doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Colt vs S&W

Point taken....I also have a Walther PPKS in 380, for use when I wear my speedo...

Colt vs. Smith and Wesson? No question in my mind, Colt made the the better revolver. Yes Smith has weathered the years better, but that is as much due to self inflicted wounds on Colt's part. Research their various labor problems and you'll see what I mean.

A Colt revolver, with its "bank vault lockup" was never intended to be service free forever. All 3 of my New Service revolvers, when cocked have NO play in the cylinder, thanks to the design of the hand. I can't say that about my Smiths. Same thing with my very pedestrian Official Police. Truth be told, I see parallels between Colt and the best of the British double gun makers as far as the need for refurbishment every half century or so.

My SF-VI has a wonderful trigger and I await the opportunity to test fire one of the new Cobras with excitement.

Mergus

Taking this thread back to 2-pipers original point; here are some of the Colt and S&W target revolvers in my own collection. I started acquiring these years ago before collecting them became popular. These revolvers much like the fine doubleguns that are the main collecting interest here were hand fitted and hand finished.Additionally I've derived a great deal of pleasure from shooting these masterpieces of revolver craftsmanship.
Jim

Nice! I was issued a Colt "Shooting Master" When I was on the 11ND Naval pistol team...Nice gun...

When I think semi autos I think Colt when it comes to revolvers I want a vintage Smith & Wesson.

When I started this thread it was not truly intended to be discussion of the merits of the two companies as to which was the best It was intended purely to establish the fact that Colt was in the revolver business some 20 years ahead of S&W & that it has always been attributed to Col Colt for "Making Men Equal".

Joe;
One thing we can definitely agree upon is that license plate. Are you a member of the N B Forrest camp in Memphis? I belong to the B F Cheatham, camp 72 in Manchester TN. One of my G-Grandfathers was in the Starnes-McLemore 4th TN Volunteer Cavalry. This unit spent a great amount of their time in the saddle riding with Forrest.

I'm not so sure either manufacturer knows what they're trying to do. Now, a Colt story:

A few years ago in an out of state rural gun shop I was just 'passing through' I found a very high condition New Frontier 22 in blue and case color. Sadly, the 22 mag cylinder was nowhere to be found, but the gun was priced right. After the usual hoop jumping involving two FFL holders, shipping, my county sheriff, the state police, character references and senate confirmation, I finally owned it.

One chamber shaves lead. Thank you Colt. The gun should have been delivered with a full face shield.

Then the mainspring broke.

Perhaps someone can explain the 'design feature' I found.

The flat mainspring fractured along a 'score' line close to the bottom of the spring. That's right. A score line, where the spring steel is scratched or machined all the way across the spring.

I ordered two new springs so as to have a spare, and both new parts have the same score line.

It's as if they WANT the spring to break.

Now, what's up with that?