | Fixed iron: Blade front, V-notch rear |
The Colt Official Police is a medium frame, double-actionrevolver with a six-roundcylinder, primarily chambered for the .38 Specialcartridge, and manufactured by the Colt's Manufacturing Company. Released in 1908 as the Colt Army Special, the revolver was renamed the 'Colt's Official Police' in 1927 in order to better market to law enforcement agencies. It became one of the best selling police firearms of all time, eventually in the 1950s coming to exemplify typical law enforcement officerweaponry.[2] The Official Police was also used by various U.S. and allied military forces during World War II.
Development and history[edit]
As the 20th Century began, the older .32 caliber revolvers which had been standard-issue for the majority of American police departments began to be phased out in favor of the larger-bore .38 caliber. In 1908 Colt introduced a sleek and modernized revolver they dubbed the Army Special, which in the powerful (for the time) and popular .38 Special quickly became the issue service revolver of many departments.[2][3][4]During the same period, revolvers began to fall out of favor with the U.S. Military, especially after the adoption on the U.S. Model of 1911semi-automatic pistol.[2] As military sales of their revolvers dropped off, Colt searched for an alternative market and realized the popularity and strong sales of their product line with civilian law enforcement agencies could form their replacement market.[3]
By 1927 the overwhelming sales of two popular models, the Army Special and Colt Police Positive, had assured Colt's dominance of the law enforcement firearms market.[2][3] Colt's marketing strategy was further fine-tuned by making a few superficial alterations to the Army Special revolver and then renaming it as the “Official Police” model.[2][3] The changes included adding checkering to the trigger, matting the topstrap of the frame and widening the rear sightgroove. Colt also upgraded the quality of the gun's finish from a dull blued finish to a highly polished blued surface.[2][4] In 1930, Colt scored a marketing coup when they publicized that their Official Police model could easily handle the firing of heavily loaded .38 rounds intended for competitor Smith & Wesson's new large N-frame revolver, the .38-44, none of the comparable S&W revolvers could manage this feat.[2][3] By 1933 the Colt sales catalog listed many law enforcement agencies as having adopted the OP as a sidearm, including the New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Kansas City police departments. In addition many state police organizations and even the Federal Bureau of Investigation chose the OP as their issue revolver.[2] The U.S. Army also bought some of the revolvers, issuing them to military police and to federal agencies in need of a revolver for their armed agents, such as the Treasury Department, Coast Guard, and the Postal Inspection Service. Many Official Police revolvers were also bought by the police forces and militaries of various South American countries.[2][4]
Between May 1940 and June 1941, 49,764 Official Police revolvers in .38 New Police or .38/200 caliber were purchased by the British Purchasing Commission and shipped to the United Kingdom for use by British and Commonwealth armed forces as a substitute standard sidearm. These revolvers bore British military acceptance markings and had a 5' barrel; the butt was fitted with a military-style lanyard ring. Most of these OP revolvers were assembled from commercial-grade parts made before 1942.[5]
When the U.S. became involved in World War II, the U.S. government requested contracts to supply .38 revolvers required for arming security personnel charged with the security of government buildings, shipyards, and defense plant installations against sabotage or theft. Commencing in 1941, small quantities of the .38 Colt Official Police were procured directly from the Defense Supplies Corporation (DSC). When government purchasing officials objected to production delays of the OP, as well as the unit cost, Colt responded by simplifying the gun. Savings were achieved by eliminating all unnecessary exterior polishing operations, substituting a smooth-face trigger and hammer, and fitting the gun with simplified checkered wood grips with the Colt medallion; the latter was soon replaced by 'Coltwood' molded plastic grips. Instead of the normal bluing, the revolver was given a dull parkerized finish. Dubbed the Colt Commando, the weapon was primarily used to arm units of Military police, security guards at U.S. defense plant installations and shipyards, as well as limited clandestine issue to agencies involved in overseas espionage and military intelligence.[2][3][6]
In mid-1942 the Springfield Ordnance District (SOD) was given control over procurement and distribution of the Commando, which transferred the revolvers to the end user. A few Commandos were shipped to the U.S. Maritime Commission and used as small arms equipment on U.S. merchant ships and ships provided to the Allies under Lend-Lease.[7] Most Commando wartime production went to the Defense Supplies Corporation (DSC).[8] for use by security and police forces, while approximately 1,800 Commandos were used by the U.S. Navy, with another 12,800 revolvers distributed to various military intelligence agencies. Control over procurement changed in 1944, after the DSC formally objected to being charged additional handling fees by the armed forces, and was then authorized to procure the Commando directly from Colt.[8]
