The most effective pocket and house arm on the market.” The emphasis on “compact,” “lightest” and “effective” were in the advertisement. In the 1908 Colt Catalog, the first year it was offered for sale, it was advertised as “The most compact and also the lightest revolver ever produced to take this powerful ammunition. Our focus is on the Police Positive Special and what made it so special. THOSE LAST D-FRAME guns are outside the scope of this story.
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. 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. They share a common frame, named the D-frame after WWII. It’s the older brother of the still famous Detective Special snubnose introduced in 1927. It was in continuous production with few changes for 68 years. It’s just in a pocket holster, rather than hanging from a gun belt.Ĭolt’s Police Positive Special revolver was chambered in. In old photographs of city policemen, you’ll often note the absence of a visible weapon. Pocket carry was once very common, especially before the Second World War. 38 Special, the medium-framed, six-shot S&W Military & Police Revolver generally trumped Colt’s medium-framed, and slightly clunky, Official Police Revolver.īut if you wanted a six-shot that you could keep in your front pants pocket, the Colt’s Police Positive Special had no peer. 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 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 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. Shooting this great-handling piece and it got me thinking about their long history. 38 Special revolvers at really reasonable prices.Īt a gun show, prices at that level get Colt collectors handing over their money as fast as they can. They had a bunch of clean, well-kept, 1960s vintage, police turn-in Colt Police Positive. Recently I found a deal that felt like a time warp back to the 1980s. I’ve made a habit of perusing the website’s Surplus Corner to see what gun bargains they’ve turned up. Made for a time when cops and citizens carried a pistol in their pocket, this handgun served for decades before semiautos became more popular STORY AND PHOTOS BY FRANK JARDIM