Working The Colt 1908

I must admit, I have had a number of these little gems come into my shop over the years, and most come in with the same issues— either missing parts, or disassembled and brought in a small plastic bag. Recently, another one made its way to my bench for reassembly and inspection. It is none other than the infamous little Colt Model 1908 Vest Pocket, a hammerless pistol chambered in .25ACP.

Quite a bit of information has been written on this little pocket pistol that can be readily found in books, magazine articles, and Internet searches, including historical information about the specific years each serial number blocks were manufactured by Colt. For starters, this little pistol was purportedly and internally at Colt referred to as the Model "N".

According to Colt record keeping, the company manufactured it between 1908 and 1947 with the final ones being shipped Not many parts to contend with on this model. Note the lugs on the barrel and the firing pin (striker) type. out in 1948. Due to the volume of these guns manufactured—approximately 420,000+— you will more than likely run across these in your shop in need of parts, or for inspection and cleaning, or all three.

They are regarded as moderately collectable guns, especially the models with serial numbers that have four or less digits. This little Colt came with a 2" barrel, had an overall length of 4 1/2" and an unloaded weighed of 13 ounces, making for a compact little pocket gun. The early guns (serial numbers lower than 141,000) had two safeties. After that, a third magazine disconnect safety was added.

A description of this added safety quoted in the original owner’s manual says, "If a cartridge remains in the chamber of the barrel and the pistol is left in a cocked position when the magazine is withdrawn, the arm cannot be fired even if the trigger is pulled because the Safety Disconnector positively breaks all connection between the trigger and sear." Finishes for the M1908 were available in blued and polished nickel, while some were known to have been silver and/or gold plated, as well as having engraved 25ACP Vest Pocket Model Pistol. editions.

Grips for this gun were available in checkered hard rubber or walnut, with special order pearl and ivory grips being offered and available at one time. This gun is similar/identical to the FN Model 1906, if you run across one of them. Regarding the gun that recently came into my shop, it was a 1926 manufactured pistol and according to the total number made that year, it appears to be a late year model. The owner of this pistol brought it to me in a plastic bag, along with some new parts he had ordered for it.

This gun often has missing parts, most commonly the mainspring, mainspring guide rod, and the safety assembly (spring and spring detent plunger.) This specimen was no exception, other than the customer had already purchased the replacement parts. He wanted me to be sure that the gun was reassembled correctly, that it was fully inspected for proper safety function, and test fired. He was very proud of his little collect-

Being often overlooked, the panels and receiver should be removed and wiped down whenever cleaning to help prevent this type of damage to the gun. The short leaf on the spring faces out from the receiver. able find and wanted to be sure it would still function properly. Inspection of the parts provided by the customer found that all parts were accounted for and his ordered parts were the correct ones for this make and model.

The fact that this little pocket pistol has only 30 parts makes it a very simple, yet interesting Also shown is the sear stop pin in the receiver. This pin should not be removed. design. I say 30 parts, counting all of the numbered ones on the schematic, and adding in the two grip panel escutcheons that are absent from any schematic I have found to date. The good news is that most of the parts are still readily available from most parts houses, but for how long remains to be seen.

I have also found aftermar- Disassembly Turning our focus back to the pistol on the bench, let’s disassemble it now. Begin by—yes, you know—making sure that the magazine is removed, the gun is unloaded, and that you physically pull the slide fully to the rear and visually inspect the chamber to insure no live rounds are in the gun. You can lock the slide to the rear via the slide lock (also used when light cleaning) if that assists in visually inspecting the gun for any live ammunition.

Once you know that the gun is safe, begin by closing the slide and pulling the trigger as the gun should not be cocked when disassembling. Holding the gun in your weak hand, push the slide back about 3/8 of an inch (I actually align the front of the slide to nearly even with the front of the receiver) and hold it open with your weak hand thumb. You should be able to see the barrel lugs that line up with the slots inside of the slide at the ejection port.

With your free hand, grasp the serrated cuts located at the muzzle of the ket parts available for this little Colt as well, but hesitate to name those parts companies here as they might not have or make them anymore. barrel. With the barrel lugs lined up with the slots in the slide, twist the barrel a quarter turn to the right (clockwise as you face the muzzle of the gun.) After making this quarter turn, ease the slide and barrel forward and off of the receiver. Important: Use your weak hand to cover the firing

These parts essentially fit together when properly seated in the frame. The barrel lugs are shown for reference in the ejection port but should actually be interlocked with the lugs inside of the slide. Those same lugs will ultimately be turned down and interlocked with the lugs in the top inside of the receiver. pin assembly as you move the slide forward as this is where parts can be (and most often are) lost.

Note here how the firing pin, mainspring, and mainspring guide rod fit up against and into the round tab or ear protruding up from the very back of the receiver. The mainspring guide rod fits into the round recessed area of that tab when reassembling. Also take care to insure that the safety is in the correct Off position.

