I have my Grandads 32-20 police positive special (it was his target shooting piece) 6" bbl, oversize grips, and like new. I've dated it to 1914. It's a thing of beauty and fine example of American craftsmanship. Gotta love revolvers.

What a unique find! I always appreciate finding obscure things that actually work, especially at the bargain price you got.

Most underrated Colt revolver.

Excellent clip.. 38S&W projectile diameter is .361 but I have seen people loading .356 x 147 grains with no problem. The charge needs to be light. For .361 projectiles, Missouri bullets have them.

There were quite a few S&W M&Ps like this in South Africa back in the day- gunsmiths would run a Special reamer through a .38 S&W cylinder- with varying results. The guns would still shoot minute of tsotsi at 7 paces, though you weren't going to win the Bianchi cup with one. But as they were originally intended to be .38 Specials the barrels had .357" groove diameters. At least you had access to a wider range of ammo now, as PMP's only offering was an anemic 146 gn FMJ that chronoed at 650-700 fps. One guy reloaded and had Lee make him a set of custom dies- steel, not carbide. I'd run it through a FL .38 S&W die first, and size the neck with a 38 Special die.

This is my biggest fear when I pass away no one will know what my rifles are or how they are loaded and especially if I ever finish my wild card round and a rifle for it. Thanks for the vid

Excellent ol War Horse!

Nice video, I have Colt Police Positive in 38 S&W circa 1919. What interesting is it was a Cincinatti Motor Patrolman's complete with a Bauer Brothers Duty holster in brown. The holster dates to the early 30's, and I have a photo of the officer in uniform and his Indian Motorcycle.

Thanks for the video. My Police Positive Special dates to 1972 and is ex Royal Hong Kong Police property. It is roll stamped as Colt New Police but it won't chamber a 38 S&W round at all. I took it to a gunsmith and he speculated that it had simply been chamber swapped for a 38 Special which was apparently a common conversion back in the day when these old ladies were retired from service and sold on.

Very interesting, thank you

There was a lot of ambiguity in chambering back in the day. I've got an 1890s vintage H&R top break that *should* be chambered for .32 H&R (not the more modern .32 H&R Magnum; this is an intermediate black powder cartridge between .32 S&W and .32 S&W Long) -- but the chambers appear to be bored straight through, no step for a case mouth, and they'll happily chamber a .32 S&W Long as long as the bullet is short enough not to protrude. Since it's not smokeless proofed, I ordered some .32 Long cases and loaded them with black powder substitute and wadcutter bullets -- should be comparable to the original .32 H&R black powder loading, but using an easy to get case.

Some old line gunsmiths would still make that conversation as late as the 1980s.

A while back I had a Wobly-Webley Mk-IV in 38-200. Same .361 diameter as the 38 S&W. Soft lead .357, 150 grain cowboy action pills worked quite accurately. I also powder coated some just to bring them up to .361 but it did not seem to make much difference.

That's still a pretty cool gun even with the chambers being fooled with. I just picked up a 1877 Colt. It's my second original Colt. Thanks for the videos.

I got a Colt Army Special about the same time last year. Nice revolver

I fired some factory Tenex loads that had .357 lead bullets in the cartridges and accuracy was marginal at 7 yards. I recently purchased a mould from Accurate Molds at .361 and a lube sizer die from Lyman to .360. Accuracy is now about 3" at 7 yards with me shooting it. Webley and Scott MkIV -38

Great video as always.

If you do some searching online, you will find reference in Colt forums to the fact that Colt, when they manufactured the Police Positive in 38 S&W, used barrel reamers for 38 Special in the barrel and forcing cone. The original Colt blueprints bear this out. They probably did this as a cost saving measure. Since the 38 S&W bullet is several thousands larger than the 38 Special, I assume they figured the forcing cone would resize the softer lead bullets of the day. I would slug your barrel and forcing cone to see what you have as they may have changed that in subsequent production runs. Most owners aren't aware of this. If you reload coated bullets, you can order 38 S&W or 38 Special unsized but it creates a dilemma for the reloader. If you use case hardened lead bullets, will they resize in the forcing cone. If you confirm what I'm telling you, I would appreciate a video to see how you solved this. I have a Police Positive made in 1905 and wonder about using 38 S&W dies and what bullets to use. Buffalo Bore also makes a 38 S&W round that approaches 38 Special performance. They claim it is safe to use in the Police Positive but I wonder. It is a neat little gun but I wonder if it is worth the investment in reloading for it given its unique characteristics. You can buff out those numbers and rust blemishes using a Harbor Freight dremel tool and then use a bluing pen to touch it up. Go easy and slowly. Might need some polishing or sharpening compound on the buffing wheel for tough areas. Police Positives in better shape than yours go for $800 or more. You got a deal if you can clean it up.

makes a hellofa night stand piece!,i know i sleep better😉

The price was right. You did cause me to pull out the Model 11 and check the chambers.

