M1917 revolver

M1917 revolver
M1917 Revolver

Smith & Wesson M1917 (Brazilian contract) Type Placeoforigin Revolver

United States

Service history
Inservice Usedby Wars 1917c. 1954 See Users World War I, World War II, Korean War and Vietnam War

Production history
Designed Produced Numberbuilt Variants 1917 19171920 c. 300,000 total (c. 150,000 per manufacturer) Slightly differing versions of the M1917 were made by Colt (shown above) and Smith & Wesson

Specifications
Weight Length Barrellength Cartridge Action 2.5lb (1.1kg) (Colt) 2.25lb (1.0kg) (S&W) 10.8in (270mm) 5.5in (140mm) .45 ACP, .45 Auto Rim double action, solid frame with swing-out cylinder

Muzzlevelocity 760 ft/s ( 231.7 m/s) Feedsystem Sights six-round cylinder, loaded singly or with two three-round half-moon clips blade front sight, notched rear sight

The M1917 Revolver (formally United States Revolver, Caliber .45, M1917) was a U.S. six-shot revolver of .45 ACP caliber. It was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1917 to supplement the standard M1911 .45 ACP semi-automatic pistol during World War I. Afterwards, it was primarily used by secondary and non-deployed troops. There were two variations of the M1917, one from Colt and one from S&W.

M1917 revolver

Background
U.S. civilians arms companies of Colt and Remington-UMC as well as other companies were producing M1911 pistols under contract for the U.S. Army, but even with the additional production there existed a shortage of M1911s. The interim solution was to ask the two major American producers of revolvers to adapt their heavy-frame civilian revolvers to the standard .45 ACP pistol cartridge. Both companies' revolvers utilized half-moon clips to extract the rimless .45 ACP cartridges. Smith & Wesson invented and patented the half-moon clip, but at the request of the Army allowed Colt to also use the design free of charge in their own version of the M1917 revolver.

Colt M1917 revolver

Colt had until recently produced a revolver for the U.S. Army called the M1909, a version of their heavy-frame, .45-caliber, New Service model in .45 Long Colt to supplement and replace a range of 1890s-era .38 caliber Colt and Smith & Wesson revolvers that had demonstrated inadequate stopping power during the Philippine-American War. The Colt M1917 Revolver was essentially the same as the M1909 with a cylinder bored to take the .45 ACP cartridge and the half-moon clips to hold the rimless cartridges in position. In early Colt production revolvers, attempting to fire the .45 ACP without the half-moon clips was unreliable at best, as the cartridge could slip forward into the cylinder and away from the firing pin.[citation needed] Later production Colt M1917 revolvers had headspacing machined into the cylinder chambers, just as the Smith & Wesson M1917 revolvers had from the start. Newer Colt production could be fired without the half-moon clips, but the empty cartridge cases had to be ejected with a device such as a cleaning rod or pencil, as the cylinder extractor and ejector would pass over the edge of the rimless cartridges.

Smith & Wesson M1917 revolver

The Smith & Wesson Model 1917 was essentially an adaptation of that company's Second Model .44 Hand Ejector, chambered instead for .45 ACP, employing a shortened cylinder allowing for use of half-moon clips, and a lanyard ring on the butt of the frame. Smith & Wesson had recently (c. 1915-16) produced the Hand Ejector, which uses their heavy .44 caliber frame, for the British Army in .455 Webley caliber due to shortages in British production facilities of standard-issue Webley Mk VI top-break revolvers. The S&W M1917 is distinguishable from the Colt M1917 in that the S&W cylinder had a shoulder machined into it to permit rimless .45 ACP cartridges to headspace on the case mouth (as with automatic pistols). The S&W M1917 could thus be used without the half-moon clips, though the empty cases would have to be poked-out manually through the cylinder face, since the extractor star cannot engage the rimless cases. While these revolvers were originally blued, S&W M1917 revolvers rebuilt during and after World War II may have been parkerized during arsenal rebuild or under a refurbish contract with S&W.

