Colt Commando .38 Special Revolver

Wartime Colt revolvers don't get much more honest than the Commando, and this one wears the part. The barrel rolls cleanly read COLT COMMANDO and .38 SPECIAL, the giveaway markings that separate it from the Official Police it descended from. When the War Production Board froze commercial Colt output in 1942, the Commando was the answer. Colt stripped the Official Police of its high polish, dropped the bluing into a dark sandblasted finish, and shipped these out to defense plants, shipyards, and government guards who needed a sidearm and needed it fast.

This example carries that subdued wartime finish across the frame, barrel, and cylinder. It's a flat, dark blue-black with a slightly grainy texture, exactly what Colt was turning out under the production crunch. No bright polish, no decorative work. The 4 inch barrel sits where most Commandos landed, balanced and quick to point. Fixed sights, a half-moon front blade, and the simple top-strap groove out back. That's all a defense-issue gun ever needed.

The action is pure Colt double action. Six rounds of .38 Special, the familiar bank-vault lockup, and a trigger that stacks the way these old Colts do. The bore looks clean through the muzzle, and the cylinder faces show light turn marks from honest use rather than abuse.

The checkered walnut grips wear the silver Colt rampant medallions and show the warmth and minor handling marks you'd expect on a gun this age. They fill the hand well and frame the austere steel nicely.

These went to the war effort, not the sporting market, and survivors in this kind of original, unmolested trim are getting harder to turn up. For a collector building a WWII Colt group or anyone who likes a service revolver with a real job behind it, this Commando earns a spot in the case.