My wife had to go back to the mainland to settle affairs after her mother died.   On getting a locksmith to open a safe, they found among other stuff, an old nickel plated Colt Hammerless chambered in .380.  Has mother of pearl grips.  Wife says the safety cannot be engaged, so internal rust is possible.

http://www.coltautos.com/1908ph.htm

From what I can find from the S/N, this gun was made in the 30's.  Question is, any good reason to bring this home and clean up the decay, or leave it with her siblings to haggle over what it is worth.

Those are nice old guns, and if the nickel finish is factory original it's worth quite a bit.  If the MOP grips are genuine, and from the factory, that makes it even more valuable.  If you bring it back, let me know--I'd be interested in it!

I'd bring it back if it were me. That's a nice collector's item.

Wife agreed to bring it back, bought a small lockable case and lock, will tuck it into her roll about luggage and check it in with notification.  The idea of inside the luggage was to prevent tempting the baggage handlers.  Dunno how that jibes with the regs.

Hopefully Hawaiian Air will not cause issues at the counter.  Seems locked case, tell the counter, and checked baggage are all that is needed.  She has done the NRA safety course recently so should be easy to just take it to the PD after she gets home.

I'd bring it back if it were me. That's a nice collector's item.

Like a 1911, the safety won't go on unless it's cocked.

Had her rack the slide to verify an empty chamber before attempting to apply the safey.  She cannot fully rack my 1911, so it is very possible she did not fully rack it far enough.  Will know in a week or so when she gets back.

Found a JPEG of what I understand this gun to be:



I guess Patton would say that it is a pimp's gun with those grips?

Like a 1911, the safety won't go on unless it's cocked.

Patton was a pimp?

Wife agreed to bring it back, bought a small lockable case and lock, will tuck it into her roll about luggage and check it in with notification.  The idea of inside the luggage was to prevent tempting the baggage handlers.  Dunno how that jibes with the regs.

Hopefully Hawaiian Air will not cause issues at the counter.  Seems locked case, tell the counter, and checked baggage are all that is needed.  She has done the NRA safety course recently so should be easy to just take it to the PD after she gets home.

Quote from: 2aHawaii on January 07, 2012, 12:13:47 PM

I'd bring it back if it were me. That's a nice collector's item.

this is fine, but you also need a TSA lock on the luggage if you have a cased firearm inside.

Shes bring it in out of state, no course is required. She can just take it down and register it.

l'd also have her print out both Hawn air and TSA regulations pertaining to firearms and bring them with her when checking in.

l'd also have her print out both Hawn air and TSA regulations pertaining to firearms and bring them with her when checking in.

That's an issue, as she has no confuser with her.  Might be able to fax it to her though.

Did not know about the TSA lock on the outer luggage.  Will tell her to pick one up.

Yes NON-TSA lock on case and TSA lock on luggage.

Have one just like it, minus the fancy grips. Serial # suggest it was manufactured in 1928.

Have one just like it, minus the fancy grips. Serial # suggest it was manufactured in 1928.

Do you shoot it?

Anyone carry parts if something breaks?  Have not checked Brownells yet. 

Do you shoot it?

Anyone carry parts if something breaks?  Have not checked Brownells yet.

Cleaned the gun thoroughly.  They are a lot of fun to reassemble, could have used some extra hands.  Luckily, the interwebs are good for finding instructions.  Apparently gunsmiths often get a box of parts after an owner gives up.

Once cleaned and lubed, we took it down to Manuka for a function test.  The nickel plated sight suck,  almost impossible to get a decent sight picture in the sun:


Shocked the heck out of me, I am not all that great with a piston, but it is really easy to shoot, besides the lousy sights.

Found a site that apparently does have some parts:http://www.poppertsgunparts.com/cgi-bin/webdata/webdata_gunparts.cgi

Had her rack the slide to verify an empty chamber before attempting to apply the safey.  She cannot fully rack my 1911, so it is very possible she did not fully rack it far enough.  Will know in a week or so when she gets back.

Blowback guns have very stiff springs and the slides are built heavy.  Besides, she's fighting the firing pin spring, to boot.

My 1911 was easier to cock than a Llama blowback .380, and easier also than a PPK.

I got the blowback one to match an almost identical Llama Model (3?) which had a locked breech action. I had to get rid of the blowback model because it was wayyy more difficult to rack with my arthritis.

Otherwise, the two were pretty much identical, except you could see where they added extra metal in places on the slide to increase its weight.

Too bad about all the paperwork and precautions required.  Make sure all the Ts are dotted and the Is crossed.  Probably be a good idea for her to make sure her pantihose aren't inside-out, too.

"Ma'am, the X-Ray scanner shows your pantihose are inside out."

"They are?  I didn't realize that."

"Why are they inside-out, Ma'am?"

"I don't know, I guess they just are.  They were fine yesterday."

"Oh, yeah, sure, a likely story.  Get out of the line and step this way, please. <into shoulder mike>  I need a matron at station 6, please."

(Hyperbole for the sake of making a point. Several points, in fact.)

Terry, 230RN

Actually, she can rack the Colt Hammerless just fine.  The little Baby Browning and my 1911 are just beyond her hand strength.  That Browning is a stiff little sucker, not amazing considering the tiny slide.  Looked to see if Wolf had softer springs, but no go.  Am averse to clipping coils to soften it.

No big deal, I can cycle the tiny little thing, and do not trust it to do more than irritate someone anyhow.  Just make sure the meat of the hand is clear of the slide.  Just one finger on the grip is not heartening, but all there is room for.

Her Hammerless was a huge surprise.  Figured it to be a very close range thing, with hitting the paper somewhere to be a good thing.  The accuracy with crappy sights was dumbfounding.  Ah well, it is in her name now, with no BS from the Kona PD either.  They just signed it up.

Now I need to practice with my 1911 to at least equal the shooting of her  "pocket gun".  The azimuth scatter of the shots says sight alignment was OK, just not lining things up for elevation very well.  Been concentrating on my LR-308 too much methinks............time for some pistol work.

Missed your post before I posted.

The nickel plated sight suck,  almost impossible to get a decent sight picture in the sun.

Nail polish.  Had that problem before.  Red front, black rear.  WOrks good.