Help with a colt

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jsw011907

Help with a colt

Post by jsw011907 » Mon Aug 29, 2016 4:15 pm

I am selling a colt for a friend and I am trying to do as much research as possible for it since it is a unique revolver.
What I know about it is, it was made I believe in the 1950s ish and I think it is a fitz special, I am not sure, what I am looking for is a price that I can ask for it, I imagine that adding the scope to it has dropped the value but just looking for some help.


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Bob R
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Re: Help with a colt

Post by Bob R » Mon Aug 29, 2016 8:25 pm

First off I don't think it is a Fitz. A Fitz is characterized by a bobbed hammer spur, shortening the barrel to two inches, rounding the butt, and removing the front half of the trigger guard.

IMO I think what you have here is a Colt Officers Model (4th Issue) (1949 - 1952) that someone whacked the trigger guard off of so they could hunt with gloves on.

I really don't have a clue on the value but I don't believe it would bring as mush as an unmolested example.

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Re: Help with a colt

Post by Badger » Mon Aug 29, 2016 10:27 pm

It was not Fitzed, it was ruined. Little value remains.

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Re: Help with a colt

Post by ron » Mon Aug 29, 2016 10:55 pm

Badger wrote:It was not Fitzed, it was ruined. Little value remains.

It was not Fitzed, it was Futzed.

But if that scope mount could be removed and you cut the barrel to two inches, and mount a "Half-nickle" front sight and made the grip a round butt, you might end up with a reasonable Fitz special replica for pocket carry, or if that scope is any good it could be used as is just to plink with using target wadcutters.

But I agree that it's worth much less than an unmodified gun, especially a Colt. Even with genuine Fitz specials It's hard to tell if they were actually done by J.Henry Fitzgerald or someone else and you probably need some kind of documentation to show that it's a real "Fitz".

All you can do is sell it as a scoped colt 38 modified with a scope mount probably in the mid- to -late 1960's and I think it might worth around $3-400 if the bore and the cylinders look good and the gun feels tight mechanically. You might even want to shoot it to see how accurate it is so you could sell it as a shooter.
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Re: Help with a colt

Post by Bob R » Mon Aug 29, 2016 11:08 pm

you cut the barrel to two inches, and mount a "Half-nickle" front sight and made the grip a round butt, you might end up with a reasonable Fitz special replica for pocket carry,
That's what I was thinking, it is already ruined. Maybe someone would like to do a replica Fitz, wrap the grips with electrical tape after the mods and call it good. ;)


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jsw011907

Re: Help with a colt

Post by jsw011907 » Tue Aug 30, 2016 6:13 am

Ok thanks guys, I thought it wasn't a fitz, the trigger guard was done professionally so it was hard to tell

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Re: Help with a colt

Post by ron » Tue Aug 30, 2016 3:21 pm

There's a lot of confusion about what makes a Fitz a genuine Fitz. The most valuable ones were the ones made by the Colt factory, these had a 'VP' proofmark at the left rear of the triggerguard. Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde fame owned one of these. Below is a picture of that one. The factory ones were different from the ones that Fitzgerald made.

The ones Fitzgerald made had shorter barrels and ejector rods. and Fitz made them out of both medium frame 38 special guns and Large frame 45 guns. Fitzgerald wasn't just a gunsmith who worked on Colts. Fitzgerald worked for Colt for many years and he was the one that designed the National Match version of the 1911. So many imitations of these guns were made that to prove that a gun was actually made by JH Fitzgerald would most likely require written documentation. Also both the factory guns and the guns that Fitzgerald made hat the tops of the bobbed hammers checkered and the cylinder release latch checkered.

I never saw the point of cutting away the front of the trigger guard. With enough practice, Fast draw experts like Bob Munden can get their fingers IN the trigger guard and be pulling the trigger with incredible speed and having the front of the trigger guard removed wouldn't give them any advantage. However, I once read that Bill Jordon, USMC Vet and ex-border patrolman and exhibition shooter who had big hands and big fingers, used to cut away the right front half of the trigger guard on his model 19 Smith and Wessons with a kind of a half-moon shaped cut-out to help get his big finger in the trigger guard faster.


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http://www.guns.com/2015/09/02/fitz-col ... benchmark/
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