Looking at the original owner’s manual, it states, "When slide is removed, care should be taken to see that the Slide Lock Safety is not pushed upward as this will release the Slide Lock Plunger and Spring causing them to fly out and become lost." The firing pin, mainspring, and mainspring guide rod can now be removed from the slide.

With those parts safely removed, separate the barrel from the slide by giving it a quarter turn back to the left (counterclockwise), allowing the barrel to drop out rearward from the slide. Remove the recoil (retractor) spring and guide rod (parts #20 and #20 in schematic.) The gun can now be routinely and adequately cleaned at this point of disassembly.

Remember when cleaning to always remove the stocks (grips or grip panels) as time, elements, dirt, and other corrosive materials seem to work their way under them, causing rusting and pitting, especially with the wood grips that tend to soak up corrosive materials. This is probably the most overlooked cleaning area of this or any other similar gun typically made by gun owners. So, remove the grip panels now. Detailed disassembly of the pistol begins here, so let’s turn our attention to the slide.

To remove the extractor, turn the slide upside down. Using alike-sized pin punch, drift the pin out from inside of the slide and out through the top. While drifting this pin out, cover the extractor so that it and its spring does not depart from your bench rapidly. Inspect this spring as it is prone to rusting and replace as needed. This little spring can cause ejection jams and often is the main jamming culprit next to a broken extractor or bent magazine lips. This completes the slide disassembly.

Moving back to the receiver, with the stocks or grip panels already removed, begin by removing the grip safety pin located at the bottom of the grip panel area of the receiver. Applying pressure to the grip safety allows the pin to simply be pushed out with a pin punch. With the pin removed, lift out the grip safety from the bottom and work it out of the receiver. Pay close attention to how the sear leaf spring is in position before removing it. The small end of the spring faces the grip safety when reinstalled.

Just pull it out of the back of the frame. Remove the magazine release/catch as it shares the same frame pin as the grip safety. Note the small detent pin sticking up on the magazine catch as the hole in the sear leaf spring seats over this pin when reinstalled. The next step is to remove the safety. Lay the receiver on its right side, place a finger over the back area of the receiver, and then turn the safety upwards. This will release the safety detent and safety detent spring.

The covering finger prevents the spring and detent plunger from leaving your work area. With the spring and detent plunger removed, just wiggle and pull the safety out of the receiver. Moving on, use a small like-sized pin punch to remove the sear receiver pin. This pin comes out easily as well with no hammer needed unless rusted in the hole. With this pin removed, work the sear and trigger bar/ disconnector out of the receiver. Pay attention as to how both were in the receiver before removal.

You will see a receiver pin still in the frame that is not necessary to remove—the sear stop pin. It does not need to be removed for cleaning or even rebluing and the factory tells us to leave it in place. You can now

It appeared on this gun that someone was not sure how to disassemble it, resulting in damage to the lugs on the slide at the ejection port and a deep scratch on one of the barrel lugs. It is always best to seek the assistance of the owner’s manual when taking guns down for routine cleaning, especially if one is not familiar with a particular design. remove the trigger by drifting the trigger receiver pin out from right to left. You will need a small hammer for this one.

Once the pin is drifted out, tilt the trigger backwards and push out the rear of the frame into the magazine well. You will have already noticed one more part still in the receiver: The magazine safety disconnector spring.

This little horseshoe spring is fitted into receiver rails or cutouts and the factory also tells us to leave it in place unless absolutely necessary to remove it (say for bluing or repair.) That is due to the fact that you must bend the spring a bit to work it out of the receiver and this can cause breakage. If you have a Model "N" below serial number 141,000 or so and it does not have this disconnector, that is OK because it was manufactured without it.

The absence of this part does not automatically mean it is missing, only that it may be the older model. Just check to be sure before ordering a replacement part. This completes the detailed disassembly process. Reassembly As we often see with instructions like this, reassembly is in reverse. Begin by installing the trigger, then the trigger bar/disconnector, making certain to install the disconnector properly and in correct relation to the sear.

It helps to install both the disconnector and sear at the same time for proper alignment with each other. Using a pin punch as a slave pin will better enable aligning them and to push the sear receiver pin back into place. Again, a hammer is almost never needed for this pin. Once you are certain they are in the correct position, reinstall the safety assembly.

Insert the safety detent plunger and safety plunger spring into the hole in the left side of the receiver, then push the safety in with the thumb plate being positioned straight up with the receiver (the same position you placed it in when removing the assembly.) Once the safety is pushed down into the frame, use a large flat pin punch to depress down on the safety detent plunger and at the same time, turn the safety forward so it captures the detent plunger and spring.

