Working the Colt Official Police Medium-Frame DA Revolvers

Colt’s Official Police model was the company’s answer to the Smith & Wesson Military & Police model of the day. Although the Colt is actually a slightly larger gun than the S&W, both are six-shot revolvers built on what each company considered to be a "medium-size" frame. This frame size also includes the Colt Commando, Officer’s Model Match, Trooper, .357 Magnum, and pre-1969 Python revolvers.

The Official Police model was an improvement on the earlier 1889- 1892 New Army and New Navy models which were offered in .38 and .41 calibers. This more modern version was first introduced to the public in 1908 (some sources indicate 1907) as the Army Special. The Army Special revolver was available in 32-20, .38 Special, and .41 Colt. There were strong expectations that the military would be interested in the Colt revolver, but by that point in time, the Army was intent on adopting a heavier, .45-caliber weapon.

As it turned out, Colt had little reason for concern over the U. S. Army’s desire for a semi-auto, since this excellent revolver quickly gained popularity with law-enforcement agencies and the shooting public. In fact, the Army Special became so popular with police departments that, in 1928, it was renamed the Official Police. A few years later in 1930, a .22 Long Rifle version was introduced and the .41 Colt version was discontinued.

The 32-20-caliber was produced until 1942, while the standard .38 Special chambering was used through the entire production of the Army Special/Official Police. The Army Special and Official Police revolvers were offered with standard barrel lengths of 2, 4, 5, and 6 inches. A special group of approximately 50,000 Official Police revolvers were manufactured during World War II. Known as the Commando Model, they were not highly polished like Colt’s commercial production.

Instead, they received little surface preparation and were given a suitably rough-looking Parkerized finish. The Commando was made in .38 Special caliber in 2-inch (rare), 4-inch, and 6-inch barrel lengths. Colt manufactured the Official Police model continuously until 1969, with a total production of nearly a million revolvers on this frame size.

The only minor change Colt made during this period was in the crane lock on all double-action models; In the 1950s, a spring-loaded detent replaced the old crane lock and lockscrew. Over the 60-plus-year life span, grips were produced from hard rubber, plastic, and walnut, with ivory and mother of pearl offered as an option at various times. Several target revolvers based on the Official Police frame were also manufactured by Colt, such as the Officer’s Model Match.

It was only fitting that This example in .38 Special caliber has the optional 5-inch barrel and was made in the late 1940s. Author photos.

Once open, a loaded cylinder is easy to identify. Here they are shown paired just in front of the trigger guard. when Colt introduced its premium revolver, the .357 Magnum Python in 1955, it was built on a specially heat-treated Official Police-sized frame. This frame size was so popular with shooters that even S&W has mimicked it with its popular .357 L-frame revolvers.

The sharp eye will note strong similarities in the design of the actions between the Official Police models and the smaller Police Positive and Police Positive Special revolvers, as well as with the larger New Service Colt models. Except for the size differences in the frames and internal parts, the mechanical design of all these revolvers is virtually identical. And, as you may have already guessed, the loading, unloading, operation, and disassembly for all these revolvers is identical.

As Once the sideplate is off, the complete action is exposed. a result, these disassembly instructions apply to most Colt revolvers made prior to 1969, including those built on the same frame size as the small Police Positive, Police Positive Special, Banker’s Special, Detective Special, as well as the much larger-framed New Service, 1917, and Shooting Master models.

The exceptions to this are the 1889-1895 series of New Army/Navy revolvers, which are fundamentally different in design and thus have their own disassembly procedures.

Disassembly Instructions The nomenclature I’ll use here comes from a Colt catalog of 1955 vintage, as does the schematic drawing found here. 1. Hold the revolver firmly by its grip with your fingers away from the trigger. With the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, use the thumb of your shooting hand to pull rearward on the latch (#26) and then push the cylinder (#30) open from the right to the left side of the revolver.

If any cartridges are present, tilt the revolver upward so the back of the cylinder faces the bench top, and push in on the ejectorrod head (#35). The ejector will pull the cartridges out of the cylinder. Remove any live ammunition from your work area. 2. The cylinder is removed first.

With the cylinder still open, unscrew and remove the crane-lock screw (#23) and the crane lock (#23a), or on later models (from the mid- 1950s up), unscrew and remove the cranelock screw, detent, and spring (#21, 22, and 23.) Note that the crane-lock screw is the only screw found on the right side of the frame. With the cylinder open, line up one of the flutes with the bottom front of the crane (#38).

With the cylinder in this position, you can withdraw the cylinder/extractor/ 1 Hammer 2 Hammer Pin 3 Hammer Stirrup 4 Hammer Stirrup Pin 5 Strut 6 Strut Spring 7 Strut Pin 8 Firing Pin 9 Firing Pin Rivet 10 Safety 11 Safety Lever 12 Hand 13 Trigger 14 Trigger Pin crane assembly toward the front of the frame (#46). 3.

Remove the grips and the sideplate by unscrewing and removing the grip screw (#41) and lifting off the 15 Main Spring 16 Bolt 17 Bolt Spring 18 Bolt Screw 19 Rebound Lever 20 Rebound Lever Pin 21 Crane Lock Detent 22 Crane Lock Spring 23 Crane Lock Screw 23a Crane Lock 24 Sideplate 25 Sideplate Screws (2) 26 Latch 27 Latch Spring 28 Latch Spring Guide 29 Latch Pin 30 Cylinder 31 Cylinder Bushing 32 Cylinder Bushing Pin 33 Ratchet (ejector star) 34 Ejector Rod 35 Ejector Rod Head 36 Ejector Spring 37 Crane Bushing 38 Crane 39 Barrel 40 Stock Pin 41 Stock Screw 42 Stock, Left Hand 43 Stock, Right Hand 44 Stock Screw Nut 45 Recoil Plate 46 Main Frame grips (#42 and 43).

