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Inherited this colt .38 from my grandpa after he passed, and I see he retired it due to a super rusty barrel. The wheel spins well and has little to no rust. Wondering if I can replace the barrel and clean this thing up since it had such sentimental value.

looking for advice, input on what model you think it is, and any resources one may have to help me getting this thing functioning safely.

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The barrel can be changed out by a smith, but probably nothing can be done for the pitting on the frame, cylinder and other bits.
Take it to a smith and get their opinion.
 
yeah it doesnt have to be pretty just want it safe to function.
It probably didn't look like that when he retired it. Result of poor storage, unlikely to be any mechanical problems. Take the grips off and spray/soak it up with solvent for a while and give it a good wipe down. If there is no major rust under the grips there is no reason to consider it unsafe. There is no reason to replace the barrel if it is just a heirloom . Give it a wipe down with oil when you are done cleaning it.
 
Can't read the roll mark on the barrel (due to the rust) but it looks like an Official Police from circa 1960 +/-. Not a highly valuable gun; not like it was a Python.

I agree with a couple of others, if the rust isn't too bad internally (including the barrel bore and cylinder bores), you could clean it up some to make it a functional shooter. Any collector value is already gone.
 
At this point the finish is spent. Try soaking in kroil or even diesel. A penny or fine steel wool can be used to gently scrub away some larger bits of rust. That should get you back into shooting condition and not do any irreparable harm if later down the road you want to do a full restore.
 
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Inherited this colt .38 from my grandpa after he passed, and I see he retired it due to a super rusty barrel. The wheel spins well and has little to no rust. Wondering if I can replace the barrel and clean this thing up since it had such sentimental value.

looking for advice, input on what model you think it is, and any resources one may have to help me getting this thing functioning safely.

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This was my grandfather's. It was way worse than your pistol. See a good gunsmith.
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It looks like a Colt Police Positive to me.
I have a 1928 Colt Official Police revolver and when I bought it from a pawn shop it had six squibs lodged inside the 6" barrel.
I found nice a 4" barrel on eBay for around $85.00 and had Velzey swap the barrels, reblue the barrel to match the frame and also do a much needed timing job.
He rates are more then fair and his workmanship is great.
 
My Colt wasn't quite that badly rusted and I'm glad I had the work done.
My wife keeps it for her house gun, as she's not comfortable with semi autos and since Barney Fife had one of these on the Andy Griffith TV show, she figures it's good enough for her.
She had me put those rubber grips on, since her grip is not very strong and she had a hard time with the original small wooden grips.
Tim did a nice job matching the barrel to the vintage bluing.


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Watch this gunsmiths video about reversing rust on a firearm using boiling water.
I find him informative and entertaining.


Please stop! and dont do anything!
dont soak it.. Dont touch it. The damage is already done..
It wont magically turn to dust in a few days.
Investigate. It can probably be saved WITH the current barrel if thats what you want. Swing the cylinder out and try and shine a light down the bore if you can see the bottoms of the grooves its probably saveable.

I watch Mark Novak as well. Anvil is a great gun channel. Some things he does kinda irks me but over all hes amazing. Youll get a great idea of what can be done and be entertained to boot!

Ive seen Mark fix worse. Just watched the rust episode the other day on the mauser.
Some of the rust CAN be converted back. I believe it goes from iron dioxide to iron oxide.
So i wouldnt touch it. Just leave it for now.
Its honeslty not that bad. Prepare to potentially be amazed.

I LOVE me some rusty guns. Dirt cheap and i aint seen one yet that cant be saved. Even scored me a psl once for $160 had to hammer the BCG open but it was rode hard put away wet and the salt locked up mainly the top of the piston rod. She cleaned up just fine!
Wish i still had that beauty
Even came with two scopes And two mags!
 
nice iron there zigzag. 45-70 or probably.. 120 would be my guess.
Thats awesome. I need me some older guns. They really are cool.
Actually, part of the restoration was to convert it to a modern cartridge in its original .38 caliber. It now fires .357 Mag/.38 Spc.
 
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