Colt 32 ACP 1895-1903
Have a chance to buy this from a fellow officer. He let me bring it home to check it out. I have two concerns so far.
1. I don't know how to break it down
2. After cycling the slide I pulled the trigger to dry fire. When the trigger is pulled it clicks but without cycling the slide and pulling the trigger a second time, it clicks as if it were dry firing.
Any advise other than take it back as soon as possible and inform him of it as no money has exchanged hands up until now.
"Save the Whalers, they need jobs too."
1. I don't know how to break it down
2. After cycling the slide I pulled the trigger to dry fire. When the trigger is pulled it clicks but without cycling the slide and pulling the trigger a second time, it clicks as if it were dry firing.
Any advise other than take it back as soon as possible and inform him of it as no money has exchanged hands up until now.
"Save the Whalers, they need jobs too."
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Have a chance to buy this from a fellow officer. He let me bring it home to check it out. I have two concerns so far.
1. I don't know how to break it down
2. After cycling the slide I pulled the trigger to dry fire. When the trigger is pulled it clicks but without cycling the slide and pulling the trigger a second time, it clicks as if it were dry firing.
Any advise other than take it back as soon as possible and inform him of it as no money has exchanged hands up until now.
"Save the Whalers, they need jobs too."0 -
Soooo.....this is a hammerless model, right? And what you are saying is that if you cycle the slide, thus internally cocking it, that it clicks twice without the slide being cycled again? If so, there is probably damage to the lockwork--possibly the sear/hammer relationship or the trigger/sear relationship. BUT, if this pistol is in nice, original condition and you are getting it for a favorable price, it may be worth having a gunsmith look at the insides before giving it back. Also--I would try firing it with live ammo to see how it performed; it may surprise you and work perfectly. As for the disassembly, these are a little tricky, but I'll be happy to send you disassembly instructions if you decide to keep the piece. You can e-mail me your USPO address by clicking on my name. 0 -
DerGeb gives good advice. I know of no automatic that will cycle its slide without using live ammo (Except the old Einhahn).
The little Colts are fine weapons and if anything is wrong with it (Major problems would be obvious), it could be fixed by someone knowledgeable with it.
A man who starts imagining that others think good because he does is simply out of his mind
It behooves one to be wary when among strangers and not to trust too much L'Amour0 -
I am confused by this question. The first Colt semi-automatic pistol was the Model 1900, which is chambered for .38 ACP. The first Colt .32 ACP pistol was the Model 1903 Hammerless (Model M), which was introduced in 1903.
What does the reference to 1895-1903 mean?
The slide will not cycle by merely pulling the trigger on an empty chamber. The slide has to be cycled by hand when the gun is unloaded, which will cock the hammter so it can be dropped by pulling the trigger for the first click. Without getting out a Model M to check and verify, I would SPECULATE that the second "click" you are hearing is the result of the grip safety at first preventing full movement of the trigger and the trigger preventing full movement of the grip saftey, and then, as your grip tightens, the grip safety and trigger each disengage from the other with a click. I can get that second click with an uncocked Model 1911 in my hand now as described so I believe a Model M will do the same.
The Model M is the most numerous Colt auto and many nice ones can be found still with box and papers. Likewise, many found are almost junk since they were the kind of inexpensive gun often tucked away in bad storage, or carried in bad places.
The disassemby method of a Model M depends on the vintage of the pistol. Those early ones with barrel bushings disassemble differently from those later ones without.0 -
I agree with judgecolt that the noise you are hearing is probably normal. The dates are probably the patent dates stamped on the side of the slide (?), and value depends on condition and whether it's a 32 or a 380. They are great little guns and you can find them in <90% for $200-300 all day long. Once you get over 90%, the price starts climbing (near mint 500-600) and when you find a like new example they go for close to 1k (prices quoted from GB and other auction sites over several months early this year). The 380's are much rarer than the 32, and in a more desirable cartridge to most people, and thus bring more money. I've seen them go for lots more than the above prices, and lots less. Check out www.coltautos.com for info on man. dates and takedown intructions. If the price is right I'd jump on it. The workmanship on these guns is great; they were made in the prime of colt firearms before the quality control went to crap.... Oh, to pull some examples up on Gunbroker, do a search on colt 32 (don't use the .), colt 1903, colt 380, colt 1908 (the 1903 in 380 caliber is known as a 1908) 0 -
wm69,
I collect these model 1903 Colt auto's and I will buy ALL the true 90% you can find for 200-300 dollars.
