Comments by "Colonel K" (@Paladin1873) on "Colt Firearms" video.
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I have an unusual Colt revolver in my collection that has stumped me and the Colt historian I spoke with. It is a Colt Official Police 38-200 that was factory acquired by the British Purchasing Commission in 1941. As far as I can tell, the markings and dimensions are all original except for the grips and a missing lanyard swivel. What makes it unusual is the barrel and cylinder were made for the 38 Special cartridge, which is dimensionally narrower and longer than the 38-200 cartridge used by the British military at the time. Despite the wrong chambering, the barrel is marked 38-200. I once read an online article that in the rush to satisfy the British, Colt did use standard 38 Special barrels instead of true 38-200 barrels, though I cannot verify this claim to be accurate. I suppose it is theoretically possible, given the rather anemic nature of the 38-200 load, but it does seem like it would cause potential accuracy problems. I would have accepted this explanation as plausible except for the fact that the revolver’s cylinder is also chambered in 38 Special. I know many postwar gunsmiths altered 38-200 cylinders to 38 Special by boring them through to accept the longer case, but the result was always an oversized chamber which caused case splitting. The chambers in this cylinder are a perfect fit for a 38 Special cartridge and include a step inside to prevent a 357 Magnum cartridge from being inserted. Further, since a 38-200 round is too fat to go into any of the chambers, this cannot be an altered 38-200 cylinder. I can only think of two possible explanations for this anomaly. Either this is a factory mismarked 38 Special (there was a war on) or else somebody later replaced the cylinder (but not the numbered crane) with a 38 Special cylinder. The condition of the cylinder matches that of the rest of the pistol, so I’m inclined to think it might be original to the revolver unless Colt marked the Purchasing Commission cylinders in some way. You’d think the British acceptance inspector would have checked cylinders and bores with a gauge before approving them, but who knows, given the exigencies of the time. To date it remains a mystery gun.
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@patrickscalia5088 Since you specifically asked, I'm going to provide a tediously detailed answer. You have been warned!
Yes, the 38 S&W (aka 38-200, 38 Colt New Police) cartridge uses a .361" diameter projectile, while the 38 Special uses a .357" diameter projectile. The 38 S&W projectile is seated in a brass case that is much shorter (.775") than the 38 Special cartridge case (1.155"). The 38 S&W case is larger in diameter and slightly tapers down from .3865" at the base to .3855" at the mouth. The 38 Special case is straight-walled and only .379" in diameter.
In 38 S&W revolvers with short cylinders it may be possible to insert the smaller diameter 38 Special cartridge, but it would stick out the front of the cylinder and prevent it from closing. The 38-200 caliber Colt and S&W revolvers the British purchased during WWII were full-sized pistols originally intended for the 38 Special cartridge, thus they had to be built/rebuilt to only allow them to chamber the 38-200 cartridge. This was done by boring the rear of the cylinder to chamber the 38-200 case. The remainder of the cylinder was bored smaller to only allow the passage of .361" projectile. The result was stepped chambers inside each cylinder that prevented the longer 38 Special case from seating flush. This prevented the cylinder from closing. Postwar, may 38-200 revolvers were returned to the USA as surplus and dumped on the public market. Enterprising gunsmiths realized they could bore out the step in the cylinders so the revolvers would chamber and fire 38 Special cartridges, albeit rather sloppily. These converted pistols are easy to spot by their markings and by measuring their bores and chambers. Even if you lack the means to gauge the chambers, you'll find out soon enough when you shoot 38 Specials through them. The empty casings will bulge and/or split inside the oversized chambers. For the occasional shooter this may not be a problem, but for those who like to reload their empty brass, it is a nonstarter.
In theory the barrels of these wartime guns should have been bored and rifled for the larger 38-200 projectile, but it is possible to fire the larger diameter projectile through the smaller 38 Special bore. However, accuracy will suffer because the projectile will deform as it squeezes down to fit the tighter bore. This raises several questions. In their early rush to acquire firearms did the British Purchasing Commission allow under-bored barrels? Did Colt goof by putting the wrong cylinder in this gun? Did Colt accidentally mismark the barrel caliber? How many such guns exist?
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