I know there are many Colt 1903 Hammerless owners here. I'm not a collector of pre WWII handguns, but I do have a few nice examples. It predates my previous oldest firearm (a S&W Model 1905 4th Change revolver) by 6 or 7 years. At 1912, this is now the oldest firearm in my collection. The hard rubber grips (wood grips came later) are in like new condition, other than one minor mark at the top of the left side.Īll in all, this is just a great example of an early classic Colt pistol. There is really no rust or pitting on the gun to speak of. Its like a mirror after 101 years, which is amazing.

More impressive is how nice the polished blued finish still looks. Metal condition is at least a good 90%, with just minor dings, scratches, and slight holster wear it obtained over the last century. It has no separate barrel bushing, unlike some of the earlier models in the link above. The design of the 19 featured a thumb safety and a grip safety.Īgain, mine was produced in 1912 and, therefore, is an early example of the Type III. This gun was very similar, but it was chambered in the brand new 380auto cartridge, which debuted along with the gun. The Type V was produced more or less during the second World War. The Type IV was after that, and introduced a magazine safety. This variant introduced an integrated barrel bushing, whereas the earlier models had a separate bushing, similar to the 1911. The Type III started in 1910 and was produced for 16 years. The Type II was only produced until 1910 and had a slightly shorter (3.75') barrel. The original 1903 Hammerless has a 4' barrel and was produced until 1908. During that long production time, there were several variants or 'types' in this case. It is an early example of a striker fired pistol. :embarassed:Īs mentioned above, the model 1903 32ACP was produced for over four decades.

I'm certainly no expert on pre war handguns. All the models pictured are early example, so that leads me to believe it was only offered for a limited time.

I also found some pictures of other examples with the finish in the link below. I've seen the finish option listed in books. In fact, I haven't seen any like it on Gunbroker since spotting this one in my local shop. However, only a very small percentage had this finish option. It was built from 1903 through 1945 and hundreds of thousands were produced during that time. This gun has the very rarely seen optional finish to include the high polished bluing and fire blued trigger, safety, and other small parts. According to the serial number, it was built in 1912, the same year the Titanic sank. I've had this Colt set aside for me for a few months now and just picked it up the other day.

Colt hammerless 1903 v mark on barrel