I currently own 6 in 32 caliber, 3 in 380 caliber and one in 38acp. You cannot touch one the them for the price you quoted, LOL.
Charlie
"It's the stuff dreams are made of Angel"NRA Certified Firearms InstructorMember: GOA, RKBA, NJSPBA, NJ area rep for the 2ndAMPD. njretcop@copmail.com0 -
Well, I was wrong that a Model M grip safety and trigger function the same as a Model 1911-style pistol. The trigger and grip safety both are retracted when the hammer is uncocked, and do not come back out until the gun is again cocked by cycling the slide. The second click is apparently the metallic sound of the trigger striking its travel limiting stop. There is a little spring resistance as the trigger is pulled to the rear of an uncocked pistol, and when that is overcome, the resulting "lurch" to the rear generates enough speed to cause a small noise as the trigger reaches the end of its travel. It is similar to what one hears when cycling a retractable pen. The harder and quicker one pulls the trigger, the louder the sound or click.
wm69, thanks for pointing out the obvious answer to the 1895-1903 issue. Duh! (The mind dims with age!)
I suspect there is nothing wrong with the pistol. I agree that nice pistols are a lot more valuable than stated, but they are so numerous that there are some bargains out there.
The Model M has always been one of my favorites. I had an exact replica cap gun as a kid, and fell in love with the model then. (I still have the cap gun.) It was therefore natural that the first collectable Colt I bought decades ago was a nice boxed M1903 .32.0 -
I got one off of this site (.32) for $350 (the FFL offered me $400 for it when he received it, and he obviously knew what I paid) and one from *********** (380) for $300 even (yeah, I know I stole the second one!) Bought another one at a gunshop for $250 in about 75% (NRA VG). You will also note that I said < (less than) 90%. Needless to say I made money on all of them when I resold them. You have to be paitent to find this kind of thing; there are poeple wanting $500 for pieces of junk, but as many places as these guns are for sale, they can be found in good shape for those prices... For example, in the last Gunlist, the following ads were seen....
M03 .32 97%, exc grips $425 Kinda high....
M1903 32 type III 99% $340
Both are known as reputalbe dealers.
I just had a baby, so unfortunately the wife is not allowing me to even offer on anything fun anymore[:(]0 -
Thanks for all the help. Judgecolt, sorry for the confusion. When I manually cycled the slide to check if the trigger would pull through, the trigger did put trough but there was no sound of a firing pin being struck. It just sounded like there was a click in the action. When I released and contined to squeeze the trigger and without manually cycling the slide, the noise from the action was the same whether I cycled the slide or not. I thought I had some ammo but I didn't. The seller informed me he would bring in some ammo on Monday. I will try to fire some rounds and let you guys know what goes. Thanks again for all the help.
"Save the Whalers, they need jobs too."0 -
Just a thought here - On the later serial numbers, I'm pretty sure there is a magazine disconnect. If the mag is out, it won't fire.Might want to check that out.I have a couple but can't get to them now.-Bob
Gun control is a steady hand0 -
First I missed the patent date issue, and then the magazine safety issue. My bad! If this gets out, I will be drummed out of the Colt Collectors Association!
Hangfire is right. A later gun with the magazine safety will not release the hammer with the magazine out. The sound I described when the gun is not cocked may be what 96 is hearing when the gun is cocked, but the magazine is out. I will have to check that when I can get back to a Model M.0
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