Finally arrived. 1940-vintage Colt Officer's Model Target, 6" heavy barrel, .32 Long. Some bluing loss at muzzle both sides, nary a turn mark on cylinder, timing/lockup perfect as is bore. Original box signed by a "Capt. Murphy", anybody know him, haha!

Very pleased, been wanting one of these for many years but was always unwilling to pay the high tariff commanded by them. (Fairly rare and not many made because .32's were long out of fashion among bullseye shooters by the time this one was made. The .38 Special was kingshit by then.) I snagged this one for about half of what they commonly go for, but still wasn't exactly cheap! Can't wait to shoot it.

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for sharing.

Very nice. Have been playing with an Officer's Model Match .38 for a while now and can appreciate just what fine revolvers these are.

Where did you manage to find that one?

It'll compliment my Colt OM Target .38 of the same vintage. Now for a .22 to complete the set.

Guns (Gin?) International. I had been engaged in a long-winded phone conversation with my long distance GF, and drinking because, well, she drives me to drink sometimes, and was multi-tasking the whole time by perusing the gun sites. When I stumbled onto this one I said "I gotta go, talk to you later. Click."

Twins As you know, I really like shooting the .32. Pleasant recoil and accuracy.

Mines a 1952 model. I think it's time to start searching for a K32 to match it.

Beautiful pistol. Congratulations.

Awesome.

Congrats.

Allen, bring it along next week and we'll have a duel!

Yeah, a K-32 is right up there too, to go with my K-22 and K-38. Jesus, so many guns that a fella needs.....

Will do!

Nice snag!

Bunnies, beware……

And empty beer cans, and steel plates, and fresh dropped walnuts!

I gotta tell you that is a fine piece. I have two Officer Model Heavy barrels one is 22 the other 38 special with factory option Roper grips. Both are pre-war second issue. These are extremely nice hand fitted revolvers and most Bullseye shooters say the ‘ improved action ‘ was the best. I can’t argue with this at all. I’ve had later 5th issue guns and though nice there is a big difference in my hands. The Pythons are actually a far cry from those pre-war revolvers in fit and finish. Oh yea the box is a big plus too. Always wanted a 32 but they as hard to find as a cherry in SF

Rick

That's a good looking revolver.

I'm pretty damn happy for you!

Enjoy.

That’s a beauty gnoahhh…..I didn’t even know these were made in .32 - would love to see some targets with that one!!

PennDog

That is one awesome shooter. Very nice score.

I had multiple opportunities in a past life to buy Officer’s Models in 38 and 22, cheap even. Same for a very awesome and very reasonable priced New Service Target. I passed them all because I “wasn’t a Colt guy”. Now I feel like I wasn’t a Colt guy but I was a dumbass.

Nice!

Beautiful piece, gnoahhh!!! The other one, too!

Congrats on 2 great finds!

Very cool, congrats!

Jeezum…that’s a beauty! Congrats! 👍😎

Color me green with envy. My 1937 OMT is one of my absolute favorites. That one is a real keeper.

Beautiful revolver Gary!

NICE!!!

Nice Pistol Gary! Enjoy it buddy.

Only thing wrong with that is it ain't in my safe!🙂

Nice one Gnoahhh!.

Nice snag. Congrats.

Excellent snag.

So this is interesting. Gary and I were hunting together last week on our family place in KY and we each brought our .32s. His has the Colt-wood grips, mine have wood but otherwise identical and only 65 serial numbers apart! His came from Georgia, mine from Alaska. I sent a request in for a Colt letter. They're running about 150 days but it will be interesting to see what it says. Clearly my serial # search that showed it was a 1950s gun's in error.

Pretty remarkable, huh?!

Pretty remarkable, huh?!

Great pistols, but we're any deer harmed?

Some. But it’s always great to get away with buddies. The venison is extra.

Congrads, nice Buck and Sweet rifle!

Good thing is once you have realize your faults you can work to correct them.

There's another one of these for sale on gunbroker right now, Colt Officer's Model Heavy Barrel .32 Long, 1939 vintage. Looks to be a bit more worn than yours but would still make a fine shooter.

Current bid is $240 with almost 9 days to go; the auction ends at 9:00 PM Eastern time on Christmas Eve, maybe not the most well thought out ending time. Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how much someone wants to pay for a nice Christmas present.

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/1023774671

Wow, they're all beautiful!

My 32H&R revolvers may have to make room for a classic!

Indeed. It would be an excellent example for shooting while not worrying about condition loss. It'll be fun watching it to see how high it goes.

As an update to this post. The Colt letter arrived today. Mine (and I bet Gary's) was part of a shipment of 400 .32s to the state of Mass on Jan 18 1941. Gary's research found this.

Massachusetts thought they ordered 400 .38's for the State National Guard. Someone in the procurement office screwed up and typed in ".32" instead and nobody caught it. Colt dutifully provided them. Mass tried to renege but Colt "stuck to their guns" and was eventually paid. The guns languished for years in a warehouse until sold as surplus.


How mine ended up in North Pole AK remains a mystery. I think in another post Gary noted his had been bored out to accept .32 H&R by an outfit in AZ that apparently bought a bunch at surplus - Why mine wasn't I have no idea.

As rare and unique as the old iron target 32s were and are, they take on a special place for those who appreciate them.

"Magnumitus" and manufacturing proclivities have left us with few 32s to latch on to.

Good to see some of the good ones get a few of the few.