M1917 Revolver

The M1917 represents the perfection of the American double-action revolver as a military weapon. - While the day of the revolver was done, as it could not match the Model 1911’s firepower or ability to continue functioning once sand had gotten into the mechanism, there was an insufficient number of those automatics to equip the vast new army being raised for World War I.
Army Ordnance did not want to deal with two different cartridges in the logistics system, so any revolvers chosen as a substitute standard would have to fire the rimless .45 ACP cartridge.
Smith & Wesson patented a half moon clip enabling the rimless .45 ACP cartridges to be snapped into a spring steel retainer.
Their dreams of monopoly were quashed when the Army ordered them to make the half moon clips available to Colt for free. Both the Colt New Service M1917 and S&W New Century .45 revolvers could now be used with the .45 automatic’s round by the simple expedient of machining off the rear of the revolver’s cylinder enough to make room for the half-moon clip loaded with ammo. Revolvers that have the cylinder chambered for the .45 ACP can also be single loaded but there is nothing for the extractor to grab onto, so the cartridges must be picked out with the fingernails or punched out with a stick if they don’t fall out with gravity when time comes for reloading. Since the half-moon clips adopted by the Army and the later commercial fullmoon clips constitute speed loaders, in addition to providing a surface for the revolver's star extractor to work on, the revolver can now be loaded at the maximum possible speed.

Since both Colt and S&W guns were suitable and available and speed of procurement was the driving force, both companies got contracts. The issue of which was better was settled back in 1907 when the Report of Board on Tests of Revolvers and Automatic Pistols was submitted by Army Ordnance. Both Colt and S&W .45 Colt caliber revolvers were tested, and the report states. The board prefers the Colt for the following reasons:
Less shock to the user, due to the broader and more rounded shoulder against which the hand rests.
• The better shape and size of the grip and trigger guard.
• The greater simplicity and fewer parts.
• The present familiarity of the troops with the Colt revolver.

The difference between the Colt and its simpler and more robust parts and the S&W with its many small parts was also apparent in the time taken for a factory representative to disassemble and reassemble their respective guns.
The Colt took 3 minutes and 50 seconds to dismount and 6 minutes and 25 seconds to assemble. The S&W took 4 minutes and 15 seconds to dismount and 8 minutes and 20 seconds to assemble. The Colt has the thick barrel of the Single Action Army while the S&W has the thin barrel like their top break revolvers. I don't know why no one has ever pointed this out before. It should be noted that the old problem of a revolver’s screws backing out during firing and tying up the gun appeared again in these tests. If you are planning on doing much shooting with a revolver, you had better have screwdrivers fitted to its screws.

THE END RESULT was that the Colt New Service was adopted as the M1909 for immediate issue in the Philippines to deal with the fanatical Moro jihadists pending the further development of the automatic pistol, which ultimately resulted in the perfect combat pistol, the M1911. About 20,000 were made for the U.S. Army and Navy and an additional 2,000 for the U.S. Marines. The Marine version differed in having rounded grips with checkering instead of smooth wood. The M1909 was chambered for the .45 Colt cartridge, but cartridges made for it had a wider .530-inch rim for more positive extraction than the original .45 Colt’s .500-inch rim diameter. The M1909 cartridge was loaded with a round nosed 230-grain bullet at 1,150 feet per second.

The full metal jacket version of this bullet was later used in the .45 ACP round. For the M1909 revolver, I would have preferred a 255-grain bullet at a slightly lower velocity without the sonic crack added to the gun’s report that you get with bullets at 1,150 fps and faster. When using the M1909 cartridges in the Colt Single Actions still in service, you had to load every other chamber as the wider rims prevented loading each in turn. So both types of .45 Colt ammo were issued in the Philippines. Shortly after this, the rim diameter of the commercial .45 Colt ammo was standardized at .512 inch, the largest size that would work in the Colt Single Action Army. Read the rest of M1917 revolver.

Never had a pistol that uses the half moon clips to fire cartridges intended for an autoloader in a revolver.

