| This article is about the Colt Detective Special. You may be looking for other similar named Colt firearms. |
The Colt Detective Special is a carbon steel framed double-action short-barreled revolver, and is an example of a class of firearms known to gun enthusiasts as "snubnosed", "snubbies", or "belly guns".
Pre-Apocalypse[]
As the name "Detective Special" suggests, this model revolver was used as a concealed weapon by plainclothes police detectives. Introduced in 1927, the Detective Special was one of the first short-barreled revolvers produced with a modern swing-out frame. It was designed from the outset to be chambered for higher-powered cartridges such as the .38 Special, considered to be a powerful caliber for a concealable pocket revolver of the day.
Post-Apocalypse[]
Original TV Series[]
Daryl Dixon takes a Colt Detective Special off of a man in the woods who had used the gun to commit suicide.
Lori Grimes often uses this kind of gun, including when Rick's group is clearing the prison of walkers.
Carol Peletier is often seen using this gun following her exile from the prison. On one occasion, Carol hid the gun up her sleeve while confronted by a group of Saviors and shot them, killing two.
Six years after the apparent death of Rick Grimes, Carol has switched to a Bow and Arrow instead, presumably due to a lack of bullets.
While trying to kill Alpha in revenge for the murder of her son, Carol briefly pulls out her old Colt Detective Special, but she fails to kill the Whisperer leader with it. In the midst of a number of hallucinations, Carol has an encounter with a Whisperer who she shoots in the back as the woman escapes. Although Carol's friends doubt the encounter because of her hallucinations, the Whisperer is shown to have been real, dying of her wounds and later reanimating. Following this, Carol apparently abandons all use of her old gun.
Novel Series[]
Cher and at least one unnamed member of Tommy's Group use Colt Detective Specials as their weapons and use speed loaders to help with reloading. After killing one of the men, Philip Blake and Nick Parsons arm themselves with his shotgun and Detective Special to kill the rest of the group.
Following the death of Tommy and his men, Brian Blake begins using the .38 taken from the dead man as his weapon. After Nick kills both Philip and Bridges' daughter, Brian uses the gun to kill him. A few days later, Brian kills Major Gene Gavin by unloading all six rounds into the vicinity of his face and takes control as the Governor of Woodbury.
Following Megan Lafferty's suicide, Brian attempts to have Lilly Caul put down the zombified woman. When Lilly can't do it, Megan is instead shot by Bob Stookey with a .38 police special.
As the Atlanta Medical Center is overrun with walkers, Dr. Raymond Nalls reveals to Lilly that he keeps a fully loaded .38 police special in a desk drawer, which Lilly states is not a howitzer, but it's better than nothing. Nalls admits that he'd almost forgotten he had the gun, having kept it just in case Nalls needed to commit suicide. Along with the gun, Lilly finds a small box of ammo so old that the lettering has begun to fade. Lilly attempts to use the gun to shoot out the window despite Nalls' warnings that she would need significantly more firepower, but the gun only succeeds in cracking it which Lilly is able to use as a weak spot to finish breaking it with an IV stand. After making it outside onto a scaffold and seeing a zombified Barbara Stern through a nearby window, Lilly uses the police special to put her friend down. After falling to the street, Lilly uses the gun to shoot approaching walkers, reloading at one point, but she is taken down by three walkers. Lilly puts down one while Nalls recovers the gun and shoots the other two. Nalls then tries to commit suicide, but the gun is empty. After the crash of Cooper Steeves' Humvee, Lilly finds a few loose bullets to reload the gun with in her pocket. Attempting to escape from the hordes overrunning Atlanta, Lilly is only left with two bullets by the time that she and Nalls reach the Pendragon Theater. After using a zombified Nalls as camouflage to escape from the theater, Lilly uses the last two bullets on walkers that close in on her after the camouflage breaks.
Tommy Dupree finds a Colt Detective Special on the body of Spencer-Lee Dryden, but with only one bullet in it. With both Tommy and Lilly having been bitten, Tommy amputates Lilly's leg and has Ashley Duart shoot him once Tommy dies so that he won't turn, aware that it's already too late for amputation to save him.
Killed Victims[]
The following is a list of victims killed with the colt:
TV Universe[]
- Lizzie Samuels
- Satchel Wolf
- Donnie (Caused)
- 1 unnamed survivor (Suicide)
- Many unnamed West Georgia Correctional Facility prisoners (Zombified)
- 2 unnamed Wolves
- At least 2 unnamed Saviors (1 Alive)
- 1 unnamed Whisperer (Alive)
- Numerous counts of zombies and probably unnamed people
Comic Universe[]
- Nick Parsons
- Gene Gavin
- Megan Lafferty (Zombified)
- Barbara Stern (Zombified)
- Thomas Dupree (Before Reanimation)
- Possibly several unnamed members of Tommy's Group
- 1 unnamed Atlanta Medical Center resident (Zombified)
- Numerous counts of zombies and unnamed people
Appearances[]
TV Series[]
Season 2[]
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"What Lies Ahead" | Daryl Dixon with the Colt Detective Special as he takes it off a corpse. |
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"What Lies Ahead" | Andrea Harrison with the Colt Detective Special as she passes it to Lori. |
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"Secrets" | Patricia aiming a Colt Detective Special during shooting practice. |
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"Pretty Much Dead Already" | Shane Walsh attempts to give Carl a Colt Detective Special. |
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"Triggerfinger" | A Colt Detective Special lays in the car. |
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"Triggerfinger" | Lori aims a Colt Detective Special at a walker. |
Season 3[]
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"Seed" | Lori with a Colt Detective Special as she kills Walkers through the fence at the prison. |
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"Killer Within" | Lori Grimes with a Colt Detective Special at the prison, killing Walkers that invaded the Prison. |
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"Killer Within" | Lori Grimes with a Colt Detective Special at the prison killing Walkers that invaded the Prison. |
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"Killer Within" | Lori Grimes with a Colt Detective Special at the prison killing Walkers that invaded the Prison. |
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"The Suicide King" | Beth Greene with a Colt Detective Special in her back pocket as she welcomes Rick back. |
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"Arrow on the Doorpost" | Beth Greene with a Colt Detective Special after firing it to stop a fight. |
Season 4[]
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"Indifference" | Carol with a Colt Detective Special in her waistband. |
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"The Grove" | Carol firing at walkers with her Colt Detective Special alongside Lizzie Samuels firing a Walther P22 pistol. |
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"The Grove" | Carol killing Lizzie with her Colt Detective Special. |
Season 5[]
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"No Sanctuary" | Carol aiming her Colt Detective Special at Martin. |
Trivia[]
- Although Brian Blake's .38 is only identified as a police special, it is mentioned to be a snubnosed revolver in "Rise of the Governor" which matches the Colt Detective Special model.
References[]