Then unscrew and remove the two sideplate screws (#25). Now turn the gun on its side so the sideplate is facing up and hold the revolver by its barrel. (Be sure you’re working over a well-padded

The bolt still remains in the frame, held with one screw. Before removing them, be sure to note how the safety parts fit into the frame. bench-top.) Using a wooden or plastic mallet, strike the grip frame one or more sharp blows. The hammer blows should cause the sideplate (#24) to be shocked out of place and jump up and out of its tight seat with the frame. Don’t ever attempt to pry off a sideplate, as serious damage to the frame or sideplate could result.

While you’re in the process of removing the sideplate, hold your thumb over the latch to keep it from jumping out. With the plate off the gun, remove the latch (#26) by pulling it forward out of the sideplate. Then remove the latch-spring guide (#28) and the latch spring (#27) from the latch opening in the sideplate. Take note of how the There are also two notches at the top of the star legs (at about 11:30 and 5:30).

All these must align for reassembly. hole in the rear face of the latch fits over the leg on the latch pin (#29). These must line up for reassembly. 4. Next comes the removal of the mainspring, the rebound lever, the hand, and the hammer. Start by rotating the hammer (#1) back about 1/4 inch, and then use a screwdriver to push the rear of the mainspring (#15) down so it can be separated from the hammer stirrup (#3).

Now push the hammer forward and pull the mainspring out through the left side of the opening in the grip frame. Lift up the hand (#12) and take it out of its seat in the trigger (#13). Look at the base of the hand on the inside, and notice how the rebound lever fits against the hand base to apply forward tension to the hand. Use a pin punch and hammer to push the rebound-lever pin (#20) out of the grip frame, and then slide the rebound lever (#19) forward and out of the frame.

Pull back on the hammer slightly and remove the hammer by lifting it straight up and off of the hammer pin (#2) in the frame. 5. Before removing the trigger and safety parts, pay attention to the relationship of these parts to the trigger. This attention will greatly ease the reassembly later on. Once you have the hammer out of the frame, the trigger along with the safety (#10) and the safety lever (#11) can all be lifted straight up and out of the frame.

The latch pin (#29) is free, and can be pulled straight out toward the rear of the main frame. 6. To remove the bolt, unscrew and remove the bolt screw (#18) first. Using a small pick, carefully pry the bottom of the bolt spring (#17) out and away from the frame in order

The hex hole fits the Official Police model, while the other end has two screw heads that will work on New Service or Police Positive ejectors. The big hole works on a 1911 barrel bushing. Once the star is off, the cylinder can be pulled back off the crane. to release its tension. Then lift out and remove the bolt (#16). During reassembly, install the bolt along with its spring into the frame, carefully work the bottom of the spring back into its seat in the frame, and then install the bolt screw.

These Colt DA bolt screws tend to work loose, so I install them with a drop of blue (removable) Loc-Tite. 7. To disassemble the cylinder, insert six fired cartridge casings or dummy cartridges (.38 Special Dummy Cartridges; 10 pack; Brownells item #367- 138-010; $15.35) into the cylinder chambers for support. Grasp the ejector rod head (#35) in a padded vise and unscrew it from the ejector rod (#34) by turning the cylinder in a counterclockwise direction. Now you can remove the dummy cartridges.

Push in on the ejector rod slightly in order to hold the ejector (#33) up off the Shown here is the Colt Crane Bushing Tool from Brownells, which works on several Colt DA frame sizes. cylinder. As you do this, notice the witness mark and cutouts at the ends of two of the star legs of the ejector. These need to be aligned the same way during the reassembly.

Use a special tool, like the one shown in the photograph (Colt Wrench; Brownells item #080-557- 000; $24.97), to unscrew the ejector star from the ejector rod by turning the tool and ejector in a counterclockwise direction while holding the cylinder firmly. Once the ejector star is unscrewed and off the cylinder, the cylinder itself can be pulled off the crane assembly to the rear. 8.

To disassemble the crane internals, you’ll need a special spanner-wrench like the one pictured (Colt Crane Bushing Tool; Brownells item #080- 654-000; $25.25) to unscrew and remove the crane bushing (#37) from the rear of the crane (#38). The ejector rod and the ejector spring (#36) can now be pulled out from the rear of the crane. 9. When disassembling the hammer, support the hammer sides, and use a straight pin punch and hammer to drive out the strut pin (#7).

Then lift off the strut (#5) and its spring (#6) from the front of the hammer. To remove the stirrup, use an appropriately sized pin punch and a small hammer to drive out the stirrup pin (#4) and remove the stirrup from the rear of the hammer. The firing pin (#8) is held to the hammer by a solid rivet (#9). If necessary, it can be driven out with a straight punch and hammer, but be aware that anew rivet will be required for reassembly of the firing pin. 10.

The hammer and trigger studs area light press fit into the frame. If required due to breakage or for refinishing purposes, they can be driven out using cup-tipped pin punches and a hammer. They are driven out from the right side to the left of the frame. Be sure you take steps to adequately support the frame surrounding the studs during removal. These pins can be replaced by driving them straight in using a flat pin punch and hammer.

Further disassembly is not required for normal cleaning and maintenance of the revolver mechanism. To reassemble the revolver, simply reverse the above procedure.