Colt Agent, Learn me some knowledge an unfamiliar revolver

[Al-jim19]

As I’m not really a revolver guy, I just came across something I hadn’t seen before and it piqued my interest. Been thinking about getting a revolver for while but haven’t chosen one yet for various reasons. Came across a Colt Agent .38 for $400. Looks in fine shape. 6 rounds in a revolver that (google says) is only 15-16oz is pretty cool. Also the Colt logo on the grip is meaningful to me as I like some history behind my things.

Do any of you have one of these? What do you think? Is $400 worth the price tag? The internet has mixed messages about plus p ammo - what say you? Is it pocketable size?

Likely would be a carried a lot (in a jacket pocket) and shot a little kind of gun in my collection.

Looks just about identical to this:
Colt Agent .38 Special (C14174)

 

[Master Blaster]

$699.00 for an old revolver in poor cosmetic condition, is a ridiculous price. You can get a new S&W with a warranty like a 642 for less than that. Even $400 would be pushing it.

 

[jar]

The Agent was the alloy frame version of the Cobra that originally had a slightly smaller grip for easier concealment. The shrouded version IIRC came out in the 1970s. Both the Cobra and Agent with their aluminum alloy frames are lighter than my Detective Special. I would not recommend +P ammo in any of them. Likely they would handle it but that was not their designed purpose.

I do like snubbies and other small frame revolvers and they are my primary carry handgun of choice and of all the examples I have from Smith and Taurus and Charter Arms and other makers, the Detective Special is hands above all of them.

For carry, use a holster. Even if it's going in a pocket, use a holster designed from that model of handgun.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

$400 is a reasonable price for a nice Agent. They are good guns, but as with any old revolver, check the timing and endshake.
They are fine with limited +P usage.

 

[Gordon]

Im on my 3rd one ! I had the first one which was shrouded barrel and polished in the 70s as a BUG when I had free govt. ammo to shoot in it, I found the nasty Win 110 "treasury load" +p+ and shot maybe 500 of those before things got noticably looser (along with a couple thousand regular 130 FMJ loads thru it) I sold it to another LEO that said he was not gonna shoot it unless needed. The second I used LESS of those +p+ loads but still a few to see where they hit and i had the gun teflon coated back in mid 80s and used a Pachmeyer grip on it and shot the snot out of it..Mine all liked the 158 LSWCHP loads especially Remington and hit point of aim with that load. These guns have been astonishing accurate for me, far beyond any J frame snubby I've had. I had a friend beg me for the green tefloned one with its silky trigger and sold it to him in early 90s when I found another NIB for about $300. That one has less use on it , being used sporattically as a BUG .It has that silky action and once again can hit 25 yard com targets easily, maybe a jack rabbit too ! I still have it and ugly on outside but old school Colt craftsmanship on the inside. Note I have seen some stinkers of these with bad external finish and assembly, I all ways look my guns over and work the action before deciding to buy. They were rated for 1000 rounds of +P ammo at one point before being returned to Colt for repair, they never were rated +p+ FWIW. The ugly parkerized ones were produced after the infamous Colt union strike around 1980, and sold pretty well so were kept around a few years after that. I really like these guns !

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Sounds like you are looking at one of the 80's gen guns with a ejector shroud and the flat, rough finish. Like this:

I wouldn't take $400 for mine.

 

[Gordon]

Thats how my current gun looks ! It will stay that way

They all take the same speedloader , the remaining Agent there.

 

[OARNGESI]

There nice guns I bought some grips off a diamonback for mine but it is a light pocketable gun. If your a colt fan it’s worth it otherwise ruger or S&w May be a better option.

 

[Al-jim19]

$699.00 for an old revolver in poor cosmetic condition, is a ridiculous price. You can get a new S&W with a warranty like a 642 for less than that. Even $400 would be pushing it.

So it’s not the linked gun I’m looking at, which is just a representation of what I think the one at the local shop looks like.

 

[Al-jim19]

Sounds like you are looking at one of the 80's gen guns with a ejector shroud and the flat, rough finish. Like this:
View attachment 816170
I wouldn't take $400 for mine.

It’s just like that based on the shop’s photo, but with pachmayr grips.

 

[bannockburn]

Al-jim19

I had one of those matte finish Colt Agents during Colt's labor trouble years. Overall fit and finish were at best fair; definitely on the rough side compared to earlier blued Colts. The trigger was heavy in double action mode and the cylinder couldn't make a full rotation without binding. Fortunately I didn't have that much money in it and traded it in on a Ruger Speed Six.

 

[franco45]

I have an older blued Agent that gets carried regularly. I have a couple of j-frames but I like the old Colt. It is light and accurate. That 6th round is nice too. I kept the stock grips and added a Tyler T grip like the one pictured in a previous post. I'd go for it for $400 if it's in good shape.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

Back when +P loads were introduced, the standard was to practice with regular loads and carry with +P.
For familiarization, I would run a cylinder of +P as a part of training. You will be happy you have the Pachmayrs.

