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Colt Ace

colt-collector
Hi - have a colt ace service model sn sm27xxx with lanyard loop and no medallions in grips ........any idea of mfg date?
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11 comments

Date Votes
  • colt-collector
    I have a Colt Ace with Seriel # 78XX which I purchased in a collection. Where would I find information as to the year this weapon was built etc.?
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  • njretcop
    Colt,

    You have a service model Ace. 13,800 made. The value depends on condition as always and can range from $3000.00 to $575.00.

    If you have the original box, you add 20%. Also clear military markings, (USCG, US PROPERTY, etc) will being a premium......

    njretcop@copmail.com

    vic.jpgdd.art
    Charlie
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  • perry shooter
    Hello your service model was made after the war 1946/1947 so I don't think you will have mil. markings I agree that condition is every thing. quote:"PRAISE THE HARDBALL GUN"
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  • colt-collector
    There is no military markings on the gun. The slide says Colt Ace only. I have no box but the blueing is 95-97% I traded for it and was just wondering how I faired I couldnt find it in the book.
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  • perry shooter
    Hello the ace was the first type and it DIDNOT have a floating chamber then the MIL. asked for a trainer this was the service model ace with a floating chamber . with your serial # starting with SM it is a service model.You can put a 9MM/38Super/ 45ACP top half on this pistol quote:"PRAISE THE HARDBALL GUN"
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  • gea1911
    Colt-
    Fjestad's 24th edition ssys your Ace was manufactured between 1978 and 1982 with about 30,000 made and worth $425 - $950. Serial numbers range from 14,001 to 43,830. I've known Fjestad to be off but values I've seen for this model of Ace looks about right. Don't confuse this model with a pre-war ACE with the lower serial number range and worth much more. Unfortunately Fjestad is a little confusing on this model showing the pre-war in one section and the postwar in another section. See page 482 of the 24th edition.
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  • JudgeColt
    colt-collector, if you will look at the left side of the frame, you will see the words "Service Model" to the left of the word "Ace" in the diamond. You have a Post-War Service Model Ace, which was reintroduced in 1978 after having been discontinued during World War II. The 13,000 production figure you quote is for Pre-War versions. Serial numbers were essentially restarted where they stopped during WWII. Your pistol was probably made in late 1980. First you say it is mint condition, and then you say it is 95% to 97%, which is a LONG way from mint. Which is it?

    gea1911 has it right. The value is probably in the $550 to $750 range in the 95% to 97% condition described, depending on the eagerness and ignorance of the buyer. I am not sure why perry shooter made the comment about being able to put a centerfire top half on the Service Ace frame, but, while you can put one on, it will not work because the Service Ace ejector is too short. If you change the ejector to the proper one for the chambering of the replacement top half, it will work, but what would be the point? The Service Ace is worth a lot more than the same vintage and condition centerfire Government Models. It is also a fun pistol to shoot.

    gea1911 points out one of the many messes in the Blue Book in the Colt sections. Such messes really mislead those without the experience to recognize the errors. The so-called "issue" variations listed in regard to popular revolvers such as the Detective Special just drive me up the wall the way they ignore so many important characteristics, such as the early square butts and the like, and lump several distinct major variations into one "issue."
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  • perry shooter
    Hello The only reason I stated that you can use another Top Half on this unit is that it Has limited collector interest and If you were to buy a SERIES 70 pistol and a 22 converision unit it would cost you more then a top half in a centerfire cartridge and what you paid for your pistol. Its nice to have one pistol that can shoot both .EVEN uncle sam saw the reason and made some 45 kits to go on their ACE'S, The service model ace has a EJECTOR that is " NOT " part of the frame any ejector that is proper for it's top half will work on a service model frame with a centerfire top half. IMHO cheers Karl
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  • JudgeColt
    I am not sure I understand perry shooter's comment. The fact remains that to put a centerfire top half on a Service Model Ace frame and have it work, the Service Ace "ejector" that is mounted on the frame would have to be removed by removing the pins that hold it in, and an appropriate ejector for the top half would have to be installed. (The "ejector" mounted on the frame of a Service Ace is not really an ejector at all since it does not eject the rimfire cases, and would not eject centerfire cases since it has no forward projection "leg" as found on centerfire ejectors. The ejector assembly that is part of the Service Ace barrel assembly serves as the ejector for the rimfire cases. The frame-mounted Service Ace "ejector" merely fills the void in the slide that would be there if no ejector were installed in the frame. It does not touch the rimfire cases when they are extracted. It is only for appearance when the slide is forward.)

