Several years later I finally got my British Contract Colt OP

[Jcordell]

Well it took several years longer than I was expecting, but I finally got the British Contract Colt Official Police (mfd. 1941) in 38/200 or 38 S&W with a 5" barrel. The finish isn't commercial grade, but I had the internals checked out by an old-time gunsmith and he advised that it's very clean and in excellent shape. Now all I have to do is get some ammo for it. I paid $400.00 for those who are interested. Colt made a little over 49,000 Official Police in 38/200 for England in 1940-1941. In contrast S&W made over 500,000 Military & Police models in the same caliber for England from 1940-1945. I would imagine this is a big reason why the British Contract OP isn't as common.