"Police Positive .38" caliber .38S&W or .38spl???

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gingerbread man

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Greetings all....I'm new to this fantastic forum!

I have a question about an antique Colt revolver I recently acquired.....

It's a Colt "Police Positive .38" from 1926 serial #169276, and I'm wondering what caliber it is, .38 S&W or .38 Special??

Colt serial number lookups just say ".38" I called Colt USA and said they weren't sure (really???). There's a ton of info out there but so many versions, that it's hard to find specifics.

Any info would help, Thanks!
 
Most likely 38 S&W, but I believe some were modified to take 38 SPL.
Do you have a 38 SPL casing kicking around? Try chambering it.
38 S&W is about the size of a 9mm cartridge, not very big at all, 38 SPL is a big step up length wise.

38sw38special.jpg

Just measuring the length of the cylinder would tell you if it's even close to chambering 38 SPL.

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My literature says the Police Positive was originally chambered in .32 and 38S&W. They also made a strengthened model known as Police Positive Special which was chambered for 38 S&W Special and 32-20
 
It's not what it is that matters, it's what the government says it is. I once transferred a.38 S&W revolver. The registration said .38 Special rather than just .38, so I asked my local OPP to send in a correction.
This was back in the days when the OPP were still using .38 Special revolvers, so I suggested he take one of his .38 Special rounds and see if it would chamber. He refused, and said if it was registered as .38 Special, that was what it was and that was what it always would be.

So I guess the 2 calibres are the same, regardless of any differences in the cartridges.
 
Once when I was young and green I bought a S&W revolver. It would chamber a 38 Spl, but when fired the cases were bulged on the rear portion. Obviously it had been reamed to take the 38 Spl. cartridge. Green as I was, I still didn't consider this a good idea, and returned it to the store, exchanging it for a new Winchester model 61 .22 rifle.
 
uglydukwling said:
It's not what it is that matters, it's what the government says it is. I once transferred a.38 S&W revolver. The registration said .38 Special rather than just .38, so I asked my local OPP to send in a correction.
This was back in the days when the OPP were still using .38 Special revolvers, so I suggested he take one of his .38 Special rounds and see if it would chamber. He refused, and said if it was registered as .38 Special, that was what it was and that was what it always would be.

So I guess the 2 calibres are the same, regardless of any differences in the cartridges.
Click to expand...

Same scenario, the registration says .38 special and I aquired it with a box of ancient .38 special ammo, but I want to be diligent and make sure. I pick it up next week so I'll measure the chambers as suggested by others and go from there.
 
I'm certain your revolver will be .38 S&W. A lifetime ago in the now former RHKP I carried the Colt Police Positive revolver and it was chambered in .38 S+W. In about 1984 we changed over to the Smith and Wesson chambered in .38 Special and felt we had been issued cannons !
 
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