entry into World War II, the Official Police model was bought by the U.S. In 1927, since the Army had never bought the Army Special 38 but many police departments had, the CMC made some minor alterations to this revolver, changed the name to the Official Police revolver, and continued making it until 1969.Д¬olt revolvers were the most popular law enforcement handgun in the world with the Official Police revolver being emblematic in that role among municipal and state police forces, becoming a huge commercial success for the CMC. 38 Long Colt, with a different headstamp. 38 Smith & Wesson (S&W) Special cartridge, which was produced in 1899 and was a more powerful shell than the. The term вЂњ.38 Colt SpecialвЂќ is nothing more than the. Part of the Colt Army Special 38 appeal to police departments was that the revolver allowed for the use of more powerful ammunition like the. The Colt Army Special 38, produced from 1908-1927, was somewhat of a misnomer since it was utilized mainly by police forces and not the U.S. ArmyвЂ™s adoption of the M1911 semiautomatic pistol, military sales of Colt revolvers were waning. 38: A Popular Police PistolДЇrom the 1870s until the middle of the 20th century, the terms вЂњColtвЂќ and вЂњrevolverвЂќ were synonymous in the police world. This revolver manufacturing pattern would repeat itself 25 years later, pertinent to the evolution of the Colt Commando, as World War II unfolded. Thus, out of necessity, the M1917 revolver was developed as a substitute weapon. Army decided to accept the Colt New Service revolvers chambered for the. Since the CMC could not furnish enough semiautomatic pistols to keep up with the demand, during World War I the U.S. entry into World War I, orders for the M1911 pistol from both the United Kingdom and Canada had become backlogged up to three years. During both world wars, CMC delivered approximately 2.5 million M1911 and M1911A1 semiautomatic pistols to the U.S. By 1918, CMC had produced and sold 425,000 of the famous Browning-designed M1911. Army in World War I and as the M1911A1 in World War II. Because of its incredible stopping power, the M1911 became the standard sidearm for the U.S. 45-caliber semiautomatic pistols and, the most famous.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Colt worked closely with and profited from his relationship with the famous gun designer John Moses Browning, producing his many models of machine guns, the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR), the Model 1903 and Model 1908. With the success of the Colt Walker, Samuel Colt started yet another of his own business ventures in 1848, which seven years later became the Hartford, Connecticut-based ColtвЂ™s Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company, now shortened to ColtвЂ™s Manufacturing Company (CMC). The Colt Walker was initially ordered and used by a group of mounted law enforcers in Texas that later spawned the famous Texas Rangers. This larger caliber Colt Walker was manufactured at the armory in Connecticut. In 1846, during the Mexican-American War, Colt designed a new revolver prototype that was further revised by Captain Samuel Hamilton Walker. For a variety of reasons, ColtвЂ™s early production companies from 1837-1842 ended in failure. Colt received a British patent on his improved revolver design in 1835 along with two American patents the following year. Choosing the M1911: The Military Service Replacement for the RevolverДЄlthough Samuel Colt did not invent the revolver, his designs played a major role in the popularization of it with the ensuing shift away from earlier single-shot pistols. The Colt Commando revolverвЂ™s inclusion in the realm of World War II handgun ordnance remains an ongoing curiosity almost 75 years after the firearmвЂ™s introduction.

38 SpecialвЂќ on the left side of the barrel. Many handgun enthusiastsвЂ™ blog entries recount how they stumbled onto a local gun show table only to find a dull-finished revolver that clearly bore the impression вЂњColt Commando.

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