quote:

Originally posted by hjs157:

It is well documented in June 1940 the British Purchasing Commission, with Winchester acting as their agent, purchased most any serviceable handgun in commercial US inventory. This included a wide array of pistols and revolvers in calibers other than .38/200. There are actually documented Colt SAA's from this order. These BPC guns were obtained as a stop-gap measure after the British defeat at Dunkirk and pre-date the Lend-Lease program by 9 months. The question however isn't whether or not the BPC guns exist, but rather if my revolver was part of the purchase. While the the refinish on my revolver is of unknown origin, other parkerized 4" Colt New Service .38 Special revolvers from the BPC shipment are known to exist. My forthcoming Colt historical letter should confirm or disprove the provenance.

It would be helpful if you provided a link to that documentation you referred to. When I did a Google search all I could find was an Auction description concerning BPC and the panic that resulted from the fall of France and the evacuation at Dunkirk. Note, one thing that was very distinct in results of that google search was that the BPC purchased 1.2 Billion dollars worth of US Aircraft production and prior to Led/Lease these aircraft had to cross into Canada and be shipped from there. The only other items I got using "British Purchasing Commission 1940 handguns" were the purchase of Thompson 1928 sub-machine gun and 1400 Colt 1911 design pistols in 38 Super. BTW, the article concerning the Thompson purchase opened up with a near exact quote of that Auction Description indicating the evacuation from Dunkirk. IMO it's actually likely that your pistol may have actually have gone to England but I would love to have a full look at the details of this type of transaction. I didn't realize how serious an impact that Dunkirk had on the British Army. Until now I thought that it was a small Expeditionary Force that got stranded on those beaches, not a major portion of their entire Army. That helps explain their importing revolvers they didn't have ammunition for.

Attached are copies of two separate Colt factory letters for revolvers shipped to the BPC in the June/July 1940 time frame. I found these by searching Battle of Britain revolvers and British Purchasing Commission revolvers, then looking at photos of old auctions in the images section of my web browser.

I sold my Colt 357 so I don't have the Colt letter but it was worded like the one shown above.

In the early 80's I examined two "Battle of Britain" Colts. Both nickel, a SAA 43/4 .45, and really neat, a .38 Super auto. Rare to find a pre-war .38 super in nickel but let alone a "Battle of Britain" marked gun. Should have bought them.

quote:

Originally posted by divil:

Most were but in 1940 the Brits bought every revolver they could from Colt regardless of caliber, sorry Calibre.

That is a sweet revolver, a truly excellent find. I hope a range report is forthcoming. I hope to someday have a Colt New Service in .38 Special.

I was at the range today. The old Colt was an absolute pleasure to fire. As predicted there was very little felt recoil. With 158 gr. LRN's, POI was consistently ~2" left of center at ~10 yards. Given the age and possible military history of the revolver, I'm not planning to do any tweaking to the sights. And even if the revolver proves to not have military provenance, I still have a really cool vintage range gun. I'm glad I made the purchase.

Thanks for posting those letters. One odd detail is that both guns were Blued with 7 1/2 inch barrels. Seems like Colt may have sold whatever they had in their warehouse.

Concerning your revolver shooting left, it's not the first time I read about Colt revolvers not shooting perfectly to the POI. Most times it seems they shoot high but I've also seen enough reports about shooting left to leave an impression. I would suggest you apply a bit of Kentucky windage and perhaps some Tennessee Elevation when shooting you new revolver. BTW, neither State will charge you for using their trademarked Shooting Apps.

quote:

Originally posted by hjs157:
Given the age and possible military history of the revolver, I'm not planning to do any tweaking to the sights.

FWIW, John Taffin wrote a couple of articles over the years about centering the sights of old revolvers for windage by turning the barrel slightly further into or out of the frame in order to turn the front sight slightly left or slightly right. I wonder if that might not be a solution that would work for you without messing up a fine old revolver.

See, for example, http://www.sixguns.com/range/Adjust.htm

Before you do anything to the sights...try some different ammo. Different velocity and weight will have a marked POI.

quote:

Originally posted by hjs157:

quote:

Originally posted by divil:

Most were but in 1940 the Brits bought every revolver they could from Colt regardless of caliber, sorry Calibre.

That is a sweet revolver, a truly excellent find. I hope a range report is forthcoming. I hope to someday have a Colt New Service in .38 Special.

I was at the range today. The old Colt was an absolute pleasure to fire. As predicted there was very little felt recoil. With 158 gr. LRN's, POI was consistently ~2" left of center at ~10 yards. Given the age and possible military history of the revolver, I'm not planning to do any tweaking to the sights. And even if the revolver proves to not have military provenance, I still have a really cool vintage range gun. I'm glad I made the purchase.

Thanks for the update! Glad it shot well. Someday I will have one of those old beauties in my safe too!

I received the Colt Historical Letter confirming my revolver was in fact part of the 1940 British Purchasing Commission shipment. As expected, the original finish was blue. What I did not expect however was my revolver shipped with a 6" barrel! The caliber is listed as .38/c which I suspect is Colt's internal reference for .38 Special since Colt has traditionally avoided promoting S&W caliber designations. The larger question now is when and where my revolver was shortened (or rebarrelled) to 4" configuration and parkerized. This we will likely never learn. If anyone can shed more light upon Colt's .38/c caliber designation, I would be very interested in a positive confirmation. Thanks!

Colt Historical Letter w/ last digit of serial number obscured

Very interesting pieces of history; now if only as you were saying the history of the rebuild could be uncovered.

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Originally posted by rat2306:
Very interesting pieces of history; now if only as you were saying the history of the rebuild could be uncovered.

Indeed. During my research, I found this information in the description of a similar Colt New Service revolver which sold at auction in 2005.

"RARE Colt New Service; .38 Special “Battle Of Britain”; this gun is one of 226 purchased by British Purchasing Commission C/o Winchester Arms Co. June 18;, 1940; they were originally ordered as 6” blue guns, but all known examples are 4” bbls. and are parkerized."