Smith & Wesson 1917 with moon clips and two auto rim cartridges

M1917 revolver

Later Use
After the First World War, M1917s became popular on the civilian and police market. Some were military surplus. Others were newly manufactured. Smith and Wesson kept their version in production, for civilian and police sales, until they replaced it with their Model 1950 Target. Many civilian shooters disliked using half-moon clips. Loading and unloading the clips is tedious but obviates refilling the chamber with single rounds. Bent clips can cushion the firing pin strike and cause ignition problems.[1] For these reasons, in 1920, the Peters ammunition company introduced the .45 Auto Rim. This rimmed version of the .45 ACP allowed both versions of the Model 1917 revolver to fire reliably without the clips. In the late 1950s and 1960s, the Colt and Smith & Wesson 1917 were available through mail order companies at bargain prices. The military service of the M1917 did not end with the First World War. In 1937, Brazil ordered 25,000 Smith and Wesson M1917s for their military.[2] Now out of service, surplus examples can be identified by the large Brazilian crest stamped on their sideplates. They are sometimes referred to as the M1937 or the Brazilian-contract M1917. The Brazilian model had an altered rear sight, and most were fitted with commercial-style checkered grips, though some utilized smooth grips left over from the United States contract.[3]

Users
Brazil United States: Used By U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps. Philippines South Vietnam: Used By MACVSOG/

References
Smith & Wesson 1917 with Speer Reloading Manual

Further reading
Smith, W.H.B: "1943 Basic Manual of Military Small Arms" (Facsimile). Stackpole Books, Harrisburg PA (USA), 1979. ISBN 0-8117-1699-6 Field Manual 23-35 Pistols and Revolvers, 26 February 1953 Speer Reloading Manual Number 3, Lewiston, ID Speer Products Inc 1959 Taylor, Chuck: "The .45 Auto Rim," Guns Magazine, September 2000 Venturino, Mike " WWI Classic Returns", Guns Magazine December 2007, San Diego, Publishers Development Corp. 2007

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

M1917 revolver Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=552332586 Contributors: A Werewolf, Aldis90, Ana Nim, Asams10, Bluefist, Boris Barowski, Calmer Waters, CapnHawk, Commander Zulu, Cpl.Punishment, Creepelectronics, Danielwork, Daysleeper47, Deathbunny, Deon Steyn, DocWatson42, Fastilysock, Gaius Cornelius, Grahamboat, HarryPagetFlashman, Hmains, Hotspur23, Jack Bethune, JippoJabber, John Nevard, Juubelimies, KEN, Koavf, Kross, LWF, Magus732, Martin-wiki, MatthewVanitas, Mboverload, Mcumpston, NawlinWiki, Nukes4Tots, Oatmeal batman, Pinethicket, Prodego, ROG5728, Rama, RobertLunaIII, Sietse Snel, TGC55, TheFlarbar, Thernlund, Ve3, Winged Brick, 59 anonymous edits

Image Sources, Licenses and Contributors

File:Smith-et-Wesson-1917-p1030108.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Smith-et-Wesson-1917-p1030108.jpg License: Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 2.0 Contributors: Rama File:Flag of the United States.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_the_United_States.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Anomie File:M1917 revolver.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:M1917_revolver.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Mcumpston (talk)Mike Cumpston Original uploader was Mcumpston at en.wikipedia Image:1917 Smith and Wesson with Speer reloading handbook.jpg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:1917_Smith_and_Wesson_with_Speer_reloading_handbook.jpg License: Public Domain Contributors: Mcumpston (talk)Mike Cumpston. Original uploader was Mcumpston at en.wikipedia File:Flag of Brazil.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_Brazil.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Anomie File:Flag of the Philippines.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_the_Philippines.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: User:Achim1999 File:Flag of South Vietnam.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Flag_of_South_Vietnam.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Abjiklam, Anime Addict AA, Antemister, Avia, ChongDae, Conscious, Cycn, Denniss, Editor at Large, Electron, Fry1989, Gryffindor, Homo lupus, Illegitimate Barrister, Kauffner, Ludger1961, MS05L, Madden, Mattes, Multichill, Namkhanh02, Qgnt, ThomasPusch, Thorjoetunheim, Wrightbus, Zscout370, 24 anonymous edits

License
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