Today for Gus’ Gear I have two Model 1917 New Service .45 caliber revolvers. It was decided that it would be better for ammunition supply to have the revolvers chambered for the same cartridge that was used in the M1911 Colt Automatic pistol. The M1909 revolver was rechambered to fit the .45 Automatic Colt Pistol cartridge on half moon clips. This gave the added benefit of having a way to load the revolver faster by inserting two clips instead of 6 cartridges. The clips were needed as the .45 ACP cartridge is a rimless cartridge and would not eject from the cylinder after firing. It was found that there were not enough Colt M1911 pistols available, and retooling the factory to produce the New Service revolver rechambered for the .45 ACP cartridge was very easy to do. Even then, Colt was not able to keep up with demand, and Smith & Wesson was asked to produce a version of the M1917 revolver, also chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The Smith & Wesson M1917 was based on the .45 caliber second model hand ejector that was already in production for sale to Canada and the United Kingdom. The United States Government took control of the production of the M1917 Smith & Wesson for the duration of the war.
As can be seen, the dimensions of the two M1917 revolvers is very much the same, the biggest outward difference is the cylinder release. On the Colt (bottom revolver) the release is pulled back to unlock the cylinder, but on the Smith & Wesson (top revolver) the release is pushed forward to unlock the cylinder. Both revolvers have the cylinder swing out to the left to eject and reload.
The internal mechanism is different on the two revolvers, the side plate of the Colt is on the left and on the right on the Smith & Wesson. Both revolvers have a lanyard ring in the butt and the markings on the butt are both U.S. Army Model of 1917 with the service number.
Both revolvers used the same holster and lanyard as the M1909 revolver. The .45 ACP cartridges are in half moon clips that hold 3 cartridges. The cartridges can be easily removed when fired. The canvas pouch on the right has three pockets that hold two clips in each pocket. It is quick and easy to withdraw the clips to reload the revolvers. The cartridges are issued in 20 round boxes, like the .38 Long Colt and .45 Long Colt cartridges. These are marked Caliber .45 M1911 and are the same that is used in the Colt M1911 Automatic Pistol.