Colt Trooper MKIII
I hope someone out there can help me! My Dad bought this gun in the early 80's.He was told that the gun was built with the wrong barrel and that it was one that didn't make it back for the recall.There is only supposed to be 4 of these out there and I was wondering if anyone has heard of this. It's a Colt Trooper MKIII 357 6" vented rib barrel in nickel finish. The vented rib is what it was recalled for. The date on the owners guide is 1979.I'm not looking to get Colt to replace the barrel or exchange the gun. I was just wondering if this made the gun valuable. Thanks for any help!
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I have a trooper mkIII and i am trying to find grips for it. What is the difference in the frame and grips of the trooper mkIII and the python or king cobra? 0 -
OK, now, here's a question for you. First of all the Colt Trooper MK III's did NOT have a vent rib barrel......but the MK V's DID! Might want to read on the barrel and be sure what you have there. Does it say MK III, or MK V? I am a little confused here, also. Does yours have a vent rib barrel? These two guns differ interenally and externally....and price wise, also. We need to talk "apples for apples" in order to be correct. Let me know and I will go over it with you.
"Life is FRAGILE!" Handle With Care!0 -
Yes, it says MKIII on the barrel, and YES, it is Vented rib. I will take a couple pics, and post them on my site within 5 min so you can see it also. 0 -
Ok, I snapped a few pics of it, here is the link. http://community.webshots.com/album/65612726WYNoPD 0 -
While you're taking pictures, can you get a close-up of the rear sight and hammer? Front sight, also?
Frame shape is the classic Trooper MK III. Hammer is not! Finish is what Colt called "Royal Coltgard" and came out in 1981 and was discontinued in 1985. It is an electroless nickel, which is very durable! Barrel is the classic MK III shape, but there wasn't the three vent holes in the 6 inch MK III's I have seen. In 1985, Colt again changed the internal mechanism of the Trooper Marks to what is called a "short action." Both Models, (III and V) use stainless coil springs instead of the leaf spring. This gun is probably worth you spending the $100 or so Colt charges for a "Historical Letter." Roll marks on the barrel are as they should be for the MK III, but never have I seen a vent rib on a MK III before. This gun is not what normally came from the factory as a Colt Trooper MK III.
Colt did make a few guns that are called a "Boa." These guns were made on a Trooper MK III frame, barrelled in 4 or 6 inch only. The Barrel was a Python barrel, which was roll marked "Boa." You can easily tell the Python barrel and the Trooper MK III frame on these guns.
The barrel in your pictures suggests a regular MK III barrel, but I would need to see both sights to be sure. We're gaining on it!
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Ok, I Updated the pictures. I got this gun in '85 from my "Then" brother-in-Law, who bought the gun new around 82-84.Thanks for the help on this. I had no idea about the historical part from colt, I will check into that
http://community.webshots.com/album/65612726WYNoPD0 -
First the six-digit butchered apparent but impossible Python, now this! Ah, the joys of Colt collecting were the exceptions seem to exceed the rules.
Several possible explanations:
1. It is a Mark V mismarked as a Mark III. (RP, do you recall the other differences between the Mark V and Mark III so we could look for them as clues? I know the action was changed to shorten the trigger pull, but I do not recall how much visable physical difference there was. I have no Mark V in my collection to compare. The rubber stocks say Mark III, because the Mark V generally had wood stocks.)
2. The vents were cut (very skillfully it appears) in a Mark III barrel and the gun, or at least the barrel, refinished in electroless nickel. (That seems like a lot of trouble for not much effect, but, then, we gun nuts often do funny things just to see if we can.)
3. A left-over Officers Model Match Mark III barrel (which WAS factory-vented) was used accidentally or on purpose (to use up old stock) on this revolver. The OMM Mark III, produced briefly in 1969 and some later for export, is extremely rare (296 total as I understand it) and uncataloged, but Colt is well known for using up old parts and it could be an OMM Mark III barrel was roll-stamped as shown and put on this revolver. (The OOM Mk III was a .38 Special, not a .357 Magnum.) I vote for this explanation, and yet a factory letter might not even show it.
I would like to compare the vents with those of a Mark V to see it they look the same in order to test the "later cut slots" theory.
Next.0 -
OKay, here is what I see with the new pictures. When comparing the hammer of this gun to a standard MK III hammer, I find the hammer appears to have been "thinned" from underneath and the rear edge rounded. Original hammers, at least the four I have are not this thin and have a "flat" edge about 5/16" wide on the rear edge. This shaping of the hammer might have been to accommodate some thick wood Target grips as I have seen on some of these guns. This is minor and means little except that I happened to notice this.
The Trooper MK III was built on the "J" frame, which is a slightly larger frame than the "V" frame which is used on the MK V Troopers. The upper curve of the trigger guard/frame is rounded more on the MK V. It appears this gun is a "J" framed Trooper MK III, that is, until you get to the barrel. Barrel silhouette is NOT a Trooper MK III barrel. Here's why! MK III barrels are completely flat along the top. You can see in Picture "gun 002" where a gentle ramp forms at the frame end and gently slopes forward towards the front sight. If we could see the front sight, I would say we would see the sight inserted into this ramp at the end instead of into an added sight base such as is normal for the MK III.
The Barrel attached to this gun is an exact "Duplicate" of a Barrel found on the "Trooper MK V," and the Model called a "Peacekeeper." Even the vent holes match these barrels. Given this, I would come up with this possible scenario:
The Factory found itself lacking in barrels during production of the "New Colgard" finished guns, (there wasn't that many in this finish anyway), and getting to the end of the run, they simply roll marked a barrel from the new "Model V" series and used it. Except for this barrel being roll marked as a "Trooper MK III," I would bet it is a barrel from the MK V and Peacekeeper series of guns.
If this "change" was made by someone other than the factory, I would have to commend their work on duplicating the MK III Roll Mark! I think this is something from the factory, and quite possibly, the Craftsman that made it is still laughing about what consternation he caused!!!! My take on this whole thing
"Life is FRAGILE!" Handle With Care!0 -
I really appreciate the knowledge coming from here. I am positive no modifications were made to this gun after it came from the factory. My Bro-In-Law at the time bought it new, got in a jam, and I got it from him. That was almost 20 years ago.
This is very interesting to me, to have something that is a little out of the ordinary, and unique. Thanks for all the reply's and insight about this gun. If more pics are needed ( I did them in a rush at midnight ), I will take better ones tonight anyway.
Thanks............Leroy0 -
I bought one of these mismatched Colt's from a distributor almost 20 years ago. It was indeed a Mk III, but with a Mk V barrel. Apparently, they had some Mk III frames left over when they started making the Mk V, but no barrels to match. I made the mistake of showing it to a friend within a day or two of receiving it. He wanted it, so I sold it to him and ordered another. Too late, they were all gone. That was the only one that I have ever seen. You have a unique pistol! 0 -
If it isn't too much trouble, pictures of the front sight from all angles, (at least 3 or 4), would be very helpful to me for future reference. I think we got this pretty much narrowed down.
This would be a "Factory" rareity that could possibly have more value than just a regular Trooper MK III. That would be up to the desires of the Collector interested and the depth of his/her pockets! Good Shooting!
"Life is FRAGILE!" Handle With Care!0
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