My Colt's Police Positive .38 New Police

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Doug Bowser

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The Colt’s Police Positive Revolver in .38 Colt Police Positive

I picked up a serviceable Colt’s Police Positive Revolver. It is in .38 Colt Police Positive. This cartridge is interchangeable with the .38 Smith & Wesson. The Colt Company decided to market their own cartridges for this series of handguns because they did not want to stamp the term .38 S&W on their handguns. The Colt cartridge has a bullet with a flat nose and the .38 S&W’s bullet is round nosed. I had a partial box of .38 Colt Police Positive ammo and I fired it successfully. It was quite old because they had balloon heads. It was marked Jul 26, 1940.

top of box .38 np.jpg

This Police positive Revolver was not a collector’s item. The bluing had turned to an even brown patina but the bore an action were very serviceable. The revolver and cartridge combination is very comfortable to shoot. This is especially true with younger shooters and ladies. The single action trigger pull is comparable to any new revolver. The double action trigger is smooth and slickThe front sight on this revolver was bent slightly to the right. I was surprised when it zeroed for windage and elevation with the old ammo. After I expended the old ammo, I reloaded solid head cases with .38 148 gr Hollow Based Wadcutters. The hollow base bullets are more accurate in the .38 Colt PP handguns because the bore diameter of the .38 Colt PP and .38 S&W is .360”. I found that shooting solid base .357” bullets in this revolver did not produce good accuracy. Later in production Colt produced a .38 Special version of the revolver. It had a longer cylinder and was quite popular. They also had their own cartridge named .38 Colt Special.

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I am enclosing a photo of a target fired at 20 yards with one hand. The accuracy is good enough for self defense purpose
 
Nothing looks classier than skinny grips and a tapered barrel there! Was the front sight itself bent, or was the whole barrel turned?
 
I love the old 38 S&W cartridge. I really like it in its british form of 38/200.

Isn't 38 Colt Special just 38 Special with Colt in the head stamp?
 
My understanding is that the 38 S&W was so highly thought of as a target cartridge that the 38 Special wadcutter was designed to duplicate its ballistics.
 
I liked the Police Positive, way cool gun, but it beat up my fingers when shooting it.
 
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