Colt Aircrewman

Going to see a buddy's revolver(s) tomorrow. He describes it as an old "Colt Airweight snub nose revolver with special medallion grips." I said WHAT!? is that? So he says yeah I have two and they have never been fired.

I said that makes no sense at all, you sure they are not Smith and Wesson Airweights? He says no they are Colts, come see for yourself.

So I gotta ask, has anyone ever owned an aircrewman? Are there fakes? What do I look for, anything in particular? If it is that, I cant believe they never been fired. Google says Air Force ditched them because the frame/cylinder were too brittle. Safe to fire? I am more of a shooter than a collector. I see some pictures on Gunbroker, but want advice on fakes.

Thanks!

Okay thank you Steve.
I seriously doubt they are Aircrewman.
My buddy is a Korean Vet, and has had these pistols a very long time.

A second conversation reveals they are some kind of matched pair in a presentation box.
Colt snub nose revolvers never fired. Cant wait to see what they are. He said airweights again but he cant remember because they havent been out of the safe in quite some time.

Okay fellas, sorry for the false hopes/alarm. These guns are not at all Aircrewman.

He keeps insisting they are airweights and special, however what I saw was this.

A pair of extremely nice Colt Cobras chambered in .38 special. The bluing was very nice with only a slight hint of a turn line. There were no hints of wear, lockup was tight. The wood stocks were flawless. These were the later ones with full lug barrels and shrouded ejector rods. Bores were shiny and rifling was crisp. Barrels were slick clean as a whistle. Had they really not been shot? Who knows, but if they had, it wasnt very much at all. There was zero carbon on the cylinders or the crane area. He says they havent been shot. I am a shooter, not a collector, I told him if I bought them they would go straight to the range.

He wanted $500 a piece, and that was after I talked him down from $650 a piece. No box and no paperwork for either revolver. Was it too much to hope for sequential serial numbers? Apparently so because they were not adjacent numbered. I dont know, they did not thrill me. I already have a exceptional Colt Det Special in .38. I do like it a lot better than the S&W 442 I have, but do I need a pair of Cobras? At that price?

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He also had a pair of HI-Standard 6" revolvers Sentinel R-106 models. At $300 a piece I felt that was a bit steep. Now these had been shot. The finish was blue, but speckled with brown ugh rust. No pitting, but definetly needed some oiled up 0000 steel wool time. Stocks were dinged up and the front sights had been painted safety orange.

I felt bad turning him down on these firearms. My buddy is old and in failing health. He thinks he has something pretty special in these firearms. He says the Colts are worth $850 a piece and the .22s are $350 to him and he hates to part with them at so low a price. I think he may have overpaid when he bought them. He cant shoot anymore and no one in his family is interested.

*sigh

The finish on both looked flawless to me. How do I detect a re-blue?
This was a jet black shiny finish when held in the sun. If there was a nick, it would have shown up in the sun. Grips were checkered wood with no Colt emblem. They were sweet to the eye.

Is this something I would refrain from shooting?

Okay here they are, adopted today!

I think he gave me a good deal, $800 for the pair.

Cobra #1 Serial number places date of manufacture 1974. Not a hint of wear anywhere. Small scuff on the stocks, might be visible in the pictures. Barely a hint of a turn line. No carbon where the cylinder meets the barrel, I would expect to see some here if it were shot a lot. He says it wasnt shot at all, if it was I cant tell. Rock solid lock-up on this one.

Cobra #2 This little brother came along in 1975. He looks even better than #1. No turn line at all that I can see. One small nick in the wood stock, but this appears to have been there before the wood was stained/finished. Again no carbon on the cylinder where it meets the barrel. I cant tell if this one was shot. Had a good bit of grease where the extractor rod meets the cylinder and also around the star. Rock solid lock-up.

Just a couple of purty snub nose Colts. I wasnt looking for them, they found me! He still calls them "Airweights". I dont understand why, lets just leave that be. I really dont have anything I would consider a safe queen. Cobras are everywhere, though not all as nice as these. I think I might at least pick one and go shoot it. Too bad no boxes or paperwork.