S&W 1917 45 ACP

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Last Post 08 March 2024
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Wineman posted this 03 March 2024

I just picked up a S&W M1917 in 45 ACP. The condition is fair to good. Still some blue on the side plates, case hardening looks good, barrel is rusty "patina". correct grips with a small chip missing (no SN#) and the lanyard is still present. It is very tight and the barrel and cylinders are nice and clean with a bit of rust in the forcing cone. It has the cylinder ledge for the 45 ACP. Unfortunately (always a but...) The US Property mark, S&W Patent Mark, model and SN# on the butt are gone. However, it has numerous British Proof marks including the "not English make" stamp just under the cylinder on the right side. The "quality" of the scrubbing is pretty nice, however John Dillinger would not have approved of the the SN# is still being present on the barrel, cylinder and star. A later production date in 1918. In my youth I had its Colt sister which was beautiful but ran poorly. Hopefully this ugly duckling will be the opposite. Would the Brits have done the scrubbing or did someone on this side of the pond do it? It needs a range day so stay tuned.

Dave

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oscarflytyer posted this 04 March 2024

Mine is an M1917 Brazil contract. 5 digit serial/dates 1918 - but historical records indicate it was leftover WWI/1918 guns/parts 'found' and used to fulfill part of the second Brazilian contract of 1946 (current era all had 6 digit serials). Brazilian crest. Ugly on the outside/lots of scales. Had to get a set of new correct replacement grips and replaced the missing lanyard. But it is very tight and shoots lights out. For what I gave for it//have in it, I am beyond thrilled!

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RicinYakima posted this 04 March 2024

Having played with at least of dozen of these, I would guess that it is a late WW1 production, put in storage, and sent to England in 1940 under lend / lease. In order to reimport them in the 1950's, the butt was scrubbed. The "Not English Made" and required to be reproofed were done in 1940.

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Wilderness posted this 04 March 2024

Australian military ended up with some of these as well, possibly via U.K. An uncle was in the Australian 2/2 Machine Guns (Vickers Guns) in North Aftrica, New Guinea, and Borneo. They had the .45 revolvers in North Aftrica. At that stage .45 ammo was pretty scarce, to the point that wasting it was a Court Martial offence.

As an aside, MG ammo was by contrast plentiful - the allocation for a machine gun pit was 40,000 rounds.

Another S&W I saw that came back from New Guinea was marked U.S.Property, but I don't recall any U.K. markings.

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Tom Acheson posted this 04 March 2024

A bit off track but my favorite revolver in my S&W Model 25-2. I use 45 Auto Rim rounds but with the moon clips, it can digest 45 ACP rounds.

I only mention it because this gun traces its lineage back to the 1917 45 ACP revolvers. Fun guns!

Tom

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Wineman posted this 05 March 2024

Thank you for all the nice comments. Ric, from what I had found on line, that explanation seemed to be the most plausible. I need to review the FS for some loading info. There seems to be an internet thread that claims the shallow rifling will not shot cast or at least it needs to be hard cast stuff. Others say the M1911 and the M1917's have identical lands and grooves so a well fitted load, not running too fast should work fine. I still need to get the cylinder throat and barrel measurements (and shoot it). A set of Moon Clips is also something to get too.

Dave C

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Ed Harris posted this 05 March 2024

My experience with several of these is that cylinder throats are typically .455-.456 and shoot well with soft .454 bullets and mild loads assembled with 4.0-4.5 grains of Bullseye or TiteGroup, 5 grains of 231 or 5.5-6 grains of Unique with 230 grain bullets similar to Saeco #954 or the RCBS 45-230CM. No need to run over 800 fps, approximating factory .45 Auto Rim load.

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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oscarflytyer posted this 05 March 2024

Mine shoots well with the BE load Ed mentions. Even shoots my MP HG #68 clone well (same BE load). I would also recommend EZ Moon clips for range work. I love them over the metal clips. Much easier to work with. Can load/unload by hand/no tool required.

https://www.ezmoonclip.com/

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RustyZipper posted this 05 March 2024

I use a mooner/demooner with steel moonclips they work fine. My 1917 was a Brazilian contract. It came to my buddy with heavy scaly rust and pits. He reblued it with a heavy black, maybe oxpho. But the pits' removal would have left it with little metal. The inner workings were good. He did a trigger job and slicked it up. Shoots well. Be Well Brothers, RZ.

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Wineman posted this 06 March 2024

Ed, thanks for the load tips I will definitely try the Alliant loads out. There is a D/A only revolver match at a somewhat local range. You need 18 shots: a full cylinder and two speed/moon clip reloads for each of six stages. There are guys with some really high tech tools to load and unload the moon clips and also something as simple as a cut down golf club (38 sp). It is pretty fun to run the course (different plate set up and shot patterns on cowboy steel). No time limit (fastest and lowest score are usually the same person). Misses are 10 sec. Most use some form of 38 sp, 38 short colt, 9 mm (all lead and all "60's cop" speed). Every other month they do a Big Bore (40 and above) D/A and a 1911 match. I'm looking forward to bringing this to a BB match. I'll check out the EZ clips. With my K38 I just use HKS #10A speed loaders

Dave