POTD: Custom Long Barreled Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless Pistol
Sam.S 12.16.21
Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have a modified and customized Colt Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless. The Pocket Hammerless for those of you who do not know was John Browning’s follow-up design given to Colt after the FN Model 1899 and 1900. Colt needed a carry gun to sell after John Browning changed the world with his first semiautomatic pocket pistol. Colt took it upon themselves to market the new Model 1903 Pocket Hammerless as hammerless… even though in truth it used an internal hammer.
“This pistol was manufactured in 1914 and subsequently was extensively customized…
Colt may have experimented with this design given the unfinished example pictured on page 23 of Brunner’s work, but all of the other known examples are believed to have been altered outside of the factory such as the others pictured in Brunner’s book and DuMond’s personally customized example pictured at the top of the article. DuMond is also believed to have been the originator of at least some of the other “target” alterations and this example was likely inspired by his work. In the article, he notes that the longer barrel and improved sights made his .32 ACP a more reliable camp gun, and he used it for taking small game.”
Lot 703: Colt 1903 Pocket Hammerless Pistol 32 Acp. (n.d.). Rock Island Auction Company. photograph. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://www.rockislandauction.com/detail/65/703.
