It used what Colt internally referred to as their "41 size action," because the Army Special was originally built to chamber the. The Official Police was a medium-large frame, double-action revolver introduced in 1908 as, of course, the Army Special. There were other differences in the shapes of parts like hammers and triggers over the years, too. Pre-war guns had round front sights, while the post-war example in the following photo shows the slanted front sight that replaced them. OP Barrel lengths were 2", 4", 5", and 6". As a matter of interest, Coltwood had been invented and used during WWII on Colt Commando models built for the military. The Official Police was blued, and built with checkered walnut stocks with a silver-colored Colt logo, except from 1947 to 1954, when a wood lookalike plastic called Coltwood was used for stocks. Official issue included agencies like NYPD, Boston PD, the FBI, and the Treasury Department.
In the meantime, the Colt "OP" would ride in many police and security guard holsters as well as find popularity with private citizens. This would last for decades to come, much to Colt's benefit.
By the late 1920s Colt fully realized that large-scale revolver sales to the military were over, and it was law enforcement that was buying these guns, thus the name change. Colt continued to lead in sales through the first half of the 20th Century, and in this case it was the primarily because of the Colt Army Special revolver, wisely renamed the Colt Official Police in 1927. And Colt's Fall From Number One to Number ThreeĬ olt ruled the handgun world during the latter 19th Century with the famous Model Colt 1873 Single Action Army, and in 1889 they invented the world's first double-action, swing-out cylinder revolver.
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