 

[doubleh]

I'm going to be a grammar nazi and say that we can "teach" you but you are one that has to "learn". Now that that is out of the way I can't add anything to the comments you have received except to say that if it was me (and of course it isn't) I wouldn't want one. Different people have different wants and that's what makes us have such a wide choice of our favorite toys. If you want it, get it.

 

[SwampWolf]

I'd go for it for $400 if it's in good shape.

Me too. There's something to be said about a revolver intended mostly for concealed carry that weighs the same as an alloy-frame Smith J-frame, isn't much bigger and carries 20% more ammunition. It's for these salient reasons that a vintage Colt Cobra is one of my favorite revolvers for edc.

 

[Paul7]

For $400 I'd buy it, they aren't making any more.. Would be surprised if it isn't worth more in 10 years.

 

[Eddietruett]

$400 around here would be a fair price and actually a little cheaper than normally seen. The older Cobras and Agents don't seem to bring quite as much as the Detective Special but not far behind. A nice one will bring $500-600 to the right buyer. I sold a Nice nickel plated one last year for $650 but it looked like it had just been taken out of the box.

 

[evan price]

This is my pair of Agents. Both came from same dealer this year but six months apart. The shrouded hammer is 1977 production the un shrouded is 1975, and both are fairly mint condition. They cost me $325 each.

The nice thing about Agents is they are basically a Cobra without the price tag of a snake gun.

 

[Eddietruett]

View attachment 816427 This is my pair of Agents. Both came from same dealer this year but six months apart. The shrouded hammer is 1977 production the un shrouded is 1975, and both are fairly mint condition. They cost me $325 each.

The nice thing about Agents is they are basically a Cobra without the price tag of a snake gun.

I would visit that shop a lot. I think you got a whale of a deal on each one of those beauties.

 

[Monac]

If I had a revolver that I did not think was safe with 38 Special +P, I don't think I'd want to shoot it with standard velocity 38 Special either. There just isn't that much difference.

Or maybe I'm just being "salty" today, as the young people say, because to me the idea that Colt would manufacture a 38 Special revolver in the 1970's or 1980's, when 38 Special +P was all over the place, that was not safe or durable with 38 Special +P just seems dumb. Maybe that is because I am old, so the 1970's still seems like "modern times" to me. You have to go back before the Summer of Love before things seem old-fashioned to me.

Colt was not Iver Johnson in its final decline, or some West German cast-zinc peddler, or some other bottom-of-the-barrel maker, after all.

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Colt didn't say you could not shot +P ammo in the alloy guns. They said you could, but should have the gun checked after so many rounds.....1000, if I remember correctly.

 

[Eddietruett]

I went last week to pick up a beautiful nickel plated S&W Model 12. When I got there, it was hard to open and close. Also felt like the cylinder was dragging on the forcing code in places. Looking with a light, it appeared the forcing cone and cylinder were not square to each other. Pulled off the cylinder and there it was plain as day, cracked frame right under the forcing cone. It was not just a hairline crack either. This one was at leas 1/16" wide. The seller told me he had been shooting the gun that morning and several days prior. Not sure if he knew it was cracked and was just trying to pass it off or not, but a great actor if the surprise of the crack was not real. He did admit that almost all the rounds he had fired through it in the last year or so were +P. Did that cause it? Who knows and who knows how long it had been cracked. The +P certainly didn't help. Depending on the load, the +P can have a good deal more pressure from different data I've read. No matter what, I might would carry an alloy gun with +P but never practice with it. I bet in the last 30 years over half of the alloy frame Smith and Colt Revolvers I've seen have had a cracked frame. Its just not worth messing up a nice gun. But then again, how nice is a gun if you can't enjoy it like you want???

 

[SwampWolf]

Cracked Model 12s aren't all that uncommon from what I've read. I like mine a lot but I looked closely before I leaped.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Almost all those parked guns were done during a strike. Colt's polishers were out so they sold that parked finish as a 'feature'. Without seeing the actual piece I can't say what it's worth but 4 bills for a Colt sounds like a deal if it's not beat up.

 

[Crowman]

For that kind of money, you can get one of these... 2017 Colt Cobra. It is not an aluminum alloy frame...it is stainless steel and rated 38+P. Comes with orange hi-viz front sight and tritium night sights are available from Brownells. Simple to change, they are drop-ins. This gun comes with one of the best double action triggers out there. Very smooth, crisp trigger. Shoots to point of aim with 158 grain bullets. One of the very few factory guns that I didn’t feel the need to modify in some fashion.

I liked this one so well that I bought the 2018 Colt Night Cobra which comes with a Matt black finish, G-10 grips and a tritium night sight on the front.





And six shot. Trumps S&W J-Frame in capacity, but not much fatter. Kinda in between a J-Frame and K-frame.