Colt Official Police Revolver Soy nomee eeeme tise of we ‘am Teena a ad by ns UC Roni cpl cone aha ‘A page from a 1840 Colt catalog extoling the vituos of their Official Police Revolver, Note that they refer to its cartridge as the "38 Colt Special.” 82 4 GUN DIGEST® Col Official Police Revolver Note the ‘exposed ejector rod, characteristic Colt style grips with medallion and round blade front sight. Excopt for tho ltt ‘the 0.P. remained basicaly unchanged during its ong production ie. ‘Smith & Wesson's 38 Hand Ejector Miltary & Police revolver Underwent a number of styling changes. This is a1840 production gun, one ofthe last commercial grade revolvers to leave the factory before they switched over to wartime production. lis a “five screw” frame gun with the “skinny” barrel ‘and a lanyard ring. standard han gun, the Colt 32.New Police revolver ~ and insisted they receive marksmanship train« ing. This also sigaie fied an important technological chan; as the New Police was a swing-out cyl inder revolver. Even then the NYPD was a trendsetting agency and many depart- iments followed suit and adopted the new colt That same year S&W introduced their first swing-out cylinder revolver, the 32 Hand Eject tor Model of 1836, which was taken Into service by the Philadelphia PD, among others. The these two titans of the American hand- gun industry began ‘non-stop, no holds barred competition to see who could capture the lion's share of the US. police market ‘The year 1899 saw SAW's intro ‘duction of the 38 Hand Ejector Military & Police revolver. This medium revolver was thelr attempt to garner a military contract. And while the govern- ment purchased several thousand, Colt’s '8-caliber New Model Army & Navy re- vvolvers remained the standard military sidearm, ‘The next big step occurred during the first decade of the new century. As Is the case today, American police tended to ape the army when it came to sidearms, land the military's acceptance of the 38 Colt revolver convinced many that an upgrading of equipment was called for. While the .32 revolver's popularity with police would continue for a few more ecacles, the writing was on the wall for allo see: the 38 revolver would be ‘THE next American police handgun of choice. The timing was opportune as the army was getting ready to ditch the 38 wheelgun in favor of one of the new fangled semi-auto pistols. With military sales drying up, Colt began to court police departments and their rivals from Springfield were not far behind! Click Here to Order the Gun Digest Book‘Cutaway view of a 1960s vintage M&P revolver. (Courtesy of Michael Jon Littman) + tointerest police agencies with a modl- fied New Model Army & Navy revolver: the New Army. They also introduced the smaller 38 Police Positive, which ‘weighed a convenient 22 02. The Police Positive would prove very popular and it, along with a short-barreled version, the Detective Special, would remain in production until the 1980s. But many agencies wanted a more robust sidearm land to answer this demand, in 1927 the Colt Official Police (0.P) was released on ‘the market THE COLT OFFICIAL POLIC! The OP, used the same size of frame (Livame) as the New Army but the frame land trigger guard were reshaped to rake it more comfortable and attractive Unlike some of the eatlier Colts, eylin- der rotation direction was clockwise and cylinder locking was strenghtened by a single peripheral recess for each ‘chamber engaged by a bolt atthe rear of the cylinder. Lastly, a pivoting fring pin replaced the fixed protuberance used on its predecessors. Lockup was via a pin contained in the recoil plate that entered a recess in the center of a rotating ratchet at the rear of the cylinder, locking it securely in place. ‘To unload the OP, alatch on the lett of SMITH & WESSON, THE S&W M&P The S&W 38 Hand Ejector—Iet’ just callit the M&P - utilized a swing-out cylinder that was locked into the frame by means of spring loaded center pin passing through the ejector rod and projecting out of the rear of the cylinder. When the cylinder is closed, the end fof the center pin snaps into a recess in the recoil plate, locking the cylinder in place, To open, a thumb latch on the left side of the frame is pushed forward, forcing the center pin. out of the locking recess and. allowing the cylinder to be ‘swung out to the let. Push- ing back on the ejector rod. forces out a star-shaped extractor, ejecting all the spent cartridge cases simullaneously. In 1902 the locking system was strengthened by the addi- tion of a underlug on the barrel with: 1 spring-loaded pin that locked into the front end of ejector rod. This system has proven so practical that it has been used on all subsequent S&W revolvers down to the present day. rated velocity of approximately 850 tps. ‘This was an definite improvement over the army's 38 Long Colt and within a five years would completely dominate the medium-caliber revolver matket to the point where even Colt was chambering revolvers for it. 1908 saw Colt attempt To load or unload both the MAP and 0.P, the cylinders But perhaps more historleally signifi were swung out to the left cant wes the new ertldge Introduced side Both wore rational with the M&P, Known as the .38 S&W “six shooters Special it consisted of a straightwalled, rimmed case 1.14” in length loaded with 4 158-gr. lead round-nosed bullet with a Click Here to Order the Gun Digest Book 64™ EDITION, 2010 > 83