The Colt Police Positive is a small-

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

double-action Double action (or double-action) refers to one of two systems in firearms where the trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. * Double-action only (DAO) firearms trigger: The trigger both cocks and releases the hammer. There is no single-action ...

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

featuring a six-

round Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * Having no sharp corners, as an ellipse, circle, or sphere * Rounding, reducing the number of significant figures in a number * Round number, ending with one or more zeroes * Round (crypt ...

cylinder A cylinder () has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infinite ...

, chambered for either .32 or .38

caliber In guns, particularly firearms, but not #As a measurement of length, artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge ( ...

. A .22 caliber model was also offered. Designed primarily for sale to federal,

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

, or local

law enforcement agencies A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for law enforcement within a specific jurisdiction through the employment and deployment of law enforcement officers and their resources. The most common type of law enforcement ...

, the Police Positive was introduced into the

firearm A firearm is any type of gun that uses an explosive charge and is designed to be readily carried and operated by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see legal definitions). The first firearms originate ...

s market by

Colt's Manufacturing Company Colt's Manufacturing Company, LLC (CMC, formerly Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company) is an American firearms manufacturer, founded in 1855 by Samuel Colt that has become a subsidiary of Czech holding company Colt CZ Group. It is th ...

in 1905.“Colt Police Positive”
Bellum Web site. Accessed September 16, 2008.Shideler, Dan
“Nobody Wants This Colt”
''Gun Digest'' magazine Web site. Accessed September 16, 2008.Lark, Syd

, All Experts Web site. Accessed September 16, 2008.

Development and history

The Colt Police Positive was an improvement of Colt's earlier " New Police" revolver, upgraded with an internal hammer block safety. Colt named this new security device the "Positive Lock", and its

nomenclature Nomenclature (, ) is a system of names or terms, or the rules for forming these terms in a particular field of arts or sciences. (The theoretical field studying nomenclature is sometimes referred to as ''onymology'' or ''taxonymy'' ). The principl ...

ended up being incorporated as a partial namesake for the new revolver. The cylinder of the Police Positive rotated in the clockwise direction, the opposite of firearms maker Smith & Wesson's competing models. Ever a canny competitor in the firearms industry, Colt missed no opportunity to score points over its arch rival, and began a marketing campaign which accentuated this detail. In its advertising Colt proclaimed that "All Colt cylinders TURN TO THE RIGHT", and suggested that the Colt design forced the cylinder crane up against the frame, resulting in tighter lockup with less play and better chamber to

barrel A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden stave (wood), staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers ...

alignment, thus markedly increasing

accuracy Accuracy and precision are two measures of ''observational error''. ''Accuracy'' is how close a given set of measurements (observations or readings) are to their ''true value''. ''Precision'' is how close the measurements are to each other. The ...

. The Police Positive was very successful; along with the

Colt Official Police The Colt Official Police is a medium frame, double-action revolver with a six-round cylinder, primarily chambered for the .38 Special cartridge, and manufactured by the Colt's Manufacturing Company. Released in 1908 as the Colt Army Special ...

it dominated the law enforcement firearms market in the early 1900s. The Positive was itself incrementally modified in 1908, forming the basis for Colt's Police Positive Special model. A nickel Police Positive with pearl grips and .32 calibre was used by

Charles Bronson Charles Bronson (born Charles Dennis Buchinsky; November 3, 1921 – August 30, 2003) was an American actor. He was known for his roles in action films and his "granite features and brawny physique". Bronson was born into extreme poverty in ...

as Paul Kersey in '' Death Wish''. American gangster

Al Capone Alphonse Gabriel Capone ( ; ; January 17, 1899 – January 25, 1947), sometimes known by the nickname "Scarface", was an American organized crime, gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-foun ...

also used a Police Positive, a nickel .38 Police Positive with walnut grips and a 4-inch barrel, manufactured in 1929; in June 2011 a private collector sold it at

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

for the sum of £67,250/$109,080/€75,656. 38ppwhite

Features

The Police Positive was made of

carbon steel Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states: * no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt ...

, and was finished with either a polished blued finish or nickel-plated. The First issue of the Police Positive ran from the revolver's introduction in 1907 until 1927. Sporting Colt's standard hard rubber grips, it was offered with barrel lengths of 2.5 (available only in .32 caliber), 4, 5, and 6 inches, and was chambered for the .32 Long Colt (it would also accept the .32 Short Colt), .32 Colt New Police, and .38 Colt New Police cartridges."COLT'S MANUFACTURING COMPANY, INC. REVOLVERS: DOUBLE ACTION, SWING OUT CYLINDER"
, Cheaper Than Dirt Web site. Accessed September 22, 2008.

Checkered Check (also checker, Brit: chequer, or dicing) is a pattern of modified stripes consisting of crossed horizontal and vertical lines which form squares. The pattern typically contains two colours where a single checker (that is a single square with ...

Walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

grips became standard after 1923. The Second issue began in 1928 and ran until 1947, adding a somewhat heavier frame as well as a

serrated Serration is a saw-like appearance or a row of sharp or tooth-like projections. A serrated cutting edge has many small points of contact with the material being cut. By having less contact area than a smooth blade or other edge, the applied pr ...

topstrap to reduce sight

glare Glare may refer to: * Glare (vision), difficulty seeing in the presence of very bright light * Glaring, a facial expression of squinted eyes and look of contempt * A call collision in telecommunications * GLARE, Glass reinforced aluminium, an ...

