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Just obtained this piece of railroad and firearms history from Frontier Guns in Tucson. Price on the tag was $589 but I got it for $450 plus tax.
All of the wear observed appears to be holster induced. The holster came with the gun and is the correct type for the pistol. The pistol is chambered in 38 Colt and I have shot it. Very comfortable to shoot. The Colt Police Positive was also issued to postal clerks assigned to the Railway Mail Service. In the teens and twenties, there were some documented cases where RMS clerks ended up shooting it out with bandits who were attempting to rob the US Mail. You have to remember that in those days, money transfers involved physical transportation of money or precious metals.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
“Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” George Orwell, English novelist, essayist, and critic, 1903-1950
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
Wow, that's pretty cool, something to keep the eyes open for. I never thought of looking at markings on old pistols to see if they had RR or other connections.
Mike
TSgt, USAF Retired
Jan 86 - Sept 08
Aircrew Life Support
"Your Life Is Our Business"
(122X0, 1T1X1, 1P0X1)
NRA Life Member
ffuries wrote:Wow, that's pretty cool, something to keep the eyes open for. I never thought of looking at markings on old pistols to see if they had RR or other connections.
I just want a few of the ones that say Wells Fargo. Or CSA. Or US Army.
" There are two kinds of people, the good people and the ones that aggravate the hell out of the good people"
ffuries wrote:Wow, that's pretty cool, something to keep the eyes open for. I never thought of looking at markings on old pistols to see if they had RR or other connections.
I just want a few of the ones that say Wells Fargo. Or CSA. Or US Army.
Could be worse, you could find one marked Noah's Navy..........
Mike
TSgt, USAF Retired
Jan 86 - Sept 08
Aircrew Life Support
"Your Life Is Our Business"
(122X0, 1T1X1, 1P0X1)
NRA Life Member
"Fast is fine, But accuracy is everything" Wyatt Earp
"This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!"
Adolph Hitler – 1933
All the express companies were forcibly amalgamated into one entity, the Railway Express Agency during WW1. It was the Progress Era and it was thought that one monopoly express company could deliver more efficiently than several in competition. The newly created entity lasted till 1975.
Wells Fargo’s express service was part of the amalgamation, for example. WF’s banking division survived on its own. John Bossenecker wrote a fantastic book about Wells Fargo’s expressmen in the Old West:
ffuries wrote:Wow, that's pretty cool, something to keep the eyes open for. I never thought of looking at markings on old pistols to see if they had RR or other connections.
I just want a few of the ones that say Wells Fargo. Or CSA. Or US Army.
Could be worse, you could find one marked Noah's Navy..........
All they had on the Ark was flintlock pistols. That's why God commanded, " You boys keep your powder dry now"
" There are two kinds of people, the good people and the ones that aggravate the hell out of the good people"
Back in those days, train robbers didn’t expect the hold up to be easy. Express messenger on the SP out of Tucson killed two train robbers back in the 1880s. They forced the train to stop and had the element of surprise, but he got the drop on them as he got out of the express car. He managed to conceal his revolver and shot both bandits dead in short order.
ffuries wrote: ↑Sun Jun 09, 2019 11:43 am
Wow, that's pretty cool, something to keep the eyes open for. I never thought of looking at markings on old pistols to see if they had RR or other connections.
All of the Baltimore Police Department's revolvers were roll marked on the back strap . I have a ....few
Damn, I'll bet that's going to leave a mark! Probably hurt too!
"I think Congressmen should wear uniforms,
you know, like NASCAR drivers, so we could
identify their corporate sponsors."
"When I die, I want to be facing my enemies surrounded by their dead bodies and piles of spent brass"
"Never argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience." - Mark Twain
I have one in 38 S&W. With holster, but yesterday I bought a Smith and Wesson 38 Military and Police that had the box and a sales ticket from the Railway Express Agency for $66 in 1959.
There is also a number with hand engraving under the grips labeled REA 00013.
Hightime wrote: ↑Mon Jun 26, 2023 2:13 pm
I have one in 38 S&W. With holster, but yesterday I bought a Smith and Wesson 38 Military and Police that had the box and a sales ticket from the Railway Express Agency for $66 in 1959.
There is also a number with hand engraving under the grips labeled REA 00013.
Seeing there are a few new RR guns mentioned here now, I'd love to see pictures of the new ones mentioned.
Mike
TSgt, USAF Retired
Jan 86 - Sept 08
Aircrew Life Support
"Your Life Is Our Business"
(122X0, 1T1X1, 1P0X1)
NRA Life Member
Or US Army.
