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Gene L
Senior MemberPosts: 12,576 Senior Member
Thoughts on the 1917 Army revolvers

As you probably know, these revolvers are reloaded with clips. Half moon, moon clips for 1917 revolvers in .45 APC. I prefer the half-moon clips as they're historically correct and make a LOT more sense for a combat revolver, where if you fire only a couple of rounds, you can reload with three. Unlike moon clips, where you'd have to eject 4 good rounds to reload with 6.
But...the half moon clips I could find were thin steel and very, very difficult to load with ammo, and impossible to unload the empties by hand. (Unlike the ones on videos I saw.) So I went looking online for a substitute for steel and found plastic moon clips. They're easy to load and I assume easy to unload without a tool. Couldn't find half-moon plastic clips and doubt they're made...probably would be too bendy. So I recommend them for revolvers that use them. Great for range use, but if I carried a duty Model 25, it would be with half-moons.
Since I got my S&W 1917, I've been researching them, since I like to know about guns and after the fake one mentioned below. There is a lot of info out there on the internet, but not all in information in one source I could find.I had to read several sources and make inferences in a few cases, which I hope to be justified. For example, I read that all Army S&W 1917s had govt inspector marks and the flaming bomb om them, and most of them did, those made after Sept 1918. That's when Springfield Armory took charge temporarily of inspection. Before, the ordinance dept trusted Smith and apparently Colt to make the specs. Mine was made in April of 1918 and doesn't have ord marking. On top of the barrel, it has the S&W two-line address. I don't know if this was continued after the Springfield Armory became involved. Smiths don't have the logo on the side, Colts have the prancing horse on the left side. It's also 1/4 # heavier than a S&W.
One site said while S&W cylinders were rebated so you could use ACP rounds w/o a clip and eject them with a rod or pencil or whatever, Colts did not have this and the round would slide down in the cylinder causing headspace problems and maybe so deep the firing pin wouldn't engage. This was true on earlier Colts, but before too long Springfield required the later ones to be bored like the Smiths.
I reported earlier on a faked Smith on another forum, where some faker had hand-lettered the butt US Army and the "Property...." line on the bottom of the barrel. Didn't fool the others on that forum, but it fooled the guy who bought it and probably would have fooled me because I couldn't believe someone would take the time and skill to hand engrave the lettering, which was actually pretty authentic looking. Anyway, it was this fake that led me to do the research on my revolver.
But...the half moon clips I could find were thin steel and very, very difficult to load with ammo, and impossible to unload the empties by hand. (Unlike the ones on videos I saw.) So I went looking online for a substitute for steel and found plastic moon clips. They're easy to load and I assume easy to unload without a tool. Couldn't find half-moon plastic clips and doubt they're made...probably would be too bendy. So I recommend them for revolvers that use them. Great for range use, but if I carried a duty Model 25, it would be with half-moons.
Since I got my S&W 1917, I've been researching them, since I like to know about guns and after the fake one mentioned below. There is a lot of info out there on the internet, but not all in information in one source I could find.I had to read several sources and make inferences in a few cases, which I hope to be justified. For example, I read that all Army S&W 1917s had govt inspector marks and the flaming bomb om them, and most of them did, those made after Sept 1918. That's when Springfield Armory took charge temporarily of inspection. Before, the ordinance dept trusted Smith and apparently Colt to make the specs. Mine was made in April of 1918 and doesn't have ord marking. On top of the barrel, it has the S&W two-line address. I don't know if this was continued after the Springfield Armory became involved. Smiths don't have the logo on the side, Colts have the prancing horse on the left side. It's also 1/4 # heavier than a S&W.
One site said while S&W cylinders were rebated so you could use ACP rounds w/o a clip and eject them with a rod or pencil or whatever, Colts did not have this and the round would slide down in the cylinder causing headspace problems and maybe so deep the firing pin wouldn't engage. This was true on earlier Colts, but before too long Springfield required the later ones to be bored like the Smiths.
I reported earlier on a faked Smith on another forum, where some faker had hand-lettered the butt US Army and the "Property...." line on the bottom of the barrel. Didn't fool the others on that forum, but it fooled the guy who bought it and probably would have fooled me because I couldn't believe someone would take the time and skill to hand engrave the lettering, which was actually pretty authentic looking. Anyway, it was this fake that led me to do the research on my revolver.
Concealed carry is for protection, open carry is for attention.
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Anyway...I love the platform and have been looking for the right on for quite some time...
S&W continued the Model 1917, which I guess were the ones of WW2 issue and in the 30s (?) sold a bunch to Brazil. These have the Brazilian crest and were imported back to the US and you'll see some of these in videos
I found the half and full moon clips to be a PITA!
1917's .
Wonder if they were actually used in combat at least during WWII for more than a whole cylinder of ammo. All the combat reports I've seen regarding sidearms were either captured pistols, 1911s or smaller revolvers some soldiers got from home.
Ammo is nowhere to be found over here. It's a 1917-made revolver that arrived in some old warships we got from the Brits after WWII. Since all the small arms onboard (These revolvers and some Enfield rifles) weren't in a locally available caliber (.455 & .303) already used by the Navy, they were allegedly tossed overboard and only a handful were spared when Officers took them as souvenirs from the pile
Rounds were apparently never imported at least during the last 60 years. Overall British guns are very scarce here and to fire mine I usually ask a friend to download for me commercial FMJ.45ACP rounds to the safe pressure range for the Webley and then use a steel punch to carefully whack 4 spots on the rimless extractor groove base of the cases, thus creating an improvised "rim" strong enough to withstand the hammer hitting the primer without allowing the case to jam inside the cylinder chambers.
So far such "jungle ingenuity" has worked OK, althought I've used it very little since I have a .22LR MkIV that is pretty much a 3/4 scaled version of the MkVI and it does the job of "scratching the top break revolver itch" pretty well
"Nothing is safe from stupid." - Zee
One thing just occurred to me today, came from the S&W forum. As I said in the OP the Gov took control of S&W 1917 inspections and control in Sept, 1918, but WW1 ended only about two months later, Nov. 1918. so I wonder how long the gov was in charge, If anyone knows, I'd appreciate it.
That's the main reason I seldom use mine; if in need I shoot the .22 MkIV. Got other surplus pistols I enjoy a lot more like Broomhanldes & Lugers, so this Webley is a very low proirity range visitor.
Didn't had time to take the pics; will try tonight.