M1917 (revolver)

The US military was not sufficiently prepared for the First World War . They adopted the then new, self-loading pistol Colt 1911 , but its supplies and production were limited. General Pershing wanted every soldier in France to carry a pistol ^[3] . Colt and Springfield Armory were engaged in the development of other weapons. The US Army needed a .45 ACP flanged-free cartridge , as a smaller caliber often went right through instead of stopping the enemy ^[4] . In addition, the flangeless .45 ACP cartridge had a higher initial velocity than the flange cartridge of the same caliber. However, the .45 ACP cartridge did not hold in the drum chamber, because it did not have edges, and to eliminate this drawback, Smith & Wesson developed special clips in a shape resembling a crescent ( English half-moon clips ). Thus, the revolver could be charged at once with three cartridges. S & W quickly guessed that the clips can be connected - this is how a full clip appeared ( full moon clips ), which allowed you to reload the weapon even faster. These clips were quite flexible and, as a rule, softened the blow of the trigger. Consequently, the trigger had to hit the .45 ACP cartridge primer more than the .45 Colt or other flange cartridges, and the trigger pull was, on the whole, heavy ^[3] . Later, the .45 AR cartridge ^[5] was developed, representing .45 ACP with flanges on the sleeve, which made it possible to use it in M1917 revolvers without the use of clips ^[6] .

The M1917 revolver was produced by two companies, Colt (based on the Colt New Service revolver (also known as the Colt M1909 ) chambered for .45 Long Colt ) and Smith & Wesson (based on the Second Model. 44 Hand Ejector revolver ) ^[7] .

Smith & Wesson M1917

US Service M-1917 .45 caliber with a manual ejector ( eng .45 Hand Ejector US Service, M1917 ) - six-shot revolver with solid frame , was released by S & W in the years 1917-1946. After entering the First World War, the US Army needed a gun for a wafer-less .45 caliber cartridge, for which S & W modified its standard weapon. The basis was taken from the basic design of a modified revolver .44 Hand Ejector Second Model . It was adapted for the .45 ACP cartridge, had a shortened barrel and a modified drum design: it was shortened so that you can insert semicircular clips and hide the bottom of the cartridges ^[8] .

Compared with Colt, Smith & Wesson left a small recess in the model of her weapon, while processing the drum's chamber holders, thanks to this, the .45 ACP cartridges could be inserted without special clips, but then there were difficulties with extracting the spent cartridges. Model M-1917 was produced by order of the US Army until 1918 ^[9] , the total number of delivered revolvers was 163,476 units. Some of the revolvers got into commercial sale as official and civilian weapons after the end of the war ^[10] . S & W produced a total of around 210,320 revolvers.

Colt M1917

Model 1917 (Colt) ( eng. Model 1917 ) - a modification of the six-service army revolver New Service Model for the wafer-less .45 ACP cartridge, which began production in 1917 to supply the US Army due to the lack of a self-loading pistol Colt M1911 ^[8] . In this model, just like the S & W M1917 revolver, the drum was shortened, because the .43 Colt cartridge was longer than .45 ACP. In order to place cartridges in the drum and to ensure quick extraction of the spent cartridges, plate holders in the form of two crescents ( eng. Moonclips ) were also used here, 3 cartridges were inserted into each of them. These clips ensured the correct location of the cartridges in the drum chambers and the necessary stop for the ejector rod when pushing the sleeves. A total of approximately 150,000 revolvers were released for the US Armed Forces ^[11] . In the 1960s, the remnants of the M1917 were sold for only $ 29.95. Most of those who bought these revolvers modified them. As a result, that small part of revolvers, which has not undergone changes and remained in good condition, now costs more than new S-W N-frame revolvers.

Model 25 .45 Hand Ejector

Model .25 caliber .45 with a manual ejector ( eng. .45 Hand Ejector, Model 25 ) is a modified revolver M-1917, released in 1955 by Smith & Wesson. The basic design of this model was adopted from the revolver. Model .44 caliber .44 ( eng. .44 Magnum, Model 29 ) for the reason that the drum chambered for the .45 caliber was shorter than the .44 Magnum. Therefore, there is a gap between the front end and the frame. Barrel with a strap can have a length of 4, 6 and 8.33 inches ^[9] .

•   USA - this revolver was used mainly by the rear and auxiliary units of the US Army ^[9] . During the First World War, revolvers were used in the Second Battle of Marne in 1918. In World War II, the US Army and the US Marine Corps again armed themselves with M1917 revolvers, where they showed good fighting qualities ^{[9] [12]} .
•   United Kingdom - British troops used the M1917 in 1940, when a large number of weapons were sent to the Militia and the Royal Navy of Great Britain ^[13] .
•   China - 8 revolvers were delivered during the Second World War http://lend-lease.airforce.ru/documents/files/Part_3A_pages_1-26.pdf ^[9] .
•   Brazil - 25,000 M1917 revolvers, issued under a military contract with the company S & W, were purchased in 1937 for the armed forces ^[14] .
•   Germany - during World War II, a number of revolvers were captured by German troops, the Colt M1917 revolver was given the name Revolver 661 (a) , and the Smith & Wesson M1917 revolver - the name Revolver 662 (a) .

• Colt M1911
• Colt new service
• Patron .45 Colt

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