Colt Trooper Vs Python

[Petrol & Powder]

My understanding is the trooper mk111 is the hammer and other parts inside were made from powder steel that compress like the timing gear on the old chevy v8 were made My gunsmith friend told me he had to replace some hammer and trigger in them years back. Another thing he told me was fake Python were someone had a Trooper and put a Python barrel on it and pass them off as python. As all way buyer beware.

I'm fairly certain that Trooper MK III hammers and related parts were made from forged steel and NOT a sintering process.
As for the reference to the Chevrolet small block V-8 timing gear, that is flat out incorrect. They were plastic teeth molded onto a metal center section. Clearly cheaper to mass produce but not as durable as steel gears. Not "powdered metal" but not all that great in any event. That was not one of General Motors finer engineering moments.

[Char-Gar]

I'm fairly certain that Trooper MK III hammers and related parts were made from forged steel and NOT a sintering process.
As for the reference to the Chevrolet small block V-8 timing gear, that is flat out incorrect. They were plastic teeth molded onto a metal center section. Clearly cheaper to mass produce but not as durable as steel gears. Not "powdered metal" but not all that great in any event. That was not one of General Motors finer engineering moments.

I don't know squat about engines, but when Colt first introduced the new Trooper it did indeed have sintered hammer and other internal parts. The trigger pull was very gritty and could not be smoothed out and it didn't take Colt long to replace these parts with good steel. The new Trooper got some very bad press at first because of this issue. Being an old model Trooper fan, I remember well when the new model hit the market and the issues related to it's introduction. I alluded to this in my above post, but was not specific about the use of sintered parts.

[Petrol & Powder]

Never knew that. How long did they use the sintered metal parts before returning to forgings?

[bouncer50]

Never knew that. How long did they use the sintered metal parts before returning to forgings?

They went with cast steel parts in the newer model Mark V. Ruger been doing the same process for years no problem. The sintered timing gear was on the crank shaft not the cam gear my mistake. And yes the plastic cam gear was a bad idea. I change a few of them in the old days. Funny the replacement were steel figure that out.

[Petrol & Powder]

Not to drift this all the way into an automotive thread but.....since we're talking about stupid materials:

The later model Chrysler slant-six had a plastic gear on the end of the distributor shaft. If you accidentally loosened the hold down bolt too much while you were setting the timing you could shear all the teeth off in about .1 of a second. The engine would instantly stop and not re-start. It generally happened when you were trying to set the timing on an old engine that had never been tuned and the distributor was stuck a bit. The gear was attached to the shaft with a roll pin, no big deal getting the old one off. Here's the kicker; the official Mopar replacement gear didn't have the hole for the roll pin. You had to drill a hole in the new gear and you had to get it in just the right place ! Whoever the bean counter was that came up with that cost saving move should be tarred & feathered.

[enfieldphile]

Somewhat rare, Trooper MkV, cast steel internals and very smooth and accurate. An MkV Trooper will stay in time long after the Python has been returned to Colt to be refitted and retimed.




About those Mopar Nylon timing distributer gears or like chevrolet, the aluminum cam gear w/ the Nylon teeth; they used that stuff because it made the engine quiet! it had nothing to do with a cost-saving measure.

[Petrol & Powder]

I'd put up with a little bit of engine noise in exchange for longer life of the gears ! I've read that all of the slant-sixes had nylon distributor gears but my 1964 had a bronze gear. I was the second owner, maybe the first owner changed it. That's a nice looking Mark V. My MKIII looks similar. From purely outward appearances, the hammer and trigger on mine appears identical except the trigger has a smooth face on my MK III.

[Char-Gar]

I have never owned a Colt of any Mark with the new lockwork, because well they just are not Colts. They may have been made by Colt and roll stamped such, but they they are not Colts. At least from my point of view. A fellow has to have some standards.

[youngmman]

Oh shoot, another post on the Smith and Wesson Model 28 (Highway Patrolman). The first center fire revolver I ever owned (I started with a Remington-Rand 1911A1) was a 4 " version of the same. That was about 1961 or so. I have not been without one or more examples of this great revolver since that date. Today I am down to two, a 4" and a 6" and during their production, they were the best value dollar in handguns in America.

If you want to purchase one of these, talk to my widow after my D-Mise for that is when they will be available.

Is She taking advanced orders?