    Uncle Sam did NOT EVEN make "some 45 kits to go on their ACE'S." In the 1938-1941 period, Colt made 112 Conversion Units to convert the Service Ace to .45ACP. These Conversion Units were commercial items catalogued in Colt catalogs of the period, and were not sold to the military. Obviously, with that small number, they are extremely rare and valuable. Perhaps one of the reasons for the lack of popularity may have been that to make the conversion, one had to drive out the pins that hold the "ejector" filler piece into the frame, and install the centerifre ejector, then reverse the procedure to go back to the rimfire configuration. World War II and the cessation of commercial gun production was probably another.

    I anticipate that someone may raise the point that Colt sold Post-War Conversion Units that could be installed on centerfire frames without the necessity of removing the centerfire ejector, and therfore ask why did the ejector needs to be changed on the Pre-War Service Ace to install the centerfire Conversion Unit. The reason is the design of the Pre-War ejector. The Pre-War Service Ace ejector is an intricately-machined piece that will interfere with the centerfire ejector. The Post-War Conversion Units avoid this problem by using a very thin stamped rimfire ejector assembly that just misses the centerfire ejector forward projection "leg." I cannot explain why Colt put the "non-ejector" ejector on the Post-War Service Ace frame when the Service Ace was reintroduced in 1978, other than tradition. The Post-War Service Ace top half with the stamped rimfire ejector would have worked fine with a centerfire ejector installed in the frame. Another Colt mystery.
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  • perry shooter
    Hello Judge Colt I stand corrected on the 45/22 conversion units not sold to the Military . I assumed $%^& that because of the time frame they were made. However I am still at a quandary about the EJECTOR my pre war ACEs have neither the holes in the frame nor any frame mounted ejector and it has a milled ejector that fits in the barrel . However my pre 13000 service ace has a stamped barrel mounted ejector as well as a 45acp type frame mounted ejector. They could have been changed . Finally my 1978 service model ace that I bought new also has 45 type frame mounted as well as stamped barrel 22 ejector I have one pistol with 4 top halfs in different cal. that I just mount the correct ejector on the frame and leave the cross pin out it can't go any where until you remove the slide. works great. quote:"PRAISE THE HARDBALL GUN"
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  • JudgeColt
    perry shooter, it is correct for an Ace (I assmue you are not confusing the Ace and Service Ace) not to have the cross pin hole in the frame to hold in the centerfire ejector, although my first year Ace does have the mounting holes in the top left rear of the frame that would accept an ejector. It does not have the cross hole that is found on centerfire frames where the small pin goes through the frame and one mounting leg protrusion of the centerfire ejector to hold it in place.

    The Ace is an entirely different mechanism from the Service Ace. The Ace does not have the Williams Floating Chamber that the Service Ace does have. The Ace has a paper thin slide that is also shorter than the standard Government Model, all in an effort to make a pure blow back mechanism that will move a large slide with only the power of a .22 rimfire cartridge. The recoil spring is very light, and there is a stack of leather washers on the recoil spring guide about one inch thick to serve as a buffer to stop the light, thin slide without generating destructive shock to it. The Ace slide does not have the standard channel for the frame-mounted ejector found on the Service Ace and centerfire pistols.

    While the Service Ace would not need the centerfire ejector either, apparently the idea to offer a Conversion Unit to convert the Service Ace to centerfire was planned from the beginning, and provision was made for a frame-mounted ejector that would be needed when the centerfire Conversion Unit was in place.

    Now for a HUGE helping of crow, but first my lame excuse. I first studied the differences between the Ace and Service Ace and Conversion Units decades ago, and have not revisited them much since then, at least on the ejector issue. Plus I am probably getting senile. And stupid(er). And surely something else.

    With all this talk about ejectors, I thought I had better pull some samples out of the safe because I began to feel I had made a BIG error in my ejector discussion. (BIG bite of crow coming.) I have confused the Ace with no centerfire ejector at all, the Service Ace with what I thought was a too-short centerfire ejector, the non-.45 Government Models (9mm and .38 Super) that have a "long-leg" ejector and the Commanders/Combat Commanders that also have the "long-leg" ejector.

    I was thinking that the .45 Government Models also had the "long-leg" ejector and therefore putting a .45 top half on a Service Ace frame would result in an ejector too short to eject the fired case. NOT SO. The .45 Government Models and Models 1911/1911A1 use the short ejector with no "leg." Therefore, perry shooter is right that one could add a .45 top half to a Service Ace frame (Pre-War or Post-War) and it WOULD WORK. (Choking on crow in HUGE amounts.) Also, the short ejector DOES allow the Conversion Unit, even Pre-War with its intricate machined rimfire ejector, to fit any frame with a short centerfire ejector. Trying to put such a Pre-War unit on a frame with a "long-leg" ejector will result in interference. The Post-War stamped ejector avoids that interference, thus allowing Post-War Conversion Units to be used on the .38 Super Government Models with their long ejectors.

    Crow does not taste so good, but when it is served up due to one's ignorance and stupidity, one must eat it until it is all gone. Gulp, gulp. Sorry to all for my error, expecially perry shooter.
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