The Colt experts can be found here:And here:There shouldn't be any initials or engravings under the grips of a Series 80 commercial pistol.There should be the standard Colt stampings on the right and left side of the slide.On the frame should be the following:On the right side of the frame should be the Colt address, right above the grip.In front of the Colt address on the right should be the serial number.On the right front side of the trigger guard should be a letter stamp. This is though to be the finial inspectors stamp.On the left front side of the trigger guard should be a letter stamp.

• Colt Serial Number Not Found

Thanks to the advance of technology, now you are able to look up Colt serial number on the Internet. Simply go to the Colt homepage and hover your mouse to the “Customer Service” tab. In there is a useful function called “Serial Number Lookup”, click it then enter the serial numbers and characters on your Colt. The Colt Agent was introduced in the '50s as a slightly more compact version of the extremely popular Cobra to make the gun more competitive in size to the Chiefs Special. This was accomplished by simply shortning the Cobra's grip frame and stocks. Later, Colt adopted the Agent frame's grip length across the board for the Detective Special and Cobra. Colts Light Weight Double Action Revolvers included the Cobra (1950-1981). Cobra, Aircrewman, Courier and Agent Serial Numbers.

Colt Serial Number Not Found

This is thought to be the assemblers stamp.On the left rear of the trigger guard should be a 'VP' in a triangle. This is Colt's Verified Proof stamp indicating it passed it's proof test. Thank you Dfariswheel for the information.I'm technologically challenged, but will try to take photos of the engraved numbers and codes and post them. I'm reasonably certain the markings were put there by the manufacturer.I'm only the second owner of this pistol. The first owner died some 8-9 years ago, and the pistol has been stored since. Plus, I know for a fact the initial owner never removed the wrap-around pebbled rubber grips: when I removed them to install some American Elk grip slabs by Eagle there was a thin layer of adhesive (or 20 year old gun oil) beneath the original factory rubber grips. This is a Colt Mk IV Series 80 Ultimate Bright Stainless Enhanced pistol made sometime between 1993 and 1996 (?) - awaiting more detail.

The brother of the fellow who died indicated that his brother only shot the pistol infrequently, he wasn't much into guns or shooting and he didn't know that much about them. So.whatever markings are beneath those grips were there when the original owner first bought the pistol new from a dealer - direct from Colt.If I can figure out how to post photos, I'll show you what I'm referring to. Well, I'm posting to thank folks again for their input, and to eat crow for posting a strong statement it turns out I was wrong about.This Colt Mk IV Series 80 ultimate bright stainless gov't model was manufactured in 1993, shipped in the same year. I was wrong about the original owner not removing the grips - even though they were stuck hard to the frame by 20 years of what must have been gun oil at one point.The last 4 digits of the number were '1911', and of course the pistol is a 1911 so I assumed the number was something from the manufacturer.

Who has the number '1911' in their SSN? I took some photos of the number and the symbol, after learning above that Colt markings are stamped, not engraved; and sent them to the guy who sold me the gun. His brother's SSN ended in '1911', and the symbol was the brother's three initials combined into one icon.

He apparently was in the habit of engraving this symbol on his tools as well.So mystery solved, mea culpa, and thanks again to all for the input. (I'll post photos that contain only a partial SSN.). This email link is to reach site administrators for assistance, if you cannot access TFL via other means. If you are a TFL member and can access TFL, please do not use this link; instead, use the forums (like Questions, Suggestions, and Tech Support) or PM an appropriate mod or admin.If you are experiencing difficulties posting in the Buy/Sell/Trade subforums of TFL, please read the 'sticky' announcement threads at the top of the applicable subforum.

If you still feel you are qualified to post in those subforums, please contact 'Shane Tuttle' (the mod for that portion of TFL) via Private Message for assistance.This email contact address is not an 'Ask the Firearms Expert' service. Such emails will be ignored. If you have a firearm related question, please register and post it on the forums.

Colt serial codes could be hard to read in the case you are not experienced in the field. While these codes have little impact on the firearms performance, they are one of the best ways to trace back the origin of the gun. The numbers and possible prefix (or suffix) characters contain a lot of information about the weapon history but not everyone can understand them accurately. If you truly want to know how to read Colt serial numbers then this article got something for you. Below are some solutions to read the numbers along with interesting information about Colt serial rules and regulations. Table of Contents.The fast methodThanks to the advance of technology, now you are able to look up Colt serial number on the Internet. Simply go to the Colt homepage and hover your mouse to the “Customer Service” tab.

In there is a useful function called “Serial Number Lookup”, click it then enter the serial numbers and characters on your Colt. However, as the page already stated, the database of the method is not a completed one. That is why the lookup result is not always good enough for your need. Certain vintage guns have overlapping serial numbers between models which make the searching even more confusing in some cases The most reliable methodColt offers a unique research service to their customers, it provides you with the brand official archive letter as proof of your gun history. On the letter are details of the firearm original specifications and features plus the delivery address as well. As a whole, the archive letter contains important historical facts about your gun which considerably enhances its collectible value.

Custom modifications like finish, barrel and caliber changes or aftermarket engraving shall not be included though. Non-manufacturer markings won’t be addressed as well. Therefore, the letter descriptions may not completely match the current configuration of the gun.In order to get the letter, you have to pay a certain amount of money, depend on your Colt model. In most of the case, the fee is around 100$ for common products but it can reach up to 300$ for vintage stuff like the 1851 Navy. But that is only the base value, other factors like special engraving and shipping destination could raise the final price substantially.

Since it’s quite a costly method, the archive letter is often used to tie a particular firearm to a well-known individual in the past. This is still the best method when it comes to reliability though. Colt serial rules and regulations.At this part, we will take a look at the meaning behind Colt serial numbers and prefix (or suffix) characters on a variety of guns.

Again, some Colt models do share their codes with each other so what you find here may not be applicable in certain cases. However, for most of the time, you can get the general idea of the Colt code by checking out the information down below. Combine them to one of the methods above and you should have little trouble absorbing Colt serial rules and regulations. Prefix and suffixSome are pretty easy to figure out since they are the abbreviation of the weapon name. For example, SA is Single Action, NF is New Frontier, SP is Sporter, MT is Match Target and so on. On the other hand, a capital “C” prefix or suffix is used to indicate that the model is for Commercial use. In certain cases, these characters are simply used to show the year of manufacture and don’t have any secret meaning.

But in order to know the age of the gun, you have to find a reference table to crosscheck the character with the manufacturing year. Serial numbersTechnically speaking, Colt serial numbers jumped all over the place with no set pattern so you cannot understand them without a reference table. Design changes could suddenly change the progress of the serial numbers. For example, let’s take a look at the 1970s Colt M1911 commercial production. Started in 1912, the M1911 Commercial and its A1 variant got normal serial numbers with a simple prefix (or suffix). But in mid 1970, the serial numbers are not a continuation of the previous ones. Instead, now they have a “70” as the first two digits.

The numbers style remains up until mid-1976 before the “70” is moved to the last two digits. Model codeIt worth the time and effort to check out Colt model code as well since it contains lots of information about the gun characteristics. Having a good understanding of the code shall let you recognize a particular model from its cousin with ease. A Colt single action model usually possesses 1 character prefix and 4 numerical digits. The prefix tells you the type of frame while the digits indicate the weapon version, caliber, barrel length and potential model variation. For the first digit, “1” means your Colt is the first model with a basic frame while “2”, “3”, “4” etc are the later versions. ”2” uses a frame from Colt Custom Shop while “3” utilizes a non-standard frame.

“7” and “8” are employed occasionally to specify special variants. The second digit of the model code is the weapon caliber: “4” is.32 – 20, “6” is.357, “7” is.44, “8” is.45 and “9” is.44 – 40. In the third digit is the caliber of the gun: “3” is 3 or 4 inches, “4” is 4.75 or 5 inches, “5” is 5.5 inches, “7” is 7.5 inches and “1” is 12 inches. Finally, the fourth digit is the finish or stock of your weapon: “1” is nickel or full blue finish, “2” is nickel or blue casehardened finish, “3” is nickel finish, “4” is Royal Blue casehardened finish and “6” is nickel finish. As you can see, the exact meaning of the fourth digit depends largely on the preceding digits. The fourth digit has been used many times as a way to different later models from earlier ones.ConclusionAnd that is most of what you should know about the subject, not too hard to take in, right?

It’s a bit tricky to learn how to read Colt serial numbers at first but you should get better as time goes. With the information above about, now you will have little trouble tracing the origin of your gun.