Colt Banker's Special in .32?

stunguff · January 18, 2010 19:31

I missed an exchange back in 2006 over the Colt Banker's Special in .32 S&W. There seemed some doubt that Colt actually made this little gun in .32. Well, they actually did, but the .32 chambering was the rarest. The .22 LR is also somewhat rare, but there are quite a few Banker's Specials in .38 S&W floating around, in collections, etc. Someone did a good job of translating from French an article I wrote on this gun for the Belgian littlegun site - I guess they didn't realize that the site also offers an English translation of most of its information. I have owned, in Uruguay, two of the Banker's Specials in .38 S&W that came from the Hong Kong police. It is a nice little gun, holds easily in the hand, and using the shorter .38 S&W cartridge has none of the ejection/loading problems they had with the Dectective Specials chambered for .38 SPL (bullet was just too long). There has also been confusion often (e.g. Standard Catalog of Firearms) about the Banker's Special being chambered for the .38 SPL - it never was - this confusion comes because on the left side of the barrel it is stamped with a large 38, then the two words, one over the other: Banker's and Special. I guess they look from the 38 to the word Special and leave the Banker's out of the equation (something that can't be done in politics today). Ephraim Zimbalist Jr. did use a Banker's Special .32 on the TV series 77 Sunset Strip as well as the FBI series of shows - you can see a picture of it at: http://www.longmountain.com/just for fun/movieguns/77-SunsetStrip Nice little gun - I understand that it is in a Hollywood museum. By the way, the Banker's Special in .38 was the official sidearm of the US Postal guards on US trains back between the two big wars. I am partial to Smith & Wesson, but I sure like the feel of this little revolver - makes me want to be a PO train guard in the 30s.

Colt Banker's Special in .32?

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