Make: Colt

Model: 1902 Sporting

Serial Number: 6260

Year of Manufacture: 1903

Caliber: .38 ACP (.38 Rimless Smokeless)

Action Type: Single Action Semi-Automatic Pistol with Removable Magazine

Barrel Length: 6"

Sights / Optics: The front sight is a brass beaded blade fixed to the top of the slide, the blade is not original to the gun. The rear sight is a rounded "U"-notch dovetailed into the slide.

Stock Configuration & Condition: The grips are checkered black hard rubber with "COLT" in a banner across the tops of the grips and a circled Rampant Colt logo in the center of the grips. The grips have fairly even handling wear with a few spots of smoothed checkers. There are some light nicks and scuffs. The checkering is generally well defined. There are no chips or cracks. Overall, the grips are in about Very Good condition.

Type of Finish: Blued

Finish Originality: Original, slide is serial-matching.

Bore Condition: The bore is gray with well defined rifling. There is scattered light erosion and infrequent minor pitting in the bore. In this writer's opinion, the bore rates 6+/10.

Overall Condition: This handgun retains about 15% of its metal finish. There is infrequent remaining finish on exposed surfaces, mostly around raised features and a little on the slide flats. Most exposed surfaces have worn to white or gone to a light patina. There are scattered light nicks and scratches. There are tool marks at most pin-heads. There is scattered light surface oxidation and infrequent erosion. The action shows operational wear. The screw heads range from sharp to tool marked with usable slots. The wedge retains its indexing stud. The markings range from clear to worn, but legible. Overall, this pistol is in Fair-plus condition (see Mechanics).

Mechanics: The slide wedge retaining plunger appears to be missing its spring, it may be installed incorrectly. We were not able to field-strip this pistol. We did not fire this handgun. As with all used firearms, a thorough cleaning may be necessary to meet your maintenance standards.

Box, Paperwork & Accessories: This pistol comes with one nickel 7-round magazine marked "PAT'D SEPT. 9. 1884" on the floorplate.

Our Assessment: Colt's Model 1900 pistol was the first of John Browning’s pistol designs to reach full production. Such was Browning's genius that he developed many innovations which are considered commonplace today, not least of which is the concept of "the slide". As with any new design, there were small hiccups along the way and towards the end of 1901, Colt started changing the 1900 Model's sight safety to a dovetailed sight. With other minor changes, the pistol became the Model 1902 Sporting and Military Models, the beginnings of over a century of pistol manufacturing dominance in the U.S. market.

This Model 1902 Sporting pistol was made in 1903, fairly early in standard serial production and with the early-style spur-hammer. The pistol is in Fair-plus overall condition, showing wear consistent with its age of nearly 120 years and having a mechanical issue with the slide wedge retaining plunger assembly. The bore shows erosion consistent with corrosive ammunition of the age, but is pretty decent. This pistol would be well worth restoring or at least getting the mechanics sorted out. All of the early Colt autos are collectible, and the low volume of Model 1902 Sporting pistols produced adds to their collector value with fewer than 7,000 made. Please see our photos and good luck!