Posted on 05/06/2020 11:03:32 AM PDT by w1n1
Made for a time when cops and citizens carried a pistol in their pocket, this handgun served for decades before semiautos became more popular - I’ve made a habit of perusing the CenturyArms.com website's Surplus Corner to see what gun bargains they've turned up. Recently I found a deal that felt like a time warp back to the 1980s. They had a bunch of clean, well-kept, 1960s vintage, police turn-in Colt Police Positive .38 Special revolvers at really reasonable prices.
At a gun show, prices at that level get Colt collectors handing over their money as fast as they can. I bought one for the sheer pleasure of shooting this great-handling piece and it got me thinking about their long history.
The Colt Police Positive Special revolver is nearly forgotten today, except among collectors (and shooters over 70), but at one time – and really for a long time – it was a big deal. In its heyday, the .38 S&W Special cartridge, with its 158-grain bullet moving at 870 feet per second, was regarded as a very potent defensive load, and revolvers were the most popular handguns for lawmen and private citizens alike.
This was a pistol that gave S&W fits, as they never had a comparable product to challenge its niche as the smallest six-shot revolver chambered in .38 Special. If you didn't mind a bigger .38 Special, the medium-framed, six-shot S&W Military & Police Revolver generally trumped Colt's medium-framed, and slightly clunky, Official Police Revolver.
But if you wanted a six-shot that you could keep in your front pants pocket, the Colt's Police Positive Special had no peer. Pocket carry was once very common, especially before the Second World War. In old photographs of city policemen, you’ll often note the absence of a visible weapon. They have one. It’s just in a pocket holster, rather than hanging from a gun belt.
Colt's Police Positive Special revolver was chambered in .38 Special, .32-20 WCF and, later, .32 Colt New Police caliber. It was in continuous production with few changes for 68 years. It’s the older brother of the still famous Detective Special snubnose introduced in 1927. They share a common frame, named the D-frame after WWII. It was Colt’s most widely used frame and the basis for the Diamondback and Viper revolvers, as well as the snubnosed Agent, Cobra and Commando.
According to the serial number data, over a million Police Positive Specials and Detective Specials were produced with virtually no significant changes until the 1970s, when larger grips and heavier barrels with integral ejector rod shields changed the character of the guns dramatically.
In a 1908 Colt catalog the Police Positive Special was advertised as "The most compact and also the lightest revolver ever produced to take this powerful ammunition. The most effective pocket and house arm on the market." The emphasis on "compact," "lightest" and "effective" were in the advertisement. These qualities translated to mass consumer appeal. That probably sounds crazy to younger shooters, reared in the present era dominated by semiauto handguns, but those were different times.
By the turn of the 20th century, the double-action, swing-out cylinder revolver had already emerged as the premier fighting handgun. The newly devised autoloading pistols were marvels to be sure, and some models were immensely popular (like the .32 ACP Model 1900 Browning), but the double-action revolver was perceived by many to have a major advantage over the autoloader.
This attitude persisted longest in law enforcement, finally losing favor in the 1980s. However, then as now, the revolver was reliable, regardless of variations in ammunition, and it was simple to use. Revolvers didn’t jam and if the hammer fell on a dud round, the shooter simply pulled the trigger again. There were no slides, or safeties or magazines to manipulate. The revolver was ready to go the moment a loaded cylinder was closed, and the firing drill was always the same: aim at the target and squeeze the trigger. Read the rest of Colt Police Positive.
I’ve owned two .38 S&W’s x 50 years with the 5-shot snub as my carry. I’m really, really good up to 7 yards. After that, it’s run for the hills!!
This has been the preferred handgun of my family. My grandfather used his as a merchant policeman. Unfortunately, it was lost long ago in a boating accident.
My father always said that the .38 special round had extra charge so that the bullet impact would knock down the target.
I want one
When you say 7 yards, is that for the snub?
I think it became fashionable At some point to sneer at the .38 and they’ve gotten a bad rad rap. For close up self defense, Mano-a-Mano, a modern 38 snubby is an excellent weapon.
Being from Hartford and rode my by Colt often as a kid,I picked up a Police Positive in a gun store on Sample I believe in Pompano back in the 80”s
Nice little piece. Has an ID in the butt “YPD” I never knew what the referred to, maybe Yonkers PD ?
The wooden grips have indentations where it looks like some one used it for a hammer to hang pictures or sent home finishing nails.
I am sure there is someones skull DNA on there to.
Glad I bought it for under 100.
Hope its gone up in val.
I’ve got two 38 cal Detective Specials. The oldest was my Dad’s off duty weapon circa 55. Mine, which I bought from a CIC agent who had it in Turkey in the late 50s, was my back up gun in the 70s. Both shoot accurately today. I only use standard pressure rounds now albeit I still have a few boxes of 110 gr Super Vels. One has the original walnut grips on it, the other a set of rosewood grips.
Yes, I’m real good with my snub at 7yds. One handed or both hands. Many thousands of rounds at the range has me real confident, not overconfident mind you, just confident.
Where was your dad a cop, if you don’t mind me asking?
My grandfather carried one in his capacity as an armed Postal Agent back in the Depression when big dollar stock certificates and bearer bonds, etc. were hand delivered by the Post Office.
Alas, it too is lost to the mists of history.
Back in 71 or 72 two guys tried to stick up a bank in Wahington Hts NY. An RMP responded. The bank robbers were each armed with an M16. A bunch had been stolen from a NY Natl Guard armory. The two NYPD cops engaged the gunmen. Both were wounded,one seriously. They fired 18 rounds from the Colt .38s and scored 12 hits, mortally wounding both perps.
Since you mentioned postal agent, I’ll tell you my Dad’s story.
While he was trying to get into civil service, he was given a job as a guard by the post office at a railway yard. He strapped on his Dad’s pistol and guarded a railway platform on a night shift. (This was before the boating accident.)
Note that railway yards are not in upscale neighborhoods.
He says that one night when it was really late, an armored truck arrived with two police cars with flashing lights escorting.
Two guards with shotguns got out of the armored truck while two more unloaded a couple of bags onto the train platform. Then, everyone got back in their vehicles and drove off. This left my father standing by himself with his .38 strapped on while standing on the platform with the two bags waiting for a train to come.
“For close up self defense, Mano-a-Mano, a modern 38 snubby is an excellent weapon.”
It is indeed.
LOL - check out this vid Hickok 45 just posted today: https://youtu.be/8lFUAc1sNHg
When we were kids my Dad had a .38 detective special that he kept in the night stand.
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