I first saw the prototype of the Colt 1903 Hammerless General Officer’s Pocket Pistol at the Colt booth at a recent NRA Convention. I was taken with this elegant, all-steel defensive pistol from a bygone era. It was beautifully crafted and finished, and its compact size bespoke of a design that seemed ideally suited for concealed carry. I couldn’t wait until it hit the market!

Model 1903

An original John M. Browning design that was manufactured by Colt, the Model 1903 was chambered in .32 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol), a smokeless-powder offering more powerful than the black-powder .32-caliber revolver cartridges available at the time. It was manufactured from 1903 to 1945. The Colt Model 1908 came along five years later, chambered in the somewhat more powerful .380 ACP but without any changes to the exterior dimensions. Both guns ended up being adopted by the U.S. Army and Air Force (Army Air Corps) and were issued to General Officers from WWII through the early 1970s, when they were replaced by a compact 1911 pistol. Do you recall the movie Patton, where General George S. Patton engaged a German Bomber in Tunisia with a pistol during a strafing attack? It was the Colt Model 1908 Pocket Hammerless General Officer’s Model that he used in that event — the .380 ACP being a better anti-aircraft caliber than the .32 ACP. That incident is what helped pique my interest in the reintroduced Model 1903.

General Officer’s Model 1903

U.S. Armament (famous for detailed firearms recreations like the Colt Bulldog Gatling Gun), in partnership with Colt Firearms, is the licensed manufacturer of the reintroduced Colt Model 1903 .32 ACP General Officer’s Pistol, complete with all the original Colt markings. Remaking a complex pistol like the Model 1903 is only possible today through the miracle of CNC-machining. The markings on the General Officer’s Pistol include the words “U.S. Property” on the right side of the frame above the trigger guard and the words “Colt Automatic Calibre 32 Automatic Rimless Smokeless” above the U.S. Property markings. On the left side of the slide are the Colt Patent dates, and at the left rear is the Rampant Colt emblem. How cool is that?

The General Officer’s Model 1903 features a WWII-era Parkerized military finish. Parkerizing is more rust-resistant than bluing, but not as rust-resistant as modern nitride-type metal treatments. Grips are genuine checkered walnut and feature the gold Colt Medallion.

While the Model 1903 set some of the design parameters for the later Colt 1911 .45 ACP pistol, it is not a miniature 1911. Here is what the Model 1903 is.

The Colt Model 1903 is a blowback-operated, single-action semi-automatic pistol with an eight-round single-stack magazine. There is no barrel bushing. Like the later 1911, it features a grip safety and a manual thumb safety. This grip safety prevents the Model 1903 from firing unless the gun is fully gripped in a shooting position, even with the manual safety off. It is additional insurance in case the thumb safety is accidentally disengaged while being carried.

Thumb Safety

The thumb safety lays flat across the frame. There is no protrusion to ease disengagement, which maintains the Model 1903’s flat profile. It operates in the same fashion as the later 1911: Up is on, down is off. Interestingly, the thumb safety also operates as the slide lock. This slide lock serves as an inspection feature, as the slide does not lock open on the last shot.

Magazine Release

The magazine release is the European “heel”-type at the bottom of the frame, which was typical for semi-automatic “pocket pistols” of the period. This system has its pluses and minuses.

Reload

It is slower to reload than the push-button release, which is normally activated by the shooting-hand thumb. As the shooting-hand thumb releases the magazine — which normally drops free — the support hand is inserting a fresh magazine. With the heel release, the shooting hand maintains the normal grip, while the thumb of the support hand pushes back on the release and the support-hand index finger pulls the magazine clear of the frame. The support hand then inserts the fresh magazine.

Heel Release

The plus side of the heel release is that when used on deep cover pocket-type pistols such as the Model 1903, there is almost no way to have the magazine accidentally disengaged while carrying close to the body. No bump will do that. The heel release keeps the ammo supply nearly as secure as that of a revolver.

Firearm’s Sights

The General Officer’s sights are true to form for a pistol manufactured in the year 1903. They are small and rudimentary by today’s standards. The rear notch is a tiny “U,” and the front a rounded blade. The rear is drift-adjustable, and both are Parkerized — but they work! Putting modern, more definitive sights on a historic reproduction would be an aesthetic disaster that would ruin the reason behind an accurate 21st century rendering of a 19th century design. By the way, in terms of historic accuracy, the only detail different about the new Model 1903 over the original is that the barrel is stainless steel rather than carbon steel.

Testing at the Shooting Range

The modern .32 ACP is pretty darned close to the .380 in effectiveness. For a while, the .32 ACP was the “go-to” chambering for micro pistols like the Seecamp (as well as the Beretta Tomcat). When micro locked-breech .380s were perfected, the .32 was back benched, although ammo is still easy to obtain.

For my initial testing, I obtained some Blazer aluminum-case FMJ 71-grain practice ammo, and some 60-grain Hornady XTP defensive loads. The live fire proved interesting and enjoyable.

Firing the .32 ACP in an all-steel, 24-ounce pistol with a 3¾-inch barrel was a hoot! It was like shooting a .22, but a little louder. The eight-round single-column magazines loaded easily. The single-action trigger is light, with a slight amount of creep and reasonably crisp. It contributed greatly to the fine accuracy I was rewarded while qualifying with it as an off-duty gun for my police department. The grip angle and the rounded butt make for great natural pointability. Accuracy was on par with my fixed-barrel Walther PPK/S .380, and that is saying something!

There were a couple of failures to fire using the aluminum Blazer .32 FMJ and couple of failures to extract. Those issues disappeared when firing the brass-cased Hornady XTP loads. The 60-grain XTPs were very easy shooting, and gave me an average measured velocity of 932 feet per second. This works out to 116 FPE. While not enough to slay the neighborhood T-Rex, shooters who are recoil-sensitive will find it easy to develop confidence and accuracy.

Shooting the .32 ACP into my standard 25-pound clay block revealed unexpectedly good performance. It created an initial cavity 3 inches wide at its widest point that tapered down to an inch in diameter, penetrating to a depth of 9 inches. Certainly enough to cause a miscreant more than passing concern, and potent enough for me to be packing the Model 1903 off-duty.

Conclusion on the Colt 1903 Hammerless General Officer’s Pocket Pistol

In my book, the Colt 1903 Hammerless General Officer’s Pocket Pistol is one of the most exciting “new” arms to come down the pike. Compact, easy to shoot and very accurate at 114 years of age, it’s way ahead of the current trend toward single-stack concealed carry pistols with rounded frames and slides. Other more finely finished blued variants are becoming available. Recreating history is not cheap. MSRP of the Colt General Officer’s Model 1903 is $1275. However, once you see one, you will understand why. Once you buy one, you will be packing a piece of history that is a standout in any crowd.

More info at:
www.colt.com
www.usarmcorp.com
www.hornady.com