COLT DIAMONDBACK 38 AND 22

 

The Colt Diamondback 38 revolver that was manufactured in the 1960s in my opinion was one of the best double action revolvers ever made. The Colt Arms Company would produce many high quality handguns in the 1950s and 60s era and you could choose from many fine guns from the Colt Firearms line.

A Colt Diamondback made in the 22 long rifle and the 38 special are noted for their precision assembly and their precision finish and exceptional quality.

Just one smooth, fine looking Colt revolver that was a pleasure to look at. I consider this commercial made revolver to have just one of the smoothest actions ever produced. They had a much better quality about them and you could readily notice it in the way the action felt and the smoothness and the crispness of the single and double action, while firing this Colt Diamondback 38 revolver. 

 

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Yes they were considerably more than some of the cheaper brands of revolvers in those days, but there was nothing in its class. They did have some stiff competition from the Smith & Wesson revolvers and the Ruger revolvers from that era.

Whoever assembled that Colt revolver did spend some time fitting and polishing the trigger and hammer assembly. You could get that nice smooth crisp feel that all those Colt Diamondbacks from that era had.This was also true with many of the Smith & Wesson’s and other revolvers from that period.

But I’ve always felt that the Colt Diamondback was the tops for quality from that class of 22 handguns of that era. The Colt Diamondback 38 would be a great carry gun.

As a gunsmith from the 70s and into the 90s, I was privileged to work on some of those Diamondbacks and probably the biggest issue with those firearms was the finish. Overtime some of the Colt firearms would get holster wear around the barrel and the cylinder and this of course would distract from the appearance of those great Colt revolvers.

Having a blue wear spot in the bluing somewhere just didn’t go with that Colt gun look so I would refinish several of those style revolvers over the years. They were a pleasure to work on and a very simple design to work on.

A Colt revolver in the diamondback model is one of those firearms that I would say will out shoot most of the men that shoot with it. By that I mean most people would not be able to shoot to the ability that those Colt revolvers would give. Its smoothness and its precision are totally favorable to a gun with exceptional target shooting ability.

Most shooters including myself would probably not shoot to the Colt Diamondback’s ability because of the guns quality and smoothness. It is hard to imagine that someone could not shoot and be very accurate with that firearm. If you cannot acquire excellent results with this Colt revolver then I would question your shooting ability.

I consider the Colt Diamondback 38 and 22 to be an excellent firearm to add to your collection. I would definitely give that firearm in excellent rating for collecting. It has all the attributes of a collectible firearm in that it has decent numbers and can still be purchased at what I consider reasonable prices and can definitely be a pleasure to shoot and have fun with at the same time.

So I would definitely advise anyone looking for a revolver to consider the Colt Diamondback in either the 22 long rifle or the 38 special. These guns will not only hold their value but in time will definitely build in collector value.

It is just one exceptional piece of machinery produced by the Colt Firearms Company. So if you are one of those lucky ones that own one and haven’t had it out in some time, I would suggest that you give the barrel a little warm-up practice and start enjoying that firearm again.

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