, while retaining the wooden grips. Both of Colt's “New Police” rounds were actually slight redesigns of existing S&W cartridges, the .32 S&W Long and .38 S&W with the

bullet A bullet is a kinetic projectile, a component of firearm ammunition that is shot from a gun barrel. They are made of a variety of materials, such as copper, lead, steel, polymer, rubber and even wax; and are made in various shapes and constru ...

noses flattened, as Colt resisted providing its main

competitor Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individ ...

with any free advertising. Colt's Positive Lock safety, the

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or service (economics), services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a n ...

responsible for the gun's introduction, functioned by preventing the

firing pin A firing pin or striker is a part of the firing mechanism of a firearm that impacts the primer in the base of a cartridge and causes it to fire. In firearms terminology, a striker is a particular type of firing pin where a compressed sprin ...

from striking the primer of the cartridge unless the

trigger Trigger may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Trigger (''Only Fools and Horses''), in the TV sitcom * Trigger Argee, in science fiction short stories by James H. Schmitz * Devil Trigger, a transformation ability of ...

was deliberately pulled. Intended to address deficiencies of earlier models such as the

Single Action Army The Colt Single Action Army (also known as the SAA, Model P, Peacemaker, or M1873) is a Trigger (firearms)#Single-action, single-action revolver handgun. It was designed for the U.S. government service revolver trials of 1872 by Colt's Patent Fi ...

, the Positive Lock prevented an

accidental discharge An unintentional discharge is the event of a firearm discharging (firing) at a time not intended by the user. An unintended discharge may be produced by an incompatibility between firearm design and usage, such as the phenomenon of cooking off a r ...

even if the

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

was struck or the pistol was dropped, allowing the revolver to be safely carried with all six chambers loaded.Cumpston, Mike
“.32 Colt Police Positive Special”
, Gunblast Webzine. Accessed September 11, 2008. The revolver's

sights A sight or sighting device is any device used to assist in precise visual alignment (i.e. ''aiming'') of weapons, surveying instruments, aircraft equipment, optical illumination equipment or larger optical instruments with the intended target. ...

consisted of a half-moon blade front with a fixed iron

open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gerd Dudek, Buschi Niebergall, and Edward Vesala album), 1979 * ''Open'' (Go ...

rear sight, which was a simple V-notch shaped groove milled into the revolver's topstrap. Police positive 32

Colt Police Positive revolvers marked with ''Colt D.A..32'' on the barrel are chambered for .32 Long Colt. Revolvers marked with ''.32 Colt New Police'' on the barrel are chambered for .32 Smith & Wesson Long.

Variants

Police Positive Target

Weighing 22 ounces and available with a blued finish and black hard rubber grips in .22 Long Rifle, .22 WRF, .32 Long (and Short) Colt, and .32 Colt New Police (.32 S&W Long) chamberings, the First issue of this model featured an adjustable open iron sighted 6 inch barrel and was marketed from 1910 to 1925, with checked Walnut grips replacing the rubber ones after 1923. A Second issue was sold from 1926 to 1941 and differed from the First in that it had a slightly heftier frame which upped the weight to 26 ounces; also Colt's nickel finish was offered as an option. In today's

collectable A collectable (collectible or collector's item) is any Physical object, object regarded as being of value or interest to a collecting, collector. Collectable items are not necessarily monetarily valuable or uncommon. There are numerous types ...

market, the .32 New Police version appears to be the most sought after and valuable.

Police Positive Special

The Colt Police Positive Special was an iterative improvement of Colt's earlier Police Positive model, the only differences being a slightly lengthened cylinder and elongated and strengthened

to allow the chambering of the longer, more powerful .32-20 Winchester and .38 Special cartridges.

Bankers' Special

This is the Police Positive with a 2-inch barrel chambered in .22 Long Rifle or .38 Colt New Police (.38 S&W). Produced from 1926 to 1940.

Detective Special Series

The Colt Detective Special and its variants are shortened, somewhat streamlined variants of the Police Positive Special, introduced in 1927.

Users

*: Former standard issue sidearm (1920s? - 1960s?) of

Hong Kong Police Force The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest Hong Kong Disciplined Services, disciplined service under the Security Bureau (Hong Kong), Security Bureau of Hong Kong. Pursuant to the one c ...

, supplemented by the .38 S&W .38 Webley Mk III Revolver in the 1930s and gradually replaced by the .38 Special

Smith & Wesson Model 10 The Smith & Wesson Model 10, previously known as the Smith & Wesson .38 Hand Ejector Model of 1899, the Smith & Wesson Military & Police or the Smith & Wesson Victory Model, is a K-frame revolver. In production since 1899, the Model 10 is a six-s ...

. *

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

keeps a .38 Police Positive with a sawn off barrel under his pillow in the book " Casino Royale". * John Schrank used a Police Positive in his attempted assassination of former president

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

, who was campaigning on a third-party ticket.

References

External links

The Colt Revolver in the American West—Police Positive .22 Target Model GThe Colt Revolver in the American West—Cutaway Police Positive .38 Model
{{Colt's Manufacturing Company Colt revolvers .32 S&W Long firearms .22 LR revolvers Revolvers of the United States .38 Special firearms