Martinjmpr
10-29-2020, 13:28
Yes, I know the standard answer would be "have a gunsmith check it out" but I'm curious about the Conventional Wisdom here.
My father passed away in March and when he died I inherited some of his old guns. One of them is a Colt M1903 or 1908 pocket hammerless in .380 cal.*
Per the SN, the gun was made some time around 1928. According to dad, the gun was purchased by his father some time in the late 20's or early 30's. It was used at least once to thwart an attempted robbery at a gas station when my grandfather, grandmother and uncle were traveling somewhere during the depression. The gun has been in my family for as long as I can remember. I know it has been fired, but my guess is that it's been at least 20 years (and possibly as long as 40 years) since it was fired.
So other than a thorough cleaning and visual inspection for excessive wear, cracks, broken springs, etc, is there any reason to be concerned about shooting this gun with modern ammo? As near as I can tell this gun has sat in a cabinet/drawer/safe for most of the last 60 years at least. There's no rust, no excessive wear and from the looks of it, at least, it likely hasn't been fired all that much (which would make sense for a gun like this.) I'd estimate it even has 70% or more of its original finish, original grips, etc. It has one magazine, not sure if it ever had more.
So would you shoot it?
* NOTE: The Intertoobz seem all over the place with regard to the moniker. The M1903 was the Colt Hammerless pocket pistol in .32 ACP caliber. The .380 version (which is what this is) was introduced in 1908 and for that reason it is often referred to as the Colt M1908. However, as near as I can tell, Colt never referred to this as anything other than the Model 1903 because they had a completely different gun that bore the 1908 name, that was the Colt model 1908 Vest Pocket in .25ACP/6.35mm caliber : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Model_1908_Vest_Pocket
For simplicity's sake, I just refer to it as a Colt Model 1903.
My father passed away in March and when he died I inherited some of his old guns. One of them is a Colt M1903 or 1908 pocket hammerless in .380 cal.*
Per the SN, the gun was made some time around 1928. According to dad, the gun was purchased by his father some time in the late 20's or early 30's. It was used at least once to thwart an attempted robbery at a gas station when my grandfather, grandmother and uncle were traveling somewhere during the depression. The gun has been in my family for as long as I can remember. I know it has been fired, but my guess is that it's been at least 20 years (and possibly as long as 40 years) since it was fired.
So other than a thorough cleaning and visual inspection for excessive wear, cracks, broken springs, etc, is there any reason to be concerned about shooting this gun with modern ammo? As near as I can tell this gun has sat in a cabinet/drawer/safe for most of the last 60 years at least. There's no rust, no excessive wear and from the looks of it, at least, it likely hasn't been fired all that much (which would make sense for a gun like this.) I'd estimate it even has 70% or more of its original finish, original grips, etc. It has one magazine, not sure if it ever had more.
So would you shoot it?
* NOTE: The Intertoobz seem all over the place with regard to the moniker. The M1903 was the Colt Hammerless pocket pistol in .32 ACP caliber. The .380 version (which is what this is) was introduced in 1908 and for that reason it is often referred to as the Colt M1908. However, as near as I can tell, Colt never referred to this as anything other than the Model 1903 because they had a completely different gun that bore the 1908 name, that was the Colt model 1908 Vest Pocket in .25ACP/6.35mm caliber : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colt_Model_1908_Vest_Pocket
For simplicity's sake, I just refer to it as a Colt Model 1903.