The United States Army in World War Two

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When the United States entered World War One, it found itself with an inadequate supply of the M-1911 pistol. While other firms were tooling up to produce the weapon, other sources of handguns were needed to help alleviate the critical shortage.

While Colt was ramping up production of the M1911, as well as machine guns, the company already possessed the necessary tooling and fixtures to manufacture its large double-action revolver, the New Service. This was the same basic revolver adopted by the Army as the Model of 1909 and chambered for the .45 Long Colt cartridge. The Ordnance Department requested that Colt produce this revolver, as a limited standard, but to chamber it for the .45 ACP round. Since the ACP round is rimless, it was necessary to devise a method of loading this round into a revolver’s chambers and allow for its extraction. The solution was a simple sheet-metal stamped half-moon shape that held three rounds. The modified revolver was adopted as the Colt Model of 1917 and some 150,000 were built between October of 1917 and December of 1918.

The firm of Smith & Wesson also had the capacity to build a version of its large frame revolver, chambered for the .45 ACP round. Smith & Wesson produced 153,000 copies during WWII. This was adopted as the Smith & Wesson Model of 1917.

While the M-1911 was the preferred issue, the M1917 revolvers proved themselves to be powerful and reliable revolvers. Due to the shortages of the M1911, many M1917s found themselves used in the trenches.

After the war, the M1917 revolvers were retired into the war reserve stockpile. Official records show a total of 188,120 were still available by December 7, 1941.

With the outbreak of WWII, the M1917s were pulled out of storage and refurbished. The M1917s did not see much frontline service, there were adequate numbers of the M1911A1 available, and the revolvers were mostly reserved for stateside duties or for personnel such as the Military Police. The use of these obsolescent, but still serviceable handguns allowed for more M1911s to be shipped to the combat theaters. Still, some 20,993 revolvers did make it into the hands of combat units.

The M-1917s were issued with the Model of 1909 leather holster, which had a large leather flap that fastened to the body of the holster. The holster was a cavalry pattern (butt forward). The M1909 was modified in 1941 and reissued as the M-2 holster, the holster was redesigned slightly to allow it be worn on the hip in either butt forward or butt to the rear configuration. A canvas webbing pouch that held three sets of half-moon clips was also issued. This pouch had three pockets, each holding one set.

The official use of the M-1917 revolvers ended in May of 1945, when the Ordnance Department ordered that no more would be repaired or refurbished. It was decided to declare the M1917 as Obsolete and disposed of to reduce any further need for repair parts. The Army’s Provost Marshal General’s office requested and obtained permission to stockpile a small number of M1917s for use by Military Police units. This stockpile was latter eliminated after the Korean War.