Colt Police Positive
| Colt Police Positive | |
|---|---|
Blued Colt Police Positive revolver; six inch barrel
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| Type | Revolver |
| Place of origin |
 United States
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| Production history | |
| Manufacturer | Colt's Manufacturing Company |
| Produced | 1907–1947 |
| Variants | See Variants |
| Specifications | |
| Barrel length |
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| Cartridge | |
| Action | double-action revolver |
| Feed system | six round cylinder |
| Sights | Fixed iron; half-moon blade front, V-notch rear |
The Colt Police Positive is a small-frame, double-action revolver featuring a six-round cylinder, chambered for either .32 or .38 caliber cartridges. Designed primarily for sale to federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies, the Police Positive was introduced into the firearms market by Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1907.
The Colt Police Positive was an improvement of Colt’s earlier “New Police” revolver, upgraded with an internal hammer block safety. Colt named this new security device the “Positive Lock”, and its nomenclature ended up being incorporated as a partial namesake for the new revolver. The cylinder of the Police Positive rotated in the clockwise direction, the opposite of firearms maker Smith & Wesson's competing models. Ever a canny competitor in the firearms milieu, Colt missed no opportunity to score a coup d'éclat over its arch rival, and began a marketing campaign which accentuated this detail. In its advertising Colt proclaimed that "All Colt cylinders TURN TO THE RIGHT", and suggested that the Colt design forced the cylinder crane up against the frame, resulting in tighter lockup with less play and better chamber to barrel alignment, thus markedly increasing accuracy. The Police Positive was very successful; along with the Colt Official Police it dominated the law enforcement firearms market in the early 1900s. The Positive was itself incrementally modified in 1908, forming the basis for Colt’s Police Positive Special model.
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