Do 38 special bullets key hole? 38 S&W has a larger diameter bullet.

Have you slugged the bore to see what the diameter is? Not that it matters much but just curious

According to the Lyman Pistol & Revolver Handbook, Third Edition, the 38 Colt New Police (38 S&W) case OD is 0.386, while the 38 Special is 0.379. These numbers are the maximum one should ever see. At least you can shoot your gun. My Police Positive Special is in 32-20. I can't find ammunition for it.

I see you tube had an issue with the ammo. Makes no sense on there rules. Keep up the great videos

Sounds like you got a good deal. Having that conversion wouldn't bother me a bit. Actually the history behind it is quite interesting.

I've seen that done before. .38 LC works well in them too I'm told. Nice find, thanks for sharing with us. God bless. Rev. D.

Le quedara municion .38 special a una colt police positive de cilindro corto ? Esta usa s&w 38 corto.

The barrel in those guns is .354 same as the .38 special so that is something most people do not know. Only the British Guns were .360... Both my Colt and SW 38-200 guns are .354 bore!

Interesting video like always . 38 special case has a split mouth… just noticed , maybe you already knew that.

It’s been drilled out and you should only fire .38 S&W ammunition. The rim isn’t same either.

If memory serves me the 38 S&W bullet diameter is slightly larger as well. Which bullets are you planning on using in this thing?

I used to have a model 52 in with an oversized chamber from the factory. Fired cases came out looking like pregnant guppies-much worse than yours-and on the first or second reloading, they would start to split.

Hello from Detroit Michigan USA Great video Brother thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise

Wouldn't .38 special keyhole out of that? it's a little smaller diameter. Might be ok with cast lead bulelts.

Sure looks like a 38sp cylinder. I have one of each and the 38sw version is much shorter

Kindof a Bummer that it was messed with. What do the cylinder throats and barrel mic. out at? Many of the 38 colt NP and s&w revolvers have reportedly required .360 or larger cast bullets... meanwhile the remington ammo I have is loaded with .356 cast bullets with a cupped base...

Sir, I noticed your ejector rod knob is missing, a common issue if an owner is not pro-active with their Colt. Clean it regularly after shooting, and checked that cylinder knob for tightness. I owned, and carried one, as a law enforcement officer for several years up unto today, years after my retirement from the agency. A 4-inch barrel Police Positive Special, compact Colt D-Frame, with black rubber Pachmayr Presentation Grips. With these grips, it was a perfect fit for my gun-hand. It is a post war production Colt, that was engineered with excellent fixed sights, that allow for a "quick" target acquisition. A steep, ramped front sight, with glare reduction grooves cut in, and a wide sight channel in the top strap. The post war Colt .38 PPS will shoot a limited amount of +P ammo without any trouble, but limited amounts. For myself, I do not concern myself with that because I shoot the old .38 Special Police Load through my PPS. A 158-gr. Lead Round Nose Bullet, traveling at a moderate velocity at the muzzle with the speed of about 800 feet per second with about 200 foot pounds of energy on impact with the target. Good enough for most household varmints intending deadly harm against you and yours. That old .38 Police Round has been saving people for over 100-years now, and in my lightweight PPS (23-oz), the recoil is mild. That means tight grouping on your target for the "practiced" shooter/owner. I use my PPS when assigned court security, a job handed out to the Old Timers, not far from retirement. A lightweight, ultra-reliable Colt PPS was a welcome relief over the heavier duty revolver (Official Police) (35oz.) I packed as a young patrolman. I did use other six-guns in my lengthy career, but these two mentioned Colts were the "pick of the litter", so to speak. Thanks for this video of a Police Positive Special .38 that was a "bread winner" for the employees at Colt Manufacturing for many decades (1907-1976, 1995). Letter your Colt to enhance it's value and get you a new cylinder rod knob.

I had a S&W Victory Model that had had the barrel cut down to 2” and nickel plated. It would also chamber both.38 S&W and .38 Special. I actually never shot it, but later sold online auction. I always thought it was a .38 S&W that had been re-chambered. .

i do think it was a 38 special made from a 38 s&w gun marked new police that was common post ww2 take it youtube didnt like you telling us what you paid for it and made you re upload

Interesting and cheap revolver! Speaking of cheap and interesting, Marstar currently have Norinco Olympias on sale. An excellent copy of the Walther olympia target pistol. Seem right up your alley. Cheers

Very Nice Score ! 👍

I use to own two of them.

Drill it a little more and you have a 357

That sucks. 38 S&W is pretty weak.

Traded one off not long ago for 1500 rounds of m855