I just bought this, and it seems to be in great shape. It needs a cleaning, but shows very little wear. Came with original box and warranty card.

It's not 100% though, so I think I'm going to shoot it at least a few rounds. Although I already got some slide bite just from manually cycling it.

The trigger is surprisingly good. Only about 1/8" take up and a clean break, just slightly heavy to the feel. Reset is very positive, with trigger let out about 3/16". It does have a magazine safety, so maybe that's adding a little weight to the trigger weight?

Oh, and I'm pretty sure it's early 70's production. And someone hand wrote $79.95 on the back of the box, although I paid more than that. If I only had a time machine.

If it wasn’t made by Colt may well be a ‘Saturday night special’, maybe still is.

The 25 acp, is that more damage than a bee sting?

If I recall correctly, this was actually made by the Spanish company Astra for Colt. This doesn't make it at all cheap in the sense of shoddy quality.

As for the .25 ACP, in a completely anecdotal and unscientific sampling (of watching Forensic Files reruns on TV at 3AM), is in second place for the number of homicides by gunshot, behind the .22 Long Rifle. So it's a little more than a bee sting.

After buying a .25ACP Beretta 950, I was showing it to a friend. He said "if you ever shot me with that, and I ever found out about it, I would be very put out with you"!
I forget who made it, but I had .25 ammo that had a steel ball inserted in the nose of the bullet so it would "expand".
Its a cool little pistol.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I forget who made it, but I had .25 ammo that had a steel ball inserted in the nose of the bullet so it would "expand".

Winchester, and the steel ball was intended to aid feed reliability.

It’s got the prancing pony on it a one year warranty from Colt, and that’s good enough for me. And I didn’t really buy it for the stopping power!

The steel ball expander ammo was made by Winchester and actually worked pretty well.

The original gun marketed by colt and made in Spain by astra in the 1960’s was the replacement for the earlier ( discontinued post WWII ) colt pocket 25. After GCA68 they could no longer be imported so colt brought production to the United States ( I think this model was discontinued in about 1973-74)

Astra Cub was it's mother, had one years ago and it shot alright

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
If I recall correctly, this was actually made by the Spanish company Astra for Colt.

In response to the 1968 Gun Control Act, Colt began producing the renamed Colt Automatic in Hartford in 1971. It's somewhat unclear if these later pistols were totally assembled from imported parts or if some of the components were manufactured in house. Either way, the OP's 1972 pistol is considered an "American" model as evidenced by the OD serial number prefix.

That is really neat. I have never seen a hammer fired pistol that small before, Colt or otherwise. Very cool.

Always thought those were cool. I always wondered whether they actually worked.

^^^ @patw
Seecamp pocket pistols are that size or maybe a tiny bit smaller, spur less hammer fired, DAO, and they are stone cold reliable with recommended ammunition.
Old Seecamp's were in .25 ACP & .32 ACP, newer production in .25 ACP, .32 ACP and .380 ACP.
I have only fired the .32 type.

Seecamp pistols here: https://seecamp.com/

^^^ @honestlou,
That is a beautiful Colt!

quote:

Originally posted by patw:
That is really neat. I have never seen a hammer fired pistol that small before, Colt or otherwise. Very cool.

After my until post I realized that maybe I should have put a ruler next to it so you could actually see the size. It is small.

I’ve got some ammo on order, and after a good cleaning I’ll find out how well it works.

Baby Browning enters the chat….

Circa 1967. Also includes the original soft case/rug.
IMG_9559 by nailheadjr, on Flickr

I'm fond of these little pistols. My father bought this one in 1972 along with the holster Colt made for it and a box of ammo.