After the Allied victory, Colt resumed commercial production and returned to the prewar polished blued finish, but retained the plastic grips which they labeled “Coltwood” until 1954 when the checkered wooden grips were reintroduced.[2] During the postwar period, Colt fell on difficult financial times and the company introduced few new models. At Smith & Wesson, both output and new model civilian and police sales improved, and the sales margin gap between the two corporations progressively tightened. Finally in the 1960s S&W took over the lead.[2][3] A contributing factor to this change may have been Smith & Wesson's generally lower cost per unit, accompanied by a double-action trigger pull on their military & police model that was preferred by many agencies teaching the new combat-oriented double-action revolver training.[2][3] Colt announced the discontinuation of the Official Police in 1969, stating that competitive production of the design was no longer economically feasible.[2][3] With a total production of over 400,000 pistols, the Official Police ranks as one of the most successful handguns ever made.[2]
Features[edit]
The Official Police was machined of fine carbon steel, with bright royal Colt blued as well as nickel-plated finishes, and was offered in 4, 5 and 6 inches (100, 130 and 150 mm) barrels. Built on Colt's .41 or “E” frame, it was manufactured in a variety of chamberings including .22 LR, .32-20 (discontinued in 1942), .41 Long Colt (discontinued in 1938), and the most common and popular, the .38 Special.[2][3] Colt's “Positive Lock” firing pin block safety was a standard feature of the revolver, preventing the firing pin from striking the primer unless the trigger was deliberately pulled.[2] The pistol's sights consisted of a blade front with a fixed ironopen rear sight, which was a simple V-notch shaped groove milled into the revolver's top strap. The top strap had a matte finish to reduce glare down the sight plane.[2][3]
Variants[edit]
Commando[edit]
Colt Official Police 38 Serial Numbers
The Commando was a wartime variant of the Official Police, manufactured with either a two or four inch barrel, and incorporating several production economies including a non-gloss Parkerized finish. The Commando also lacked the usual metal checkering on the hammer, trigger, and cylinder latch, as well as the reflection-deadening treatment of the commercial version's top strap. In addition, plastic material replaced the wood grips of the civilian model.[9] Approximately 48,611 Commando revolvers were purchased by the government during World War II.[9] Of this total, approximately 12,800 Commando revolvers were issued to various intelligence services such as US Military intelligence and the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Many of the latter were procured with the two-inch barrel, referred to as the “Junior Commando”.[9] A few Commandos saw service overseas in the war zone.[9] 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.[9]
![Colt Official Police - Collector Colt Official Police - Collector](https://s3.amazonaws.com/mgm-content/sites/armslist/uploads/posts/2017/02/08/6431501_01_colt_official_police_38_640.jpg)
Marshal[edit]
Braemar holter software. A rare variant featuring a rounded grip, with barrel lengths of two and four inches. With a very limited production run of 2,500 units produced from 1955-1956, the Marshal became a true collectable.[3]
MK III[edit]
The moniker “Official Police” was borrowed by one model in a new generation of revolvers Colt introduced in the late1960s, called the “MK III” series. MK III models consisted of simpler versions of several classic Colt revolvers with updated lockwork.[10]The MK III product line was actually a different and original design based on a new “J” frame, which failed to attain commercial success and was cancelled after only three years.[2][10]
Colt Official Police Serial Numbers
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^'Serial Number Data'.
- ^ abcdefghijklmnopqrs“Colt's Official Police Revolver”Archived 2008-09-26 at the Wayback Machine, Shooting Times magazine Web site – Handgun Reviews. Accessed August 13, 2008.
- ^ abcdefghijklAyoob, Massad. “The Colt Official Police: 61 years of production, 99 years of service”, Guns magazine. BNET Web site – Find articles. Accessed August 13, 2008.
- ^ abc“Colt Official Police”Archived 2008-06-10 at the Wayback Machine, Bellum Web site. Accessed August 20, 2008.
- ^Pate, Charles, U.S. Handguns of World War II, Andrew Mowbray Publishing, ISBN0-917218-75-2, ISBN978-0-917218-75-0
- ^“Colt Commando”Archived 2008-04-30 at the Wayback Machine, Bellum Web site. Accessed August 21, 2008.
- ^Pate, Charles, The World War II Commando RevolverArchived 2011-01-26 at the Wayback Machine, Man At Arms Magazine, Mowbray Publishing (October 1997), retrieved 3 April 2011
- ^ abPate, Charles, The World War II Commando Revolver, Man At Arms Magazine, Mowbray Publishing (October 1997), retrieved 3 April 2011
- ^ abcde“The World War II Commando Revolver”Archived 2008-10-13 at the Wayback Machine, Man at Arms Web site. Accessed August 21, 2008.
- ^ ab“Colt mk. III revolvers: Trooper, Lawman, Official Police (USA)”Archived 2008-09-14 at the Wayback Machine, World.guns.ru Web site. Accessed August 21, 2008.
Colt Official Police Serial Numbers
External links[edit]
Colt's Manufacturing LLC
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