Colt Agent 38

Question
I saw a beautiful solid black matte Colt Agent .38 Special revolver the other day but learned it may have problems handling too many 'hot loads" because of its alloy frame. I like the look and weight of it and wonder if there are any "modern" guns that look similar but are stronger built to take even a .357 mag caliber. Do you know of any that might be similar?
Thank you.

Answer
They do not make the Agent any more, or unfortunately any of those historic Colt DA revolvers. Colts were distinctive in their appearance and nothing else looks like them.

With the exception of guns like the Anaconda, one of the things that distinguished the Colts was that they tended to be petite guns - viz. how wispy the Python was for a .357 Magnum.

Aluminum framed guns are not particularly pleasant to shoot with hot loads, and most people will default to shooting light target loads for practice. They have shot one or two cylinders full of what they'll carry just to see what it feels like, but that's about it.  They are light because it was assumed they would be carried much and shot little.

If you want something that will handle .357 and is light, you'll have to look at modern firearms. S&W makes revolvers out of materials such as titanium and scandium that are (with certain caveats) rated for .357. If you don't want to spend what an exotic metal Smith costs, you could look at the Taurus exotic metal guns, though I think that after you shoot either of these with "hot" loads, it will be the last time.

The only people who continue to shoot hot loads out of these guns are people who have nerve damage and so can't feel it, or will develop nerve damage from doing it and so won't have to worry about it (that's a little tongue-in-cheek, but not by much).

My advice: if you like the Agent, get it and shoot it as it was intended - light loads for practice, carried with the real stuff. Truthfully, if you get a modern wondermetal $900 Buck Rogers wheel gun that can handle .454 Cassul, you'll be shooting light loads in it anyway.