police positive

[alsatian46]

I bought a police positive from a friend(38 special)and would like to find out what weight boolit it was originally loaded with.I"m going to place an order for my Colt trooper and Rossi 92 with Missouri bullet and would like to duplicate the original load for the police positive.Thanks in advance..

 

[Oyeboten]

Serial No. of the Revolver? ( last digits as 'X's is fine...)

Maybe some images of the Revolver too? Since it is always fun to see what we are talking about.


All in all, the Colt Police Positive Special, when chambered in .38 Special, anticipated any off the shelf .38 Special of the day, which was typically the 158 Grain Round Nosed Lead Bullet...or, lighter weight Wadcutters for Paper Target.


If it is an older version, I would stay with Lead Bullets only and avoid Jacketed or Semi Jacketed kinds, and, I would stay with Standard Loadings and not use any +P or Express Cartridges in it.

 

[alsatian46]

Thanks, Oyeboten.As I recall it was manufactured in the late thirties.My friend inherited it from his uncle who was a wwI vet.The gun came with about 15 rds and they shot to poa.The bullets were lead RN but I shot them all instead of saving one to pull and weigh.

 

[David E]

Most likely those rds were the aforementioned 158 grain.

 

[MMCSRET]

Mine works best with 158 gr. lead bullets, same with my Official Police.

 

[Black Knight]

Like others the 158 gr. round nose or 148 gr. wadcutters are probably what it is sighted in for. With a gun that old do not use +P in it as it may damage the gun or worse. Colts are highly sought after so enjoy it and respect its limits.

 

[Seamore2001]

I just added a 1930 PPS to the stable this week. Shooting it yesterday, w/ 158g lead SW over 3.5g of Bullseye, it shot to point of aim and proved very accurate at 10 and 15 yards. Shot it w/ 148g lead WC over 2.8g of Bullseye and also found it to be highly accurate. The 148g loads were very pleasant with little recoil - recoil with the 158g load caused me to bang my knuckle against the trigger guard due to the small frame size.

 

[SaxonPig]

PP vs PPS

34. The Colt Police Positive and Police Positive Special are two different models. For some reason most people say Police Positive when describing their Police Positive Specials. The PPS came out years after the PP and has a longer frame and cylinder to accommodate the longer 38 Special cartridge (hence the word “Special” in the model name). The PP was made in the short 38 and 32 calibers. If it takes 38 Special ammo, it has to be a PPS.
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As for the ammo, for about the first 65 years of its history the traditional load for the 36 Special was a 158 grain lead round nose bullet at about 850 FPS. In the 1960s people started trying to improve the cartridge's performance with different bullets and loads.

 

[woad_yurt]

I read somewhere that when S&W was developing the .38-44 HV load, later to become the .357 magnum when they made the cartridge a little longer, Colt bragged in advertising that they didn't need to use a larger-framed gun like S&W did with the N-frame, that their normal, every-day .38 SPL service revolvers handled the load well just as they were. I've come across this info three times in the past but can't find it now; I'm not in a big googlin' mood. Anyway, if that's true, .38 SPL +P should be no problem.

 

[AKPastor]

I love mine. I picked it up 3 years ago. It's a 1929 and the guy I bought it from gave the same advice you've gotten here - 158 gr. round nose or 148 gr. wadcutters and no +P. I've never had any trouble with that advice. I even taught my kids how to shoot with it.