Those '17s still served all over the place once they were not standard issue any more. From the US Postal Service to Vietnam, where ones that we gave to the Free French during WWII showed up in the hands of our enemies as well as our "friends."
I never understood how most Vietnamese could handle the big grips, especially the Colt, but apparently, as in so many other things, they improvised.
Some US GIs preferred them to the 1911 in WWII, just as some preferred the Springfield to the M1 Garand.
