"The Colt New Police is a double-action, 6-shot revolver chambered in the .32 New Police (which is identical to the .32 S&W Long) or the 32 Colt (which is about 0.020" smaller in diameter). Although a 32 Colt can be loaded and fired in the New Police, it is not recommended, and it is impossible to load a .32 New Police into a 32 Colt chamber. The .32 New Police chambering was more popular than the 32 Colt.
The Colt New Police was manufactured from 1896 to 1907, with fixed sights having a round blade in front and a grooved rear sight. It was available with a 2.5", 4" or 6" barrel in a blued or nickel finish with hard rubber grips. The revolver was selected by then New York City Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt in 1896 to be the first standard issue revolver for NYPD officers. The New Police was replaced in the 1907 Colt catalog by the improved Colt Police Positive, which featured an internal hammer block safety and better lock work."
Here is what an old one originally looked like: This project gun was first started over 70 years ago by my late father... None of my brothers or I remember all of its history, other than he wanted a "heavier barrel" with a clearer "fixed target sight". The former was achieved by carefully fitting a tapered sleeve over the original barrel, after removing the round front sight, and then adding a new ramped-style front sight. The topstrap was then filed smooth -- eliminating the groove for the rear sight -- and a new fixed square blade was silver-soldered on top. A length of grooves were also filed into the backstrap, matching those filed into the front ramp, improving the grip somewhat. I'll admit, it does feel really good in hand.
That work was all done in the late 40's after my dad returned home from England. He'd work on it in his locksmith shop in-between other jobs. We think his intention was to make a quick-pointing handgun that was a little muzzle heavy, with easily seen sights, and a ramped barrel so he could quickly draw it, point it and use it in defense of the shop and his livelihood. We 4 boys first saw this old Colt when we found it in the late 60s -- fully loaded in a holster! -- back when we were ages 6, 6 (as I am a twin), 8 and 9. The truth is, my dad did hide it very well! But with 4 boys eagerly "looking for new stuff" to play with, we were bound to find something somewhere! Luckily, we were all well-educated about safe gun handling even back then... While my dad did the actual teaching, I'll sure bet that my mother had something to do with that curriculum being taught to us.
And it's a dang good thing we all listened too!
Fast forward another 50 odd years and this old revolver finally lands in my lap after my twin, who doesn't load for the 32s, passed it along to me after finding it "yet again" while clearing out some stuff for my mom. (This was years after his other guns had been inherited by the boys.) While all the metal work was done after WWII, the cylinder, crane, release and some screws has all been all polished in-the-white somewhere along the line. The rest of the gun had faded to an almost olive drab color, maybe due to some cold blue that was applied decades ago? So it was a visual mess when I got it -- but it has a great backstory.
Anyway, to bring this posting to a close, I spent a bunch of hours carefully rubbing some warmed Brownell's Oxpho-Blue (using the "cream" formulation, as it has "cling" which works better on round parts) into the warmed metal parts. After numerous coats, I think it's about as good as I can get it for a home job...
I think my dad would be very pleased that his (make that... "our") 70 years-in-the-making project gun is finally done!
So here it is for your viewing pleasure -- The Locksmith Special!
It's a one-of-a-kind "Heavy Barrel, Fixed Target Sight" version of Colt's 32 New Police: I think it's pretty neat, and am really happy with how it turned out.
Oh, by the way... I don't think my dad was too concerned about any "collector value" of this piece back when he started, as that was in the era of cutting down milsurp rifles to use for deer hunting. Any value to us today is as a reminder of our father's passion for guns and shooting, and him, and as an interesting shooter. It succeeds on all those points.
Now I just need to reload for it and go fire off a salute to my dad!
Tight groups to all.
Old No7
