colt police target 22

[Jon Coppenbarger]

picked up a colt official police 22 target at a gun show last weekend. guns in like 95% plus condition. The seller had that without the box and a colt trooper in the box but I decided that a old colt double action 22 would be a neat little pistol.
Paid $400 for it and after I got it home The serial number dated to 1929. the barrel looks like a 6" with the barrel being thin with those adjustible rear sights. I know it was a pre war pistol as they all were but 1929 seems cool to me. Should of bought the trooper also but $500 was a little to rich for me on that weekend.

 

[Guillermo]

POLICE!!!

THIEF!!!

jk

great buy on one of the finest 22 revolvers ever made

 

[788Ham]

Wishing I had been walking behind you, when you walked off without that Trooper, I'd have snagged that in a heartbeat!!! I wasn't able to take advantage of a Colt Trooper some years back, a fellow employee had one for sale. He was asking $250 for it, had the box, paperwork, new holster and 2 boxes of cartridges, 4"er. He wouldn't take 1/2 today and 1/2 come payday, 4 days away!! I still scream thinking about that deal.

 

[Old Fuff]

the barrel looks like a 6" with the barrel being thin with those adjustible rear sights.

Colt did make an Official Police .22 with a 6" barrel, but they had fixed sights and were intended as a training/practice understudy for the same revolver in .38 Special.

If the revolver you bought has an adjustable-for-windage rear sight, a flat topstrap with no groove running down it, and an adjustable-for-elevation front sight; you have the much higher priced Officers Model .22 target pistol.

The correct model name should be stamped on the side of the barrel. If the gun is an Officers Model 22 it is serial numbered in its own series, so check again.

 

[Jon Coppenbarger]

I will take a look at it. Was trying to remember exactly what it said on the barrel. But it does have the flat top strap with adj. rear sights. the front sight is pinned also. looked up the serial number from the model listing on the net for the manf. date. and I do know there were two series of it and mine was the second one made from 1926 to 1941.
I will not get to my safe untill tuesday mourning to look as on the barrel it had like police positive or official or the like stacked and then target 22lr to the right of it.

Thought it would be a good companion to my smith outdoorsman but I think the smith seems to be a better pistol.

Yeah I kicked myself for not buying the trooper but as the saying goes, you can go broke with all the deals out there.

 

[Old Fuff]

Thought it would be a good companion to my smith outdoorsman but I think the smith seems to be a better pistol.

Back in the dark ages of pre-world war two, and the early post war period when bullseye competitors still used revolvers, the Colt was far more polular then the S&W. In particular, more top winners used the Colt. Part of the reason was that Colt's had a tighter bore and a 16 x 1 rifling twist that grouped better at 50 yards then Smith & Wesson's 18 1/2 x 1. Both companies put much more hand work into their target revolvers then other models.

Unfortunately Colt Officers Model serial numbers can be a nightmare, because at different times they put them in different series. To find the right number/date-of-manufacture you have to know EXACTLY what version you have.

 

[Guillermo]

Thought it would be a good companion to my smith outdoorsman but I think the smith seems to be a better pistol

K-22 or a Colt Officer's?

May I never have to choose between those two amazing firearms.

 

[Jon Coppenbarger]

forgot to look at it untill today and it says police positive 22 target. when I looked the model in the blue book it said it was the second model C or something and then cross referenced it on the net for that model and came up with 1929 for the serial number.

my late 30's outdoorsman books for way more than this colt but I think they are both way cool.