POTD: Colt Courier – The Forgotten Featherweight

Welcome to today’s Photo of the Day! Here we have one of the oddballs of Colt’s 1950s lineup, the Colt Courier. If you’ve never heard of it, you’re in good company, since Colt only made around 3,000 of them.

The Courier was built on Colt’s D-frame, the same lightweight aluminum alloy frame used on the Cobra. Colt paired that frame with a short 3″ barrel and chambered it in 22 LR or 32 New Police. Some of the 32s even got aluminum cylinders to shave a little more weight. The whole idea was a light, handy revolver you could carry all day and barely notice.

In my book the problem was the market. Colt already sold the Cobra, and anyone in the mid-50s shopping for a light carry gun had plenty of 38 Special options. A 22 or 32 on an aluminum frame didn’t give buyers a strong reason to pick it over the Cobra or a Smith & Wesson. Long story short, the Courier was cataloged from roughly 1953 to 1956 and then quietly dropped.

The upside is that the short run makes it a sleeper for Colt revolver fans today. A 22 LR Courier would make a fun little trail gun or plinker, assuming you could bring yourself to shoot something this scarce. Me? I’d probably just stare at it.

Most of our POTDs utilize images from our friends at Rock Island Auction Company, the premier firearms auction in the United States. Take some time to browse their current auctions – who knows, maybe you’ll find a piece of history to take home!

“Scarce Colt Courier Double Action Revolver in .22 LR.” Rock Island Auction, www.rockislandauction.com/detail/5034/879/scarce-colt-courier-double-action-revolver-in-22-lr. Accessed 29 Oct. 2026.

The post POTD: Colt Courier – The Forgotten Featherweight appeared first on AllOutdoor.com.