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Bryant Ridge's Analysis: By the early 1980s, the buying public had made it clear that they preferred stainless steel revolvers, so in 1986, Colt upgraded the Trooper Mark V to stainless steel and changed the barrel to a full under-lug-shrouded type. Other than the barrel profile and use of stainless, the gun is the same as the Mark V. Colt named the new model the King Cobra, continuing its use of snake-named revolvers. As a first for Colt, a Cobra head was part of the barrel stamp, breaking with …

Bryant Ridge's Analysis: Colt introduced a new series of stainless steel small-frame revolvers in 1995 to replace the last of the old "D" frame models. The first in the new series was the Colt SF-VI, so named to prevent confusion with the last of the "D" frames still in the distributor's pipeline. In 1996, with the last of the old guns out of the way, Colt changed the name of the SF-VI to the Colt DS-II. This is taken to stand for Colt "Detective Special Two", but Colt never used that designatio …

Bryant Ridge's Analysis: The Smith & Wesson Model 27 is a six-shot, double-action revolver chambered for the .357 Magnum cartridge and manufactured by the United States company Smith & Wesson. It was the first purpose-built revolver to fire the .357 Magnum cartridge. Designed in 1935, it was commonly called the "Registered Magnum." The Model 27 replaced the Registered Magnum in 1939, which was the Registered Magnum but was standardized for economic reasons due to the ease of production. …

Bryant Ridge's Analysis: Smith & Wesson’s dominance in the .357 Mag. market changed forever in 1955; however, when Colt introduced its first revolver chambered in .357 Mag., the Python. By all accounts, Colt executives also considered this to be the finest revolver the company produced at the time. No expense was spared in the manufacturing process, from the revolver’s timing and lock-up to its Royal Blue finish, this would be the pinnacle of Colt’s manufacturing prowess an …

Bryant Ridge's Analysis In 1927, Colt rebranded the Army Special to the Official Police to better reflect its primary users, which included numerous police departments such as the New York City Police and Boston Police, and federal agencies like the FBI and Treasury Department. The Official Police became the standard-issue revolver for law enforcement. They remained highly favored by private guard services, industrial plant guards, and civilian owners seeking a robust and powerful firearm. Colt …