[Char-Gar]

Is She taking advanced orders?

No! I don't want to give her any incentive to hurry the process up.

[Silver Jack Hammer]

I went through the police academy with the Captain's loaner Colt Trooper Mark 3. Most of us recruits were loaned this gun when we hired on and I carried it on duty for almost a year until I bought a Ruger Security Six.

That loaner Colt Trooper Mark 3 held up the abuse all us recruits dished out. I'm sure the Captain carried it on duty for who knows how many years before he started loaning it out to the new hires.

I don't know what metals were used to manufacture the internal parts of that Mark 3. The only true steel that should ever be used in firearms is forged steel, but we are seeing cast and mim parts used in new guns that do run reliably and as much as I hate to say it, new guns come out of the box today go out on the range and in the field without the tune up new guns used to need when they came out of the box back in the late 70's through most of the 80's.

[Tatume]

I've heard that the trooper (mine is a trooper III) was a poor man's python. All I know is my trooper III although finnish challenged does shoot nice and before ebay stopped the selling of gun parts some years back I got lucky and got an almost new barrel,cylinder,hammer and some small parts. Frank

If eBay stopped the selling of gun parts, then they have restarted it. Anything except the receiver is available. Not that I recommend buy anything on eBay.

[enfieldphile]

So, yer saying: my rare, .45 Colt caliber Anaconda and my aformentioned and pictured Trooper MkV isn't real Colt? it would take a ot of real $$ to buy em!





What about this .22 Diamondback? Does it pass muster?

I have never owned a Colt of any Mark with the new lockwork, because well they just are not Colts. They may have been made by Colt and roll stamped such, but they they are not Colts. At least from my point of view. A fellow has to have some standards.

[enfieldphile]

Well, yeah, we generally call it "EvilBay", not for nothing, there are some things that you most likely would never find locally, or in a printed sell sheet. Ebay has saved my bacon on parts time & again. Has ebay been the cause of prices on some items to go sky high? Yep! However, on some things, ebay has caused competition on new or easily acquired items to bring proices down. On some high-ticket items, just beating the sales tax alone is worth the money. The satifaction of knowing you skated on the sales tax just warms your heart!

If eBay stopped the selling of gun parts, then they have restarted it. Anything except the receiver is available. Not that I recommend buy anything on eBay.

[Char-Gar]

So, yer saying: my rare, .45 Colt caliber Anaconda and my aformentioned and pictured Trooper MkV isn't real Colt? it would take a ot of real $$ to buy em!





What about this .22 Diamondback? Does it pass muster?

I will allow the Diamondback through my filter as it has the old style lockwork. Sorry about that Anaconda, although I am sure it is a nice almost Colt.

[starmac]

I owned a trooper MK111 for about 15 minutes once, traded it for a 116 savage, did I mess up? lol

[fecmech]

I had a MarkIII when I first started shooting PPC and tried everything I could to get a good DA trigger but finally sold it and bought a K-38. It was a very accurate gun but the DA trigger was not so good.

[Petrol & Powder]

I have a Colt Trooper MK III and a S&W K-38 (just to name a few). If the MKIII wasn't my father's old gun...it would be sold yesterday, the K-38 is a far better gun IMHO.

That being said; Colts - both old and newer, have their place. The old models have great "V" spring actions and great hand fitting. The newer coil spring models are very well made as well. We'll never see the old style Colts made again, they are just too expensive to manufacture. The old and newer Colt revolvers fill an American niche that is now lost.

I prefer S&W and Ruger revolvers for their strength and durability but I'll give credit to the Colts for their history and pedigree.
Unions and poor management totally F***ed up that company. I wish they could have stayed on, competition is a good thing !

[Scharfschuetze]

Unions and poor management totally F***ed up that company. I wish they could have stayed on, competition is a good thing !

A fellow agent in the agency where I was issued a Colt Mk III at was from Hartford, CT. He once told me: "If you saw what got off of the bus in front of the Colt factory, you wouldn't want to carry that Colt." He was referring to the union workers there.

The Mk III that I was issued was a good reliable revolver and handled the issue 357 rounds well and was accurate enough with the Federal HBWC that we were issued on the pistol team. I once won the service class at a state championship PPC match with it. While I appreciated its strength and reliability, I moved on to a Model 19 S&W when one became available.