Somehow I just assumed this column was exclusively for auto pistols and I don't have much to contribute in that field. But, I do have, and have had some Colts, and you've left yourself open. So..

My first revolver was a Colt New Service. I bought it through mail-order when I was a youngster. It was a commercial model, not a M-1917, that was once a Canadian Mounties gun, in .455 Eley. It had been reworked into .45 Colt. My first reloads were the wax bullet loads as my mother would not allow live .45 ammunition to be shot in the house. My shooting range was my bedroom, shooting into the open closet using a cardboard box and newspaper for a bullet trap. I still have a fondness for the old New Service.

Following that gun I went through several Colt M-1917 .45 ACP revolvers.

I bought a .22 Officers Model Match when I got into bullseye competion. For a brief period I had matched .22 and .38 Officers Models. I got as far as a Sharpshooter rating before dropping out of bullseye competition.

Another Colt was one of the early two-tone Frontier Scout .22 Single Actions. This gun was not an expensive one, and plain fixed sights, but accounted for its share of squirrels. It was one of the best squirrel guns I ever had.

I acquired a Colt Gold Cup .45 ACP that I really liked except for losing so much brass. This gun was a dandy gun for potting crows out to about seventy five yards or so. I used Winchester Silvertips for that, and they opened up on those birds.

My Colts are gone now, except for a customized .357 Magnum Single action and a .45 Colt New Frontier. The .357 Magnum suffered a stretched top strap which I had to have realigned, so now use it only as a .38 Special. It has sentimental value to me, so won't part with it.

So, for what its worth, those are my Colt guns I've been through.

Bob Wright