Don’t turn the safety too far back when checking for proper fit or you may be on the floor looking for the parts! Reinstall the magazine catch and be sure that the detent pin on the catch faces up towards you and away from the inside of the magazine well. With the safety in placed and in the "Off" position, install the sear (trigger, safety, and magazine catch) leaf spring.

The spring should have the tabs first installed into the receiver at the top, placing the two small leaves over the sear and back of the trigger disconnector. Once covering them, push the bottom of the spring down and into the receiver with the small end of the spring facing out (towards you) and make sure that the hole in the spring fits over the raised detent pin on the magazine catch.

After checking to make sure this spring is properly in place, work the grip safety into the receiver at the top and push down and into the receiver at the bottom against the small leaf of the sear spring. Holding the grip safety in place with your weak hand and applying pressure until the grip safety pin hole aligns with the receiver hole, insert the grip safety pin. Again, no hammering required.

At this point, the grip safety should be working and all that is left to do is to replace the grip panels or stocks back onto the receiver. Do not over tighten the screw as you can easily break the old hard rubber panels or pull the right side panel escutcheon through the walnut grip if not careful. This completes assembly of the receiver. Back to the slide. Install the extractor spring and extractor into its slot in the slide using along pin punch as a slave pin to align and hold the extractor in place. Insert the

1 Receiver 2 Slide 3 Barrel (.25 ACP) 4 Extractor 5 Extractor Spring 6 Extractor Retaining Pin 7 Firing Pin 8 Mainspring 9 Mainspring Guide 10 Trigger 11 Connector 12 Trigger Pin extractor pin into the hole inside the bottom of the slide and tap back into place, forcing the slave pin out the top as you drift this pin back into the slide.

Next, prepare the firing pin, mainspring, and mainspring pin guide rod into an assembly and push the firing pin assembly into the track in the slide with the firing pin lug facing up inside of the slide. Install the barrel pushing it into the opening in the slide and forward until you can align the lugs on the barrel with the lugs in the slide. Once aligned, turn the barrel a quarter turn so that the lugs are engaged with one another.

And before you forget, insert the recoil (retrac- Colt 1908 (Speci ications subject to change without notice) 13 Sear Pin 14 Sear 15 Sear, Safety, Trigger, and Magazine Catch Spring 16 Slide Lock Safety 16A Slide Lock Safety Plunger 16B Slide Lock Safety Plunger Spring 17 Grip Safety 18 Grip Safety Pin 19 Sear Stop Pin 20 Recoil (Retractor) Spring tor) spring and guide by inserting the recoil spring guide into the hole below the barrel lugs in the receiver.

Carefully seat the slide onto the frame while aligning the mainspring guide rod with the round tab or ear that protrudes up at the back of the receiver and the recoil guide spring with the front of the slide. The tab at the rear of the receiver holds the mainspring guide rod in place when assembled correctly.

Pull the slide to the rear until the front edge of the slide is almost aligned with the front of the receiver and then turn the barrel to the left or counterclockwise to lock the lugs into the bottom of the receiver lugs.

Allow 21 Recoil (Retractor) Spring Guide 22 Magazine Catch 23 Magazine (Complete) 24 Magazine Spring 25 Magazine Follower 26 Grip Panels or Stocks 27 Grip Panels (Stocks ) Screw 28 Safety disconnector Not Shown: Grip Panel Screw Escutcheon (left side not threaded) and Grip Panel Screw Escutcheon (right side threaded). the slide to move forward and into place. If done correctly, the gun is now reassembled.

Work the slide a few times to make sure it is working correctly and then pull the trigger on a snap cap or dummy round in the chamber. But it won’t fire? Ah, yes, that little horseshoe spring you left in the receiver when cleaning it is the magazine safety cutoff and that means the pistol won’t fire without a magazine in place. Insert an empty magazine and test the action for proper operation. It should lock up and drop the striker as designed. And there you have it.

As mentioned earlier, these guns typically come into the shop with missing parts or with jamming issues. Most often the missing parts are (including the magazine itself) the safety detent and spring, the recoil (retractor) spring and guide rod, and the firing pin, mainspring and mainspring guide rod. These parts are pretty much still available for purchase (except the original magazines) but I suspect the day will come where they too will dry up.

Especially the striker-type firing pins as they are more costly to manufacture. Typically, the guns will work fine once all parts are accounted for and installed correctly. Some aftermarket magazines don’t work very well in these old guns and I have found that they require "lip manipulation" to allow for proper feeding, extraction, and ejection. With nearly a half million of these being manufactured, you will undoubtedly have one or more come across your bench.

They have a somewhat simple design and are kind of fun to shoot as well. I have found that ball ammunition works the best with some hollow point cartridges causing feeding problems. So test them with ball ammo when checking proper functioning. Hopefully you will get a chance to work on one of them one day as they are quite intriguing and more importantly, they are an old Colt! AG