M-1917(S&W)

    This is the oldest gun I own and it is a classic. The S&W version of the M-1917, chambered for the .45 Auto Cartridge. This gun, and it's Colt counterpart were produced during WWI because the Colt plant could not produce enough of it's excellent and, at that time, cutting edge automatic pistols to arm the troops for trench warfare. Colt and S&W were both capable of producing large quantities of revolvers, and the Army decided to use these guns to supplement the short supply of autos, provided the manufacturers would chamber them for the new .45 A.C.P.cartridge in order to simplify logistics. In some ways this was a better gun for the job, as the man of that day was more likely to be familiar with a revolver than an automatic. A revolver is also unaffected by ammunition quality and is not slowed down by a misfire as an auto pistol is. It is also some what more tolerant of neglect and abuse, and less likely to be affected by dirt, and mud.
    Revolver cartridges need a rim to extract; auto pistol cartridges use a groove near the base. In order to use the .45 auto cartridge in these guns, a small piece of stamped metal called a half moon clip was developed. Each one holds three rounds, and two were used to load the pistol. Loaded in such a fashion, these guns could be emptied and recharged almost as fast as the auto for which they were substituted. Today we have full moon clips which hold six rounds so that this revolver can be charged as quickly as an auto. I have also fired .45 Long Colt cartridges through this gun, although, not wanting to be sued, I will not recommend the practice. At any rate, the .45 Auto rounds are ballistically the same as the .45 Long Colts in normal loadings, so there is no reason to use the older cartridges. There is also a slight safety problem with the Long Colt. Because the cylinder was designed to hold . 45 auto rounds, held in half moon clips, there is a fair amount of clearance between the cylinder and the frame of the gun. Since revolver cartridges headspace on the rim, they will not headspace properly in this gun, the extra clearance will allow them to slip back a bit. In the real world, this means that if you are foolish enough to use hot load .45 L.C. cartridges in this gun, the case can burst just ahead of the rim. There is a revolver round specially made for this gun which circumvents the headspace problem by using a very thick rim. It is called the .45 auto rim cartridge.
    The gun was based upon the .44 hand ejector of 1908. This eventually was developed into the respected S&W "N" frame upon which the famous M-29 .44 Magnum of Dirty Harry fame was built. This is also the same frame that is used in the M-27, which was the original .357 magnum back in the thirties. Today a version of the M-1917 is still made by S&W. It is updated and modernized, and called the Model 25-5, but deep down inside it is a M-1917. The gun goes in and out of production depending on demand. Although the same cylinder is used in these guns as in the .44 Magnum, they can not be hot loaded. The .44 magnum is actually a .429 bore, whereas the .45 is a .452 bore. The extra .023 inch is the difference between a safe revolver and a blown cylinder. After the war some of these guns went down to South America, many were used by the U.S. Postal Service, but most went into armories to await the next war. I have never bothered to trace the serial number of my gun, so I do not know it's history past WWI. The gun has fair accuracy with the .45 A.C.P., shooting between 3 and four inches. I prefer not to mention how it shoots the old .45 L.C. Suffice it to say that the groups are a bit larger with the older cartridge.