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". As the name "Detective Special" suggests, this model revolver was used as a concealed weapon by plainclothes police detectives. Lackluster sales of revolvers and a shift in the company's post-bankruptcy business model focussing on Department of Defense orders saw the elimination of the Detective Special from the product line in 1995.