Thank you to all of you who took the time to type out your appreciation for my Colt. It was very enjoyable for me to get my dream gun finally put together. I love the guns of the past and my tastes generally run to blued steel and leather as opposed to polymer and kydex. (However, I do have polymer and kydex too!)
For some reason, there are those who view guns only as monetary investments and believe they should remain as they came from the factory. As others have mentioned, Colt made many, many Official Police .38's and they are far from rare. I would never have modified a 100% original, in the box, Colt OP. But this gun's finish was gone and its bore was almost unsafe to shoot. I'm sure the bullets would have keyholed.
I have modified many of my guns to my own tastes. I won't be selling them anytime soon. I shoot them all (which also drives some people crazy and I admit to finding that rather pleasurable) and enjoy them every day.
Here's a few more examples of guns I have "butchered":
Decimated value of ultra rare Colt Combat Elite by hacking the frame to accomodate an Ed Brown bobtailed mainspring housing (but it feels so much better in my hand when I shoot it!):
Hacked down barrel to 16" Marlin 336 from the 100th Anniversary 1870-1970 with a Leupold Scout Scope (blasphemy on a lever action rifle!)...but it works so darn well on dangerous game!
Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum with hacked barrel, custom John Wayne big loop lever, and all scratched up:
Ruger Super Single Six destroyed by non-factory scratching:
Absolutely factory original Colt 1903 .32 Pocket Hammerless. Orange rust coated and pitted bore and zero finish left over:
Horrifically re-blued but without losing any writing or the Rampant Colt horse:
Then scratched all to heck (this one was definitely a mistake since Colt made over 1 million of them and they are therefore so rare, especially in such terrible condition):
I wish I had the before photos of this poor little S&W .32 Safety Hammerless when I first purchased it. The nickel plating was all but gone and the gun looked terrible. I tried really hard to bring it back. Not sure if I succeeded though. I might have to throw this butchered gun in the garbage:
A few more guns all scratched up and their value destroyed:
An example of a gun you should never ever ever shoot. 1986 Colt 150th Anniversary Engraved Sampler with factory elephant ivory grips. Geez, it shoots right to point of aim with sights just the way they are!
Here's another one. S&W Performance Center .45 Schofield Model of 2000. Too valuable to ever shoot. Very rare. But cocking it fast and shooting it in Cowboy Action Shooting matches sure is fun!
All of the above obviously tongue in cheek and for the appreciation of those who understand that, yep they're my guns, nope I'm not selling 'em, yep I'm shooting the daylights out of 'em, and yes sir I'm happy doing it and living my gun life to its fullest!
Thanks again for your kind comments!
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