4040 CCLLAASSSSIICC HHAANNDDGGUUNNSS:: TThhee UU..SS.. MModel of 1917 Revolver (Colt)By John Marshall

During the Spanish-American War, our troopswere equipped with .38 caliber revolvers of bothColt and Smith & Wesson make. It was soon discov-ered that these revolvers were wholly ineffective inputting down the fierce Moro tribesmen in thePhilippine Islands. Accordingly, old Model 1873Colt .45 single action revolvers were brought out ofmothballs and utilized;their reputation asman-stopperswas welldeserved.Although asemiautomatic.45 pistol wasstill in the design stage, the army couldn’t wait for amore effective .45 handgun. It turned to Colt’sPatent Firearms Manufacturing Company to providea more modern double-action revolver chamberedfor the .45 Colt cartridge. Colt’s responded withtheir big New Service revolver. While it couldchamber and fire standard .45 Colt rounds, Colt’snew revolver was designed around a slightly modi-fied cartridge with wider rims to provide betterextraction from the swing-out cylinder. This bigrevolver was designated as the Colt Model of 1909.The straight-tapered 5-1/2” barrel was topped witha “shark fin” front sight. It used smooth walnut gripsand had a lanyard ring on the butt. In addition tothe serial numbers, “U.S. ARMY MODEL 1909”was marked on the butt. Those made for the Navyand the Marine Corps had the serial numbers pref-aced with either “USN” or “USMC.” Productionbegan in 1909 and continued through 1911. Nearly22,000 of these very effective revolvers were pro-duced; almost all of them were shipped to thePhilippines for use in the Philippine Insurrection.

Colt’s received a contract during World War Ifrom the English for this same New Servicerevolver chambered for the .455 British Mark II car-tridge. This was easy enough to do with a few man-ufacturing changes, and, along with Smith & Wes-son, many revolvers so chambered were sent to ourBritish cousins during “The Great War.”

In the United States in 1917, the clouds of warwere gathering, and it was evident to the WarDepartment planners that existing supplies of thethen-new Model 1911 semiauto .45 pistols andprojected future production of that arm would notbe enough to supply the soldiers that would proba-bly be headed to France. On April 2, 1917, theU.S. declared war on Germany, and immediatelyplaced contracts with both S&W and Colt’s for .45ACP revolvers. In 1915, in conjunction withSpringfield Armory, Smith & Wesson had devel-oped a unique three-round clip that enabled therimless .45 ACP cartridges to be loaded and eject-ed from revolvers with ease. A pair of these loadedclips filled the six-shot cylinders very quickly.

Accordingly, both S&W and Colt’s utilized this sys-tem for their revolvers.

Colt’s began production of its Model of 1917revolver on October 24, 1917. Externally, the firstof these revolvers were dead ringers for the Modelof 1909, including the straight-tapered barrel. Soonafter initial production began, the barrel contourwas changed to one with a slight flare in front ofthe frame. Early Colt M1917s used chambers that

were bored straight through, with-out a headspacing ridge. They hadserial numbers from 1 to 30,450,and had to be used with the three-round clips to fire properly. Laterrevolvers had the internal headspacingridge to allow loading and firing ofindividual rounds. With these, if uti-lized without the clips, the rimlessempty shells had to be poked or pluckedfrom the chambers. Cartridges without pro-truding rims do not allow simultaneous ejec-tion of the empties with the ejector rod. The finishof the Colt revolvers was not the same as theirS&W counterparts. They were blued over lesser-polished surfaces, and the rougher effect is nowoften mistaken for Parkerizing. The hammers onmost were left bright on the sides. The grips, likethose on the Model 1909, were smooth walnut. Alanyard ring was attached to the butt. The cylinderwas released by pressing back on the release latch,unlike that on the S&W, which was pressed for-ward to actuate. Also, the ejector rod on the Coltwas unsecured, with no forward latching point likethat used on the Smith & Wesson version. Militaryserial numbers from 1 to about 154,800 weremarked on the bottom of the butt, along with “U.S.ARMY MODEL 1917.” A source of confusion formodern-day collectors is that Colt’s commercial

serial numbers continuing from prior New Servicerevolver production were also stamped in thecylinder crane recess and on the inside surface ofthe crane. These two numbers (designed to ensuremating parts) should match if original, but will beabout 150,000 numbers higher than the later-applied military system serial numbers on the butt.

Early serial numbers from 1 to about 30,000will bear the inspection mark “GHS” for Major

Gilbert H. Stewart, on the left of the frame upnear the grooved rear sight. From there up toabout serial number 62,000, the “JMG” mark ofLt. Col. John M. Gilbert will be found. Above thatnumber (May 15, 1918 to the end of production),a generic eagle’s head marking with a numberwas utilized. The revolver illustrated is an earlyone carrying a three-digit Army serial number. Ithas the early bored-through chambers, and wasmanufactured in late 1917. The underside of thebarrel on these revolvers will be marked “UNIT-ED STATES PROPERTY.” The top of the barrel is

marked “COLT’S PT.F.A. MFG.CO. HARTFORDCT.USA” over “PAT’D AUG. 5, 1884. JUNE 5,1900. JULY 4, 1905.” The left side of the barrel ismarked “COLT D.A. 45.”

World War I ended on November 11, 1918, andproduction of the Colt Model 1917 terminated Feb-ruary 19, 1919, with about 154,800 having beenmade. It was widely issued during that war andfound general acceptance as a powerful and effec-tive handgun. A picture exists of a feisty Armyartillery captain by the name of Harry Truman bear-ing one in France. He liked the gun so much that

he bought it from the government at the close ofthe war, paying all of $18.00 for it at the time.

It’s now on display in the Truman PresidentialLibrary in Independence, Missouri. I suspect

it is worth a lot more than $18.00 today!M1917 revolvers were placed into

war reserve after WW I. As World WarII began in December of 1941, most

of these were removed from storage,arsenal reconditioned and re-

issued. Most of the reconditionedarms received a Parkerized fin-ish, and will bear the marks ofthe reconditioning arsenals ordepots. A majority of theseretreads were assigned toguard duty in the conti-nental U.S., but quite anumber saw combatservice overseas. AfterWorld War II, theM1917s weredeclared obsolete,and most werereleased for sale assurplus. Quite anumber wereissued to the Bor-der Patrol and thePostal Service. Ican rememberthem being

quite plentiful inthe 1950s, and

available for quite rea-sonable prices. They

became very popular for shooting up the then-plentiful surplus .45 ACP ammo. Today they stillmake admirable self-defense arms with plenty ofstopping power. In recent years, the 1917 revolvershave become much harder to find, and collectorvalues have escalated markedly. These big Coltshave an interesting history, and are great items toshoot and collect. I’ve owned several of them overthe years, and have never found them wanting forsheer shooting pleasure. There’s a lot of history inthese classic relics of the two largest conflicts ofthe 20 Century!

The finish of the Colt revolvers was not thesame as their S&W counterparts. They wereblued over lesser-polished surfaces, and the

effect is often mistaken for Parkerizing.

Feb 11 Blue Press Section 2 12/15/10 3:10 PM Page 40