Colt Police Positive first issue question

[Gordon]

I got a pretty nice Colt Police Positive .38 Special first issue recently. It has a 6" barrel , 80% blue, no scratches,bright fire bluing on hammer and trigger ,uncracked Rampant Colt Gutta Percha grips and a very tight action with no end play ect.
It was made in 1921 and I got it for $200 to keep my 1923 Police Positive Target .22WRF company.
My question is ; on both guns if you cock them slow the cylinder just barely won't carry up into index with the bolt dropping into the notch. When you touch the trigger it locks into place instantly however. Is this a design feature of this model or is the hand in need of a slight "stretching" ? There is not much wear on either gun, they shoot fine , but I wonder if this is normal on the early Police positives?

 

[dfariswheel]

That's NOT right nor a "feature" of Colt revolvers, that's the classic out-of-time condition for Colt revolvers, and it needs repair.
The revolver is safe to fire AS LONG as you make certain that the cylinder does lock up each time, so you can continue to use it.

Fair warning: The hand "can" often be stretched to correct this BUT....
If the hand has been stretched once before, it can't be stretched again due to a high probability it'll crack or snap in two.

Second, the hand is not stretched where you'd think. It's stretched in the wide groove down near the bottom, and is done with a special rounded face modified chisel.
Do it wrong, and it's ruined, then you have to put out some real money to get a new hand fitted.

 

[Gordon]

Thank you, I wanted to be sure before I took the rounded chisel to that bit of hard steel and with an 8oz machinist hammer give her a rap! I am sure this gun has never been apart before. I have stretched the hand on a couple of New Services over the years and a couple of Official Polices. They were much worse out of time than these little guns however, which is why I wondered......._

 

[Old Fuff]

I didn't mean to imply that a gun owner should start hitting parts with hammers and punches unless they knew what they were doing...

It has been my general experience that when you have a situation where the cylinder almost, but not quite, fails to carry up to the point of locking on all chambers, and the revolver is an old one, the cause is more likely to lay with a sprung crane then a short hand.

Fixing a sprung crane is not difficult, but it's a job that should be done by an experienced professional.