Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns The 1917:

Didn't know it, but a friend owned one of these and let me take it out for a spin today:









Two cylinders. 10 yds.

Sweet. I've got one just like it, but made by S&W for the Brazilian Armed Forces. Fun to shoot. Don't even need the moon clips, you know. The Colts did, but not the S&Ws. Just need a pencil or something similar to knock them out one at a time.

I always wanted one, but then I found a 25-2 (target gun). Never have found one at an affordable price. That 25-2 shot like crap, it never did "act right" and I finally got rid of it.

I've never really had good luck with N-frame Smiths, excepting a M28 that shot well.

I've sworn off them now, but I'd still kinda like one of those 1917s.

Burnt a lot of Bullseye through one of those many moons ago. Put a set of Herrets grips on it, shot cast bullets unsized, wish I had it back.

The Colt here doesn't require moon clips to headspace....

That's really nice.

Looks like I was wrong in that later Colts were made to headspace without the clips, too. Earlier ones were straight walled.

Its a flat latch...

personally i like the smith better than the colt version. Having others shoot both the opinion was pretty much the same.
with a tuned action they are pretty sweet, fast to reload, and accurate.

I do like 1917's. I owned a Smith for quite a while, one of my cop nephews wound up with it.

The husband of one of my nieces has a Colt, it is one of the later ones which headspaces on the case mouth so at the range he usually just shoots it with ACPs without the moon clips. Works fine since he is in no hurry to reload.

The one I have is now a 45 Colt that I assume was done at the factory.

I've had this one for more than 20 years.

Dan, I've seen that pistol's picture a dozen times here. Every time I do, I still think that it is one of the coolest revolvers I have ever seen.

EdM has one that I feel the same way about, but if I owned that pistol, I'd carry it everywhere I went until I wore all the blue off it.

Excellent piece of hardware.

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.

As a side note, I enjoyed seeing the 1917 star in "FURY".

A friend of mine had a .44 Special done up almost identically to that one, although he'd dovetailed a sight blade in into the topstrap for a better sight picture.

Sweet old gun, that one was.

Is it marked as such on the right side of the frame? If it is, can you photograph the marking and email it to me? I just picked one up that I think was made for the Brazilian military as well in .45 ACP. Just picked it up last week.

All you need now is a hat and a bullwhip.

Those are F-ing off the charts cool!!!

My 45 Colt version that someone unfortunately nickel plated. I've since added the lanyard ring back to it. I've thought about having the nickel removed, we'll see.

A 1917 in .45LC would, for me at least, be about as close to perfect in DA revolver form as I think I could get.

Very nice!

The brazilian was the model of 1928 based on the s&w model 1917.
I would have to look at mine but i think it has the brazilian crest on the right side. some came back into the country still blued, others were park"d.

Buddy of mine had a Smith 1917 some years ago. We loaded loaw-stress loads with cast 230 grain RN's for it. We used to trap mushrats together on the Susquehanna River. Coming back down the river in the boat, after checking our traps, we'd take turns lobbing those 230 grainers at rocks and logs and clumps of mud along the high banks of that river....got so we could drop 'em in there with surprising accuracy out at 2 or 3 hundred yards.

Ron,

Believe it they are the Brazilian Model of 1937

Whatever... I wish I could find a decent one around here. Everyone I've seen has been a bit on the rough side.

Jerry

That would be a 1909 New Service and one of my favorite guns. I'll have to dig up my pics.

Found it. On left is an 1892, belonged to my wife's Great Grandfather (US Army and was in the Spanish-American War)in 38LC and shipped to the US Army Arsenal, Ft. Leavenworth. The 1909 in 45 Colt, manufactured in 1911 and shipped to the US Army Depo, Manila in the same year. The 1909 is in exceptionally good shape and all correct:

And to think these sold for about $25.00 each back in the 60's when the Postal Service turned them loose.

Very nice, Jorge. Those are beautiful.

Am I remebering correctly,that the UNDER performace of the 38 on the stoned Spanish during the Spanish American War brought about the development of the 45 caliber for service?

I seem to remember reading that somehweres over the years.

The 38LC was a problem in the Philippines

4ager, then look for the 1909 Colt. They made lots of them in .45 Colt ctg.

Btw, my 1917 and stuff!

^^^^^ This,,,

Also lots of Colt 1878 DA's and 1902 "Phillipine Constabulary" .45's used during the Insurrection too!

Will it wasn't the Spanish, it was the Moros during the insurrection. 1873 Colt 45's and trapdoor Springfields were mighty popular because they smacked the daylights out of whoever they hit.

Thanks Steelie, Kay, and ET for making it clear.

Had one of those 45LC Colts on my want list at one time. Always got pushed out of the way for something else i wanted more or came across first.

The get list ebbs and flows.

you are right, memory is the second thing to go.

If I had to have an old DA in 45 Colt it would be a New Service, preferably a Target/Shooting Master. The Smiths are nice but wont eat even a 454429 properly as the cylinders are a bit short.

The later 25-5s are wonderful 45 chambered guns and the 45 Anaconda is perhaps the best overall DA platform ever in 45 Colt.

As stated by SH, the issue was in the PI. No recorded incidents of doped up troops on any side

juramentado = 45

I had a S&W 1917 that some moron had rechambered to .45 Win Mag. It was still in one piece, despite the thin cylinder walls. Whoever did the rechamber job must have lived under a lucky star if he shot it much. I traded it for a Remington 1100 20 gauge skeet gun at Corey's in Littleton, NH, about 30 years ago, but, for some reason, I still have a couple dozen half-moon clips somewhere around.

I have a 4" barrel version lurking around here somewhere. I used to shoot the NEI 454-270-PBK out of it because I could size them to better fit the sloppy factory cylinder throats.

They arent sloppy, they just need to fit....as you know too well.

The 1917s universally eat a 454 bullet the best, as pretty much all wheelguns in ACP and 45 Colt had throats 454 to 456. 454 or 455 bullets, dont seem to make much difference.
Hardness should be above 10 but anything up to 28 shines.

The Anaconda (and 25-5/25-2s) need simply to be fed pre war bullet sizes utilizing older dies or cowboy action dies of appropriate sizes and hard enough to hold the shallow rifling and seated straight or be long enough to stay straight through the cylinder.

Cant stress enough of how many "failures" can be pointed at the expander, the sizing die or both.

The defunct 45 Anaconda can easily be given a Smith like DA pull and shoot with any 41 or 44 Magnum which is saying a lot...The King Cobra and MkV actions can do the same.

The Keith bullets (namely the RCBS270 SAA) shoots okay, but with wheelweight metal it is too small just like most NEIs Ive toyed with. Both are/ were cut for type.

Fed the fat 455 260-340 LBTs and sized point foreward, they have shot like crazy for me.

I was reflecting on these revolvers last evening and remembered the first one I owned. Got it about 1972 for $45!

Also remembered several years ago my coworker finished out two different "Lone Wolf Gonzaullas" style guns for two different customers. With the bobbed off trigger guard and a barrel cut back to 2". And a new front sight installed. Pretty cute guns.

Is that a 45 colt or 45 ACP?