This Colt Mk IV Series 80 Government Model was manufactured in 1984 according to the company records. It is a self-loading, recoil operated, semi-automatic pistol that is chambered for the .380 ACP cartridge. The pistol has been designed to operate as a single action firearm that utilizes an external hammer and a locked breech. The Patridge sights includes a blade front sight and a square notch rear sight that is drift adjustable for windage only. The Mk IV is fed by a single column 7 round detachable box magazine. The pistol utilizes a push button magazine release located on the left side of the receiver in front of the grip. The manual thumb safety is located behind the left grip and must be in the fire position before the slide is allowed to move rearward. The pistol has a 3 1/4 inch barrel and an overall length of 6.15 inches and an unloaded weight of 21 3/4 ounces. This firearm does employ a slide hold open mechanism to inform the operator that the last round has been fired. The finish is a deep Colt blue. The checkered grip panels are a cream colored plastic and sport a gold Colt logo with the famous rampant Colt symbol in the middle of each grip. The trigger and recoil spring guide are made of plastic.

The Colt Mk IV Series 80 Government Model chambered in .380 ACP caliber was in production from 1984 to 1997.

The .380 Automatic Colt Pistol cartridge has a bullet diameter of .355 inches and was first introduced by Colt in 1908. It is also known as the 9mm Short, 9mm Browning, 9mm Kurz, 9mm Corto and 9x17mm.  The cartridge was originally designed for the early blowback pistols that lacked a barrel locking mechanism commonly known as a locked breech design. The .380 ACP round travels at a rate of about 1000 feet per second and with a 90 to 95 grain projectile, it can deliver between 200 and 205 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle. For comparison, a .38 special round travels at a rate of around 980 feet per second and with a 110 grain projectile it can produce around 235 foot pounds of muzzle energy. Which makes the .38 special slightly more powerful than the .380 ACP round.  

The photograph on the left is of the front and back of the Colt Mk IV Series 80 Government Model, while the pictures on the right show the top and bottom of the pistol. The pistol is shown with the magazine installed in each of these photographs. In the above picture at the bottom left, it can be seen that there is no grip safety device installed on the .380 caliber version of the Colt MK IV.

The serial number is found on the left side of the receiver and directly above the trigger.

The photograph on the left shows the markings that are found on the right side of this Colt Mk IV pistol. Looking through the ejection port, the barrel has been stamped "CAL.380". This mark indicates that the pistol has been chambered for the .380 Automatic Colt Pistol cartridge. Directly underneath the ejection port, the slide has been stamped as follows, "GOVERNMENT MODEL". The right side of the receiver has a two line inscription stamped on it as follows,  "COLT'S PT. FA. MFG. CO." and then underneath that is "HARTFORD, CT. USA.". The first line of this inscription indicates that the pistol was manufactured by Colt Patent Firearms Manufacturing Company and that they are located in Hartford, Connecticut in the United States of America. 

The photograph on the right is of the slide inscription that is found on the left side of the slide. The top line is as follows, "COLT MK IV/ SERIES' 80". This top line indicates that Colt is the manufacturer of the pistol and the model of it is Mark 4 and Series 80. The series 80 indicates that it was first introduced in the 1980's. The word "Mark" is the English way to denote a change and is often abbreviated with the letters "MK". The second line reads as follows, ""GOVERNMENT MODEL - 380 AUTO". This bottom line goes on to identify the model of this pistol as the Government model and that it is chambered for the .380 Automatic Colt Pistol cartridge.

The bottom left rear flat of the trigger guard on the left side of the pistol has been stamped with the letters "VP" inside of a triangle. This is Colt's Verified Proof mark and is added after the pistol has passed the final factory inspection. The upper front flat of the trigger guard on the right side of the pistol has the letter "N" stamped on it. I believe that this is possibly the identifying letter of the factory worker who assembled this pistol, but as of this writing I am unclear of the true meaning of this mark.

The photograph on the left is a close up of the gold Colt logo with the famous rampant Colt symbol that is found in the middle of each grip.

The picture on the right is of the heel or bottom of the pistol with the factory magazine installed. On the bottom of the magazine floorplate it has been stamped with the rampant Colt symbol and a two line inscription that reads as follows, "COLT" and then underneath that is ".380 AUTO.". This marking identifies the manufacturer of the magazine as Colt and indicates that the magazine has been built to accept the .380 Automatic Colt Pistol cartridge. The capital letter "M" has been stamped in the upper right corner of the magazine.