page_title: Colt New Service
section_title: Colt M1917 revolver
hierarchical_section_title: Colt New Service / History / Colt M1917 revolver
caption_attribution_description: English: US Colt 45 M1917 Revolver
context_page_description: The Colt New Service is a large frame, large caliber, double-action revolver made by Colt from 1898 until 1941. Made in various calibers, the .45 Colt version with a 5½" barrel, was adopted by the U.S. Armed Forces as the Model 1909.
  The Colt M1917 revolver was created to supplement insufficient stocks of M1911 pistols during World War I. It was simply a New Service re-chambered to take the .45 ACP cartridge and used half-moon clips to hold the rimless cartridges in position. After World War I, the revolver gained a strong following among civilian shooters. A commercial rimmed cartridge the .45 Auto Rim was also developed, that allowed the M1917 to be fired without the need for moon-clips.
  In the 1930s, the New Service was chambered for .38 Special, and then .357 Magnum. As one of the most powerful handgun cartridges available at the time, it was easily capable of penetrating the automobile bodies and body armor used by the gangsters, bank robbers and fugitives of that era. As such, it became instantly popular with lawmen, state troopers and highway patrolmen.
context_section_description: The U.S. Army Model 1917 was created to supplement insufficient stocks of M1911 pistols during World War I. The Colt M1917 Revolver was a New Service with a cylinder bored to take the .45 ACP cartridge and the half-moon clips to hold the rimless cartridges in position. 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 rims of the rimless cartridges. As a result of these issues, a commercial rimmed cartridge the .45 Auto Rim was developed that allowed the M1917 to be fired without the need for moon-clips. After World War I, the revolver gained a strong following among civilian shooters. The M1917s saw action again during World War II, when it was issued to "specialty troops such as tankers and artillery personnel." During the Korean War they were again issued to support-troops. The M1917s were even used by the "tunnel rats" during the Vietnam War.
caption: U.S. Colt .45 M1917 Revolver
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