With the U.S. Army's adoption of the 1911 pistol, military sales of Colt revolvers dried up, so in 1927 the New Army received a facelift and was renamed the Colt Official Police Revolver. Cosmetic changes included a rounded, checkered cylinder latch; wider rear sight groove; matted topstrap; checkered trigger; and a better quality finish. Options included barrel lengths of 4, 5, and 6 inches and a choice of blue or nickel finish. While most of the revolvers were chambered for the .38 Special, Colt also offered it in .22 LR, .32-20, and .41 Long Colt. Also standard was the Colt Positive Lock, which prevented accidental firing by interposing a steel bar between the hammer and frame that stopped the firing pin from reaching a primer unless the trigger was pulled through a complete stroke. Unlike the Smith & Wesson M&P revolver, Colt claimed that the Official Police was strong enough to be used with the powerful .38-44 High Velocity load.

The Official Police's cylinder swung out by first pulling the cylinder latch to the rear. Pushing in on the ejector rod simultaneously extracted all six spent cases.

The Official Police was a big seller, and the 1933 catalog bragged that the revolver had been adopted by the police departments of New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Kansas City, St. Louis, Portland, and Los Angeles, in addition to the state police of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and Connecticut. Sales of the Official Police on the police and civilian markets boomed, and a few years later the FBI adopted it as the agency's standard-issue sidearm.

The U.S. Army purchased small numbers of Official Police .38-caliber revolvers during the 1930s, but most of these were transferred to other Federal agencies (e.g., Post Office, Treasury Department, and Coast Guard). They were also popular south of the Rio Grande, and Colt sold large numbers to the armies and police forces of Mexico and other Latin American countries.

When World War II erupted, Colt, like most U.S. arms makers, was swamped with government orders. As manufacture of the Model 1911A1 pistol and other guns took priority, revolver production became secondary. Small numbers of the Official Police were produced early in the war years, and in 1942 a special version, the Colt Commando, was introduced. To cut production time and costs, the Commando came with a dull Parkerized finish, smooth trigger and hammer, plastic grips, and 2- or 4-inch barrel. Of the approximately 54,000 Official Police and Commando revolvers purchased by the U.S. government between 1941 and 1945, very few saw combat. Most were supplied to defense plant guards and government security agencies. Some of the 2-inch Commandos were issued to undercover Army personnel and high-ranking officers. Most Commando revolvers remaining in government service after the war were retrofitted with 2-inch barrels.

After the war Colt again began producing guns with the famous deep blue finish but continued to fit the Official Police with plastic grips until 1954 when it resumed using checkered wood with the Colt medallions.

In those postwar years S&W began to overtake Colt as the world's premier revolver maker. By the 1960s its M&P revolvers were outselling the Official Police by a significant margin. With total production topping 400,000 units by 1970, however, the Official Police ranks as one of the most popular U.S.-produced handguns in history.