Anyone think we've misidentified a lot of the Colt Det. Specials?
 

Someone told me something just now (don't know if it's true) but they claimed that a lot of the Colt Detective Specials seen in (pre 1985) films are misidentifying the guns which are actually Colt Agent or Cobra revolvers. This friend is a major Colt Collector/fanatic, so I tend to trust his 'eyes' on film than my own. The Detective Special is a slightly larger frame (see area between cylinder and wood grips) but he claims people just 'assume' it's a Det. Special due to the general shape.

Colt Agent (virtually identical to the Cobra except for alloy frame)

http://www.imfdb.org/images/0/0b/Col...mallerJPEG.jpg




Colt Detective Special

http://www.imfdb.org/images/f/fa/Col...ve_Special.jpg

Anyway, I thought I would bring this up.....
:)

Ugh, such a minor difference makes our jobs a lot harder. I've never heard of the Colt Agent, I was only aware of the DS and the Cobra. I don't know if I could legitamately tell the different between an Agent and a DS unless the movie gave a major closeup.

I think he needs to check on the date of the films. The Agent was introduced in 1962 and was basically a Cobra with a shorten but and grips. Both the Agent and the Cobra were alloy framed revolvers hence the difference in the frame. The Colt Detective Special was first introduced in 1927 as a shorten Police Positive then the round but was introduced in 1933 and the ejector rod shroud in 1958.

At Ellis Mercantile we had about 30 Detective Specials, 6 Cobras, and 2 Agents in the inventory.

So then it would be safe to assume Colt DSs are used more commonly?

Wow, I had no idea. I really hope I haven't screwed up on IDs.

I would say you are correct that the Colt DS was more common on film the the Cobra or the Agent. Colt had other models as well like the Banker which was a pre-war revolver that had a smaller frame then the Police Positive. I know of a couple of shows that a Banker was used in but those have not been posted.