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Smith & Wesson Chief's Special or Colt Detective Special


fortyofforty
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S&W Chief's Special or Colt Detective Special  

35 members have voted

  1. 1. Which classic revolver do you prefer?

    • Smith & Wesson Chief's Special
      25
    • Colt Detective Special
      10


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I like them both for different reasons.

The older [1950s to the 1960s era] Colt DS guns were great duty revolvers for plain-clothes carry and were smaller than the S&W model 10 2 inch bbl. revolvers. When I started in LE, the DS was a difficult gun to find and excellent examples were rather expensive. Then came Colt's labor troubles and I avoided any Colt product made during that period. Colt then discontinued it for years.

The model 36 was a better concealment gun, being smaller than the DS, but it gave up a round in capacity. I preferred the S&W trigger over the Colt, including the Python, but it took a bit more concentration to shoot it at the 25 yard line than the DS. 

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If careful, you can actually hear the points the Smith goes through until the final lockup.  You can get the trigger right to the point before it releases the hammer, and stop, leaving a very short pull to fire.  I have no experience with the Colts.  Do they have a similar "feature"?

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The S&W J frame is powered by a coil spring. The Colt has a V spring and the trigger pull "stacks" up prior to release.

The other problem is that the coil spring is difficult to break through use. The V spring can break at it's juncture.

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After years of having both, I have to side with the Smiff and Western.  I guess one extra round never mattered that much to me, and I never liked the single point anchor for the Colt cylinder.

Edited by nitesite
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I had a 3 inch barreled chief's special back in the late seventies and wished tha I'd never sold it. Now I have a Model 38 Airweight "Bodyguard" with the humpback shrouded hammer and I carry that on a regular basis. with the skinny factory grips it is perfect for pocket carry but hard to shoot with anything but wadcutters..  But I added a Tyler T-grip adaptor and I can shoot it just fine with the Underwood 150 grain hardcast wadcutters.  Then I carry some 110 grain JHP's in a speedloader because full wadcutters doun't work with speedloaders but could be used in a speed strip.

I like the Detective Specials a lot but they're a little on the large-ish side.  For that size gun I think I'd rather carry a Ruger Speed-six or a Kimber K6 in 357 mag. I used to have a speed six with a trigger job and a bobbed hammer and I liked it a lot.  But then again, I'f I were offered a good deal on a second or third series Detective Special it would be hard to pass up. An old school Colt with a Tyler T-grip and a hammer shroud would be the Cat's Meow.

colt_agent_1.jpg

smith orig nail0.jpg

Edited by Borg warner
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  • 4 weeks later...

I like the DS better but now that they are so long out of production if I use a 38 snubby instead of my SP101* it will be my 642 if lightweight is required or my pre lock 60-7 LS otherwise.

 

*Highly unlikely as I am very biased for my 26 with 27 or P2000sk 40 bringing up the rear. There are times though when I go places with my 3" SP101 because I really like it.

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  • 4 months later...

S&W is easier to work on, better staging trigger

While I don’t have a Chiefs special, the J frames are J frames

E3E176F4-AD8F-4F2F-9DCC-FEEF0C40154C.thumb.jpeg.598a6859360fc923aea1c6ab180b4b7e.jpeg

the Colt has six rounds and the better double action trigger. The lock up is bank vault tight.

917D5693-CF24-4ED7-9610-9FD65559E692.jpeg

Edited by Dric902
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I got to hold an actual Colt, original Colt Detective from the original manufacturer date.  I thought it was pretty cool at the time.  But, my dad had a mind to sell it.  I can't imagine what the originals go for today, probably a crazy amount.  They were really a neat snub nose, and it was cool holding a piece of history.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

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