1908 Colt Vest Pocket

[Greasemonkey]

Another I found... this was 1 of a 3 pistol lot I picked up after the Glock... and the smallest of the bunch. A 1908 Colt hammerless 25acp, or it's also known as the Colt Vest Pocket, which according to the serial, dates it at 1919. Colt made these from 1908 to 1948 with just over 420,000 made. It's Colt's copy of the Browning 1905, and it is the first American manufactured pistol chambered in .25acp. So this could be considered one of the .25acp grandfathers.

So... it's 99 years old, and is in pretty good shape, nice bore, the barrel has a touch of pitting at the end, which I show in the photo with the slide pulled back, but it's nothing to detract much from it. The finish is still a pretty blue which is hard to show without decent lighting, it does have some odd, light surface scratches. Also, for it's age, it has some modern features... a grip safety, a magazine disconnecter and a side safety latch. Later pistols are marked "Tansley Device", which is the magazine disconnecter feature, named after the Colt engineer that developed it in 1916/17, George Tansley. The safety catch, grip safety, and trigger are case hardened. And it even had the original Colt magazine with it..

And.....it's small.. it's all steel, it weighs just over 12oz, the barrel is a 2 inch, and it's magazine holds 6rds.  And it was not a fun pistol to tear down..at least for a guy with big hands...maybe if I had a 3rd hand..










Just for a little size comparison... this is the Colt with a Glock 10rd 45 acp magazine.

[carls sks]

  cool, t6hanks for sharing. 

[running-man]

Hey GM, how do you get your sasquatch hands around that thing?! 

[Greasemonkey]

Well...uhm.. it ain't easy... I find I can hold it with my middle finger and maybe half of my ring finger on the grip, the magazine lip kinda digs in the knuckle joint..  I will figure it out when I chuck a loaded mag in it and try it.

I like big saquatch sized pistol grips, like my Desert Eagle, even on that, my fingers still touch...but these little things are just...neat, almost cute.... if a handgun can be cute..

[Justin Hell]

That is a pretty neat lil pistol there.  My kid would love it...but I think even my skinny wife would have a hard time getting her excess hand out of the way.  It seems like a grip safety would be kind of cumbersome if your whole hand can't get the squeeze on...nevertheless very neat to see on such a small caliber gun.

Wondered if you fell off the face of the earth...its been quiet and quite adult lately around here. Being the only snarky one left around here over the holidays it made me self conscious.

(BTW....my 78 /26\... has a flat sided receiver cover.)

[Loose}{Cannon]

Nice, your daughter should like it very much.   

Its a baby 1911!!  whats not to like?

[Greasemonkey]

Ehhh.. I wouldn't say it's a baby 1911, ..  no where close short of some of the look , designer and manufacture. It's a striker fired blowback weapon. Even the Colt Jr which has an external hammer is way different in design.

See this for teardown. The barrel twists and unlocks like a Spanish Ruby or a Femaru.
http://www.coltautos.com/1908vpdi.htm

[Phosphorus32]

Great background info!

I really like the Colt name and logo on these old pistols...and I have some .25ACP ammo but no pistol to fire it in...accursed enabler   

[Greasemonkey]

and I have some .25ACP ammo but no pistol to fire it in...accursed enabler   

Well... I only had 1 25acp for ages... my grandfathers bringback Mauser 1910... then these little bastards started appearing.. they are like Mosins.. you get 1......and more follow. The 32acp caliber has done the same thing..I went from 1 to....well a few different 32acp pistols quickly. I fought that and resisted that bastard caliber for years and slipped up, and bought one..

You need one. two....maybe 6.. I hate to think of lonely ammo languishing and wasting away in some dark ammo can tucked away under some dusty steps.




On the plus side......these little pip squeak pistols don't take up much room