My brief ownership of a Ruger Blackhawk chambered in .30 carbine soured me on the whole idea as the Blackhawk seated the catridges on the case rims.

This required the cylinder tolerances to be very close to the case size, as you can imagine, and that caused no end of a tied up gun when the case expansion froze the thing in the cylinder. Disassembly, ram and hammer were required to remove the majority of the cases to reload.

Major pain! Traded up to a Super Blackhawk in .44 magnum and never looked back.

It should be noted that the old problem of a revolver’s screws backing out during firing and tying up the gun appeared again in these tests. If you are planning on doing much shooting with a revolver, you had better have screwdrivers fitted to its screws.

In 1980 I turned 21 and I bought a brand new out-of-the-box Smith & Wesson Model 19 Combat Magnum with 4" bbl.

The Walnut combat grips were mismatched. One was a light blonde color, the other a rich dark walnut color.

The first shooting session with it, about 100 rounds in the ejector rod started backing out from the ejector star, preventing me from opening up the cylinder. I had to pry it open, leaving some scratches on the ejector rod.

I still own that pistol today, and even with all of the crappy 1980s poor workmanship, it is still the silkiest double action revolver I've ever fired.

Only my Dan Wesson 715 has a better single action trigger, but the Model 19 has the better double action pull.

Great article! I’ve owned a S&W 1917 for over 30 years. Although I still have the 1/2 moon and full moon clips I mostly use the Auto Rim case when reloading. For you reloaders most of the S&W pistols have cylinder throat diameters of .454”. This is not an issue with jacketed bullets but if you reload lead bullets make sure they are sized to .454 or you will get leading in the barrel.

Old military hand guns often seem to have very interesting histories and mechanics. I amassed a pretty decent sized collection of eastern block hardware back when they were dirt cheap.

I was surprised recently when I found out that Nagant M1895 revolvers now sell for hundreds of dollars. I have a bunch of them. The problem is that the “gas seal” 7.62x38R cartridges have typically been hard to find and expensive compared to other pistol cartridges. I converted most of mine to fire cartridges that I make from Starline 32-20 brass or 30 carbine brass but I still have a couple that are only happy with the original cartridges... Those pistols have a very interesting history and mechanics, along with being a little funky looking.

It is strange to think that the quirky revolver may have been used for more “field executions” than any other gun in history, even the Russian Royal family for whose army it was originally commissioned. The Nazis captured millions of them on their trek through Russia and used them against the locals.

It was reportedly Stalin's favorite gun... I have Tokarev and Makarov semi-auto pistols as well and think I understand why the original old “Uncle Joe” might have preferred the Nagant. The Tokarev fires the same weight 7.62mm projectile at over twice the velocity... When sending his associates to the great beyond, a Tokarev would most likely make a much bigger mess as the bullet would exit the the skull and possibly be a danger to others nearby, while the Nagant would just make a neat little entrance hole.

I had one of those .30 cals forty five years ago. A hair too long case would cause the cylinder to seize up as it head spaced on the case mouth.

I learned to load the cylinder, then run my finger over the case heads and I could “feel” the difference in the case. Got rid of it way back then.

Bought one of those years ago that had been reamed out for .45 Long Colt. The owner was afraid to fire it. I have shot hundreds of rounds through it with no problems except the sights being WAY off! It was originally in .455 British.

I remedied that by filing down the front, and unscrewing the barrel just a touch to bring it into proper alignment. I also bought a Wondersight to go on it.

http://www.hollowpointmold.com/wondersight/Wondersight-old-ad-copy_480.jpg

So a 1911 tops a revolver for reliability in sandy conditions? Seems unlikely.
I carry a revolver for reliability. As a youngster, my father was present when Col. Thomson demonstrated his submachine gun with a compensator to a group of army officers at a government facility his father directed. Dad made th comment about how well the gun worked compared to his experience with the 1911. The general was outraged, so dad suggested that the five or six other officer present who were wearing sidearms show him he was wrong. Not one of the officers could empty a magazine without a jam or stove pipe.

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