Threads with titles such as this are what catches my eye. The "latest and greatest" handguns from the current manufacturers catalogs may be more practical (slightly) but they aren't as inspiring to me as the oldies.
Colt once produced both the
Police Positive and the
Police Positive Special, the second mentioned model being the same basic sized frame as the first except the Police Positive Special had a lengthened frame and cylinder in order to accept cartridges like the .32-20 and, most commonly, the .38 Special. The shorter-framed Police Positive handled cartridges like the .22 rim fire, .32 Colt New Police (actually the .32 S&W Long), and the .38 Colt New Police (actually .38 S&W). Both these New Police cartridges replaced the earlier Colt developed .32 Long Colt and .38 Short Colt which faded away.
In the early 20th century, Colt didn't like to be seen to have to chamber the cartridges of Smith & Wesson development, which ultimately won out in the marketplace over its own similar cartridges so Colt cleverly changed the bullet shape a bit all while using the same cartridge case dimensions developed by Smith & Wesson and termed them the Colt New Police cartridges. The .38 Special was a Smith & Wesson proprietary development, introduced in 1899. Colt originally changed the 158 grain round nose lead bullet to a 158 grain flat nose lead bullet and called it the .38 Colt Special. Same cartridge. To make things more confusing, Smith & Wesson developed the .38 Special simply by lengthening the considerably older .38 Long Colt cartridge.
Oh, and Smith & Wesson chose to pretty well ignore Colt cartridges too. In addition to messin' with the .38 Long Colt, Smith & Wesson developed it's own line of .32 and .38 cartridges, which won't chamber in the Colt guns. The Smith & Wesson .32 and .38 cartridges won out in the marketplace and are still being produced while the Colt .32 and .38 cartridges are effectively obsolete. Additionally, Smith & Wesson rarely chambered the .45 Colt in its large-frame revolvers in the later 19th century and first half of the 20th century preferring to provide their revolvers for a succession of .44 cartridges of Smith & Wesson's own development: the .44 American, .44 Russian, .44 Special, and much later, the .44 Magnum. Both companies made use of Winchester's .44 WCF, otherwise known as .44-40.
Meanwhile, back to the Colt ranch: After World War II, Colt discontinued the short-framed Police Positive, dropped the "Special" off of the Police Positive Special so that the model with the lengthened frame and cylinder became the Police Positive, no matter which of several .22, .32, or .38 caliber cartridges it chambered.
The "Positive" in the model name was the way Colt designated and promoted it's "Positive Lock" feature, a very effective internal safety feature that protected against the revolver firing if dropped onto the hammer. Colt's Positive Lock was more advanced and more foolproof than Smith & Wesson's early efforts to provide for safe revolvers if dropped. Smith & Wesson ended up adopting a somewhat similar system but the feature wasn't introduced in their revolvers until World War II.
Anyway Ianthin, yours is a Police Positive Special and it's cool! It's not so obsolete as many would believe. The famous and still-popular Detective Special shares the same frame size and internals and was a sub-model derived right off of the Police Positive Special in the 1920s. Many consider the Detective Special to be the very best .38 Special snub-nosed revolver of all time. The Police Positive Special may be considered to be a Detective Special with a 4-inch barrel though actually the Police Positive came first by nearly 20 years.
I like to consider the possibilities. One could do a lot worse than have a 4-inch "Detective Special" for personal defense. The 4-inch Police Positive Special is compact yet the longer barrel milks some extra performance out of the ammunition. An afternoon at the range with a couple boxes of target wadcutters and the .38 Special chambered Police Positive Special in any of its variations will provide some eye-opening accuracy at any reasonable handgun range and a really good time.
They're sturdy, plucky revolvers too. Don't do this at home kiddies but I have deliberately test-fired an early Police Positive Special with +P 158 grain lead SWC .38 Special factory ammunition and it appeared non the worse for the wear. I still have it, shoot it on occasion and it's fine. It's not something I'd make a habit of doing but the revolver could be pressed into service with such ammunition in a pinch.
Two blued Police Positive Specials live here, one from 1914 and one from 1921. The 1914 gun is slightly better looking and a bit tighter. So, I did the +P test in the rattier 1921 gun. The ammunition didn't appear to further loosen it. The early Police Positive and Police Positive Special revolvers have a more narrow grip frame which was changed to a wider style in the mid-1920s. These early guns aren't quite as pleasant with heavier .38 Special loads, at least not for me, as the later models with the wider (or should I say deeper) grip frame.
The fact that the ancient and smallish Police Positive Special can withstand being fired with this particular +P load may say something about the strength Colt built into the design back then or it may say much about the fact that +P .38 Special ammuntion isn't as fearsome as its internet forum reputation suggests. Now I wouldn't shoot Buffalo Bore or Underwood +P factory loads in one of these old guns, nor abuse them with some of my own heavily handloaded concoctions but I'd have no trepidation about shooting the usual run of "Fedingchesterady" .38 Special +P ammunition in a Police Positive Special if that was the only revolver I had and I had an emergency need to shoot it.
This doesn't mean that anyone else should try it.
Your gun is kinda ratty like mine are but it's still a winsome old Colt. A look at the photos would seem to indicate a re-polish and re-nickel finish job. The roll markings and Colt logo are partially obliterated; definitely not Colt factory finish workmanship in 1909. No matter. It's still an example of a gun that's been around for over a century, was someone's pride and joy back when, served to provide a measure of security, served to be the basis of someone's notion of a custom finish and it lived to tell about it all. Well, tell about it as well as a mute ol' Colt revolver can.
Just keep it clean and protected with a coat of preservative grease, like RIG and it'll "hold what it's got" with regard to remaining finish.
It still looks like it wants to shoot.
Here are my two Colt Police Positive Special .38 Special revolvers, the 1914 gun on bottom and the 1921 gun on top.
A slightly better photo of the other side of the 1914 gun. Too much glare obscures the barrel markings. I need to take a better photo.
For comparison purposes, here's a 1913 Police Positive .32 with its shorter frame and cylinder.
Here's the style of logo that is suppose to adorn the side plate of a Colt revolver of the era. This was only used between about 1908 and 1912, making it one of the less common variations of the "Rampant Colt" logo. This one is off of a Colt New Service Model 1909.
Here's the largest Colt double-action revolver, the New Service (this one's the military contract Model 1909 variant) chambered for .45 Colt and the very smallest Colt double-action revolver with swing-out cylinder, the Colt New Pocket, chambered for the obsolete .32 Long Colt. This revolver is slightly more of a runt than a J-Frame Smith & Wesson. There's a .22 Long Rifle cartridge shown for comparison.
These two revolvers were only made five years apart from each other.
Lots of Colt guns live here, both trash and treasures. I can do ratty old Colts and be enthused about it!