Gun Digest eBook of Revolvers by Dan Shideler

Author:Dan Shideler [Various Authors]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4402-3157-5
Publisher: F+W Media
Published: 2012-04-19T04:00:00+00:00

A page from a 1940 Colt catalog extolling the virtues of their Official Police Revolver. Note that they refer to its cartridge as the “.38 Colt Special.”

The Colt Official Police

The O.P. used the same size of frame (I-frame) as the New Army but the frame and trigger guard were reshaped to make it more comfortable and attractive. Unlike some of the earlier Colts, cylinder rotation direction was clockwise and cylinder locking was strenghtened by a single peripheral recess for each chamber engaged by a bolt at the rear of the cylinder. Lastly, a pivoting firing 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 O.P., a latch on the left of the frame was pulled to the rear (exactly the opposite of the M&P), allowing the cylinder to be be swung out on a crane to the left. As with the S&W, pushing on the ejector rod activated a star-shaped extractor, extracting the spent cartridge cases simultaneously. Both the O.P. and M&P swing out cylinders permitted fast, fumble-free reloading, although it would be many more decades before the perfection of the revolver speedloader really speeded things up.

The O.P. weighed approximately 11 oz. more then the Police Positive and so, depending on what size revolver the customer wanted, Colt had the waterfront covered. In regard to weight, the M&P split the difference between the two Colts.

This entrepreneurial battle royale began with Colt – who traditionally received “better press” – having a distinct advantage. Within a few years, the O.P. was the standard issue sidearm of (among others) the NYPD, LAPD, Chicago, San Francisco, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Portland police departments. The highway patrols of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Connecticut (to say nothing of the FBI) soon followed, and sales of the O.P. on the police and civilian markets boomed.

While the O.P. usually outsold the M&P, the S&W was without a doubt the #2 product on the North American police market. Among the more notable agencies adopting it were the police departments of San Antonio, New Orleans, Atlanta, Omaha, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Charleston. Larger agencies included the Michigan and Virginia State Police and the Provincial Police of British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario. Over the years, many agencies approved the use of both revolvers and it was possible to find Colts and Smiths in service concurrently.

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