U.S. marked Colt revolver

[Andouille]

Probably should have posted on this on the revolver forum, but I figger this might be the better place for this one.

Obviously I'm the last guy on the planet that should offer an opinion about old Colt revolvers, but the stamped U.S. on the bottom of the stocks looks, um, somewhat "unique".

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=368702747

[Johnny P]

While the USA is not original to the stocks, the other markings are. No way of knowing when the marking was added, but doesn't detract that much from the value of the revolver.

[Andouille]

Thank you. The USA mark was so obvious, I had assumed there might be more out of order. A little surprised it doesn't detract much from the value, but I have to defer to your judgment.

[Mike Josephic]

Most of those were used in the Philippines and as a result they show quite a bit of wear and effects of the corrosive
salt air and moisture. That's a pretty nice example. The story behind that is the .38 Colt was not a man-stopper against
the Moro tribesmen and that failure spurred the Army to push for a more effective arm in .45 caliber. The end
result was the development of the 1911.

[joem]

That does appear to be in pretty nice shape. Slug the bore to see if it's siutable for .361 bullets or the more common .357. Mine needs the .361 lead to have any accuracy as it's still a .38 long colt caliber.

[Johnny P]

Thank you. The USA mark was so obvious, I had assumed there might be more out of order. A little surprised it doesn't detract much from the value, but I have to defer to your judgment.

Scott Gahimer recently posted a Government Model that was sold to the Canadian Government that had the initials of the person it was issued to on the bottom of the grip panel. That and the person's name in the holster actually added value to the pistol. While the USA doesn't add value, it doesn't really hurt it.