Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Bought a new Colt .38 Super yesterday

It's not my first Super, but it's the first one I've seen in the past year at a fair and reasonable price ( below retail on the Colt website). I had stopped by a local pawnshop/gunshop on Friday, and noticed it in the case. The pawnshop is closed on weekends, so I told him I'd be back on Monday, and if it wasn't sold, I'd buy it (the clerk apologized that it wasn't a .45).

Sure enough, yesterday morning I stopped by, and it was still there. It isn't there, now, it came home with me.

I had a Super back in the day, that I bought when Colt phased out the Series '70 pistols for the Series '80 guns. I had a lot of work done on it, and used it groundhog hunting and for plinking, it was great fun. I hope this new one is just as good as that older pistol.

I also swapped over a 9mm Springfield Range Officer to .38 Super this winter, and so far, it's been stellar. I figure this Colt will be a fine addition to the 1911s I've been accumulating these past few years.
We'll see what happens when I get it to the range tomorrow.

Nice! A few years ago CDNN had new Colt Government 70 Series .38 Supers for sale. Something like $750 for blued and $780 for stainless. I bought the blued model. Great gun, though I've only fired FMJs in it so far. Love the roll marks on the slide. Mine is still bone stock, but I've toyed with the idea of sending somewhere for a customization job.

Like you, I had a previous .38 Super, a Colt Enhanced Commander 80s Series. I foolishly sold it and regretted it ever since. This Colt replaces that one.

Post a pic when you can. .38 Supers are super cool

They are pretty under rated guns and an under rated cartridge.

Here is a pic of a few of Bob's Supers (RJM52)

He did some Chrono work of some ammo I sent him:






and a link to his post on it:



https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...es/17319456/38-super-by-mackay-sagebrush

Nice!

I was just piddling around and noticed that Whittaker's has a new Super in stock. Pretty basic, just like my new one (the RO has adjustable sights, beavertail, etc.).

If anyone feels the need for a new Super, give Darrik a call, or order it online. His price is right in line with what I paid for mine. I'd have bought it from him, but adding fuel costs for the two hour drive made the local guy a slightly better deal for me.

https://www.whittakercountry.com/product/87680

Probably like the one Ratsmacker and I have. Very basic Colt Gov't Series 70.




Just curious, I wanted to send this somewhere to have it customized, who can "do it all?" Who does goosd work at a reasonable price? I'm thinking a fitted beavertail grip safety (Ed Brown), Novak sights, extended thumb safety, probably a new fitted barrel and bushing, refinish. That sort of thing.

^^^^^Check with Novak themselves. My gunsmith passed away some years ago, and I don't have anyone local who can do the work right any more. I suspect they're backed up like everyone else, but it can't hurt to give them a call. I was sorta thinking about going that route, myself. Barsto can fit one of their barrels, for $65 plus barrel cost. I used a Barsto in my old Colt and the Range Officer, but to be fair, the Colt barrel was pretty good (some are, some are not).
Remsport barrels are used by a lot of the custom makers these days, they are half the cost of Barstos. I wish I'd heard of them before I bought this last Barsto, frankly, they are more affordable, and probably more available, besides.

I did the beavertail on my old Colt years ago, and just cold-blued the nekkid metal, I was more interested in getting it done, than getting it pretty. Brownells sells jigs for that, they are pretty inexpensive. I didn't even use a jig back then, just free-handed it. It came out okay, but there is another way, just trim about a quarter-inch off the hammer, and that should keep it from biting you. That's what I did, and it worked. It's also about the length used by Browning himself on the 1911s (not 1911A1s). Together with the longer grip safety, that might keep it from nipping you.

I had a semi-drop in Bar Sto in my last .38 Super. It had a better throat than the one it came with, and way more open than the throat on this gun. It was easy to fit, and very nearly fit as it came.

I really want the slide dovetailed for a front sight and a better rear sight. Naturally, the slide would have to be refinished. That and the barrel would take care of the top end.


I fitted a Ed Brown safety to a blued Commander years ago using a jig. That worked well. I contoured the frame over the course of a few days. Actually it turned out well. But I cold blued and never really liked the result.

Ratsmacker: What a cool pistol!
I am glad it was still there when you went back.
One of my friends from the west coast is just ga-ga over Colt's in caliber 38 Super - he has a bunch of them.
He is driving here today to do some Varmint Hunting with me and I will show him this thread (yours and others pictures).
I hope that pistol shoots well for you.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

As I understand it, it was originally designed to penetrate car doors, for cops who were battling mobile gangsters in the 1920s. Apart from that, they were wildly popular in Mexico around the same time, because their government had a law that civilians couldn't possess firearms of military caliber, which meant they couldn't get 1911s in .45 ACP, which made .38 Super very popular down there in 1911s.

I'm assuming that's the re-issue of the Series 70, right? Not an original. Of course the re-issue isn't really a Series 70. It's much closer to a pre-Series 70, but they called it a Series 70 due to the mystique associated with it.

It's a newer production gun. It's 70 series in that it doesn't have the firing pin safety like the 80s series.

Yep. That really should have been termed "Pre-Series 70." What made the Series 70 unique at the time of its introduction was the prong style barrel bushing. The new "Series 70," as you know, doesn't have that feature.

PS It's a good thing it doesn't have the prong barrel bushing. It's a better gun for that reason.

Right, that was called the collet bushing. I never thought they were that bad, but I've only had one gun with that style bushing. My dad gave me a Colt Commander from the 70s with that bushing and I never had any issue with it.

I think 70s and 80s series terminology now is just colloquial for whether or not the gun has a firing pin safety. And maybe a short trigger. I think most people have forgotten about the collet bushings. When Colt reintroduced the series 70 they roll marked them Colt's Mk IV/Series 70 and they had solid bushings. Now they've done away with that rollmark for a more traditional looking rollmark that deletes the Series altogether.

Yeah, I bought an original Series 70 back in the early 1980s. Sold it in the late 1980s. Always sorry I did. Sold it to fund the purchase of a Browning Hi Power. Never had a problem with the collet bushing, either, but I hear they tend to break.

I was driving the dump truck and spied some punks. I had ta leave because my 38 Souper was hungry.

I took the new Super out this morning, and happily enough, it shoots to the sights. I used both PMC and Aguila ball ammo to smooth things up, and the PMC ball is noticeably softer shooting than Aguila, which, otherwise, shot somewhat better. The PMC ball felt like a 9mm, it is probably a milder load than the Aguila, which is pretty "zippy" stuff.
I also shot some Corbon 115 JHPs, which are advertised at 1415fps. They were pretty soft-shooting, as well, I think they'd be one helluva self-defense load.

I like this thing, though that trigger needs some work, it's typical Colt production level trigger.

So the 115 gr JHPs fed fine? I've only fired Fiocchi and Winchester white box FMJs in mine. I was hoping it would feed HPs well. That throat looks tight compared to what I'ved had before.

The CorBon stuff fed great in my pistol, though not if I tried to drop the slide when it was locked back. If the slide is down, and you insert a magazine and rack the slide, they fed fine. I didn't have any hiccups with them. According to the propaganda, they push a 115 at 1415fps, which is plenty good and flat shooting. Recoil seemed minimal, but I'd been shooting a LW .45 this morning, as well, and it's got some recoil compared to any Super. I'm going to pick up more ammo tomorrow, and yes, I'll be buying more of the CorBon (the only place in town with any .38 Super HPs of any type at all). It's pricey, but how much of it is someone going to shoot? Not a whole lot, and I can load my own HPs if I want, anyway. I think the CorBons will be the self-defense load for that gun.