Insider: “You Can’t Hit Anything With Those Old Guns!”
Black Hills Wadcutters at 50 yards delivered five shots into 6.5" with one just off the target top.
BHA wadcutters at 10 yards clustered nicely into 1.4".
I admit, like many of you, I have a real fondness for old iron, especially old revolvers. Lots of us collect nice old guns, but alas, most turn into safe queens. “Oh, I’d never shoot that!” is something I hear all the time. Why not? Unless a gun is extremely rare or is in virtually unfired condition as a collectible, the vast majority of “collectible” guns can be fired without harming any intrinsic value. A cylinder or magazine now and again is not only great fun, but it teaches us things and gets the old girls out for a bit of exercise. I also like to shoot original ammo when I can. You always learn something doing that.
What you see here is a 1923 vintage Colt Police Positive Special chambered in .38 Special. Think Elliot Ness and the Untouchables — and virtually every other police agency from the ’20s to the ’70s. Colt hit it right on the head of the nail with this design series. Based on the smaller “D-Frame,” it’s not too petite, so is still a good holster gun for a working cop. As was always the case with Colt, build quality is without peer.
Yet, uninformed “modern” shooters look at the old-fashioned grips, tiny sliver sights and ancient .38 Special cartridge and all but sneer. “Oh, that’s quaint, but not good for anything today.” You sure about that? It’s usually followed up with, “Oh, and you can’t really hit anything with sights like those.”
Really? Let’s see.
Colt’s Police Positive Special, a classic “cop gun” from
the old days, paired with typical duty ammo.
Below: The old Colt didn’t like the 158s and at 15 yards delivered groups averaging 4.25". That’s not unusual for 158s.
BHA wadcutters at 15 yards went into 1.25" but a tad left.
To The Test
I put some targets up, set the stand up at 10 yards (to begin things), and dug out some original 158-grain .38 Special RNL “Police” ammo. One box of Remington from the 1940s or so, and a box of Peters likely from the late 1930s. I scrounged both boxes at garage sales (keep your eyes open!) and have used a few rounds for testing over the years. I also selected a box of Black Hills 148-grain Target Wadcutters for accuracy testing as they seem to be a gold standard in any .38 I’ve used them in.
The drill was five shots of vintage 158s (shooting mixed cartridges from each old box) and Wadcutters at 10 and 15 yards. Then, to conserve my antique ammo, I fired wadcutters at 25 yards and, believe it or not — at 50 yards. I also chronographed things.
The 158 Peters averaged 780 fps out of the Colt’s 4″ barrel. The Remington managed 760, while the wadcutters clocked around 675 fps. Out of curiosity, I fired one round of WWII-era military FMJ .38 Special, and it was a hot 805 fps. I dug out a 2″ S&W Model 36 and duplicated things. The Peters delivered 710, the Remington 636 and the target wadcutters 645. Another military .38 thumped out at 723 fps.
I used a nice, comfortable wrist rest, my “good” glasses and really took my time, shooting single action, which I normally don’t do. Colts have a distinctive DA feel, hard to stage, unlike S&W revolvers — so single action it was. Were the nay sayers right?
Vintage RNL 158s at 10 yards plopped into 1.5".
No wonder the cops used to “Point Shoot” in those days, the sights are essentially non-existent!
Roy didn’t shoot the 158s at 25 as they just didn’t shoot
well. The BHA wadcutters gave this satisfying 2.25" cluster.
Targets
At 10 yards, the 158s held a tidy 1.5″ group, a bit high. The wadcutters went into 1.4″ clustered in the bull. At 15 yards, the 158s averaged 4.25″, which surprised me, so I shot a couple more groups and got the same results. Between us, I’ve often found RNL .38s to not be very accurate, depending on the load. The wadcutters delivered a very satisfying 1.25″ group, with good elevation but a couple inches left.
Stretching things to 25 yards, I didn’t use the 158s since they didn’t seem to like this gun, and I was running short of them. The wadcutters went into 2.25″, nicely centered but a tad high. That’s typical of groups from modern guns I test. Keep in mind the Colt has that tiny sliver of a front sight and an equally minuscule rear notch, virtually impossible to see. Still, I was extremely surprised and delighted.
I figured to go for broke, so I pushed the target stand out to 50 yards and settled in. I aimed at the top of the curve of the target, assuming I’d get some bullet drop. I actually didn’t get much drop, and five rounds landed in about 6.5″ (with one going just off the top edge of the target). The holes aren’t elongated, just torn because the target was lifting from wind when some of the rounds struck. Still, amazing performance from a 100-year-old revolver.
As I’ve always said, most of these old good quality guns can shoot. I’ve engaged 100-yard torso targets with a Gen 1 Colt SAA in .45 Colt and scored plenty of hits. If I had good sights on this old Police Positive, I predict my groups would have been even better. So there, you sneering doubters! For the rest of you — go shoot those old guns!
Now, I need to think about putting better sights on this one. Let the hate mail begin.
