M1917 Revolver

Smith & Wesson M1917 Revolver (Military issue with lanyard ring) - .45 ACP. Note the ejector-rod socket, common of a Smith revolver. Also note the S&W style cylinder release latch and half-moon front sight. These are the most easily distinguishable external differences between the Colt and S&W versions.

Colt M1917 Revolver (Military issue with lanyard ring) - .45 ACP. Note the unsupported ejector rod - common of Colt revolvers of the period, as well as the Colt-style cylinder release latch and blade front sight. Smooth walnut grips were used on all WWI issue Model 1917 specimens

The M1917 Revolver was a six shot revolver, chambered for the .45 ACP round - a rimless round that required half (or full) moon clips to load the cartridges. During World War One, the official side arm of American forces was the M1911 Government .45 Automatic, however supply shortages forced the U.S. Army to ask two major gun manufacturers, Colt and Smith & Wesson to each update their existing commercial heavy frame revolver and build a version that could be fielded as a supplement to the standard M1911.

Colt already had an offering to the military, their M1909 heavy revolver, but it was chambered for the antiquated .45 Long Colt round. They re-chambered the revolver for the newly adopted .45 ACP round (calling the commercial variant "the Colt New Service Revolver"). Smith & Wesson re-chambered their own Second Model .44 Hand Ejector revolver as well.

Thus there are two versions of the Model 1917 revolver that are externally very similar, one built by Colt and one built by Smith & Wesson.

Smith & Wesson continued the M1917 with the Model of 1950, later renamed Smith & Wesson Model 22 and Smith & Wesson Model 25.

The M1917 Revolver and variants can be seen in the following films, television series, video games, and anime used by the following actors:

Specifications

• Weight: 2.5 lb (1.1 kg) (Colt)
• 2.25 lb (1 kg) (S&W)
• Length: 10.8 in (274 mm)
• Barrel length: 5.5 in (140 mm)
• Cartridge: .45 ACP, .45 Auto Rim
• Action: double action, solid frame with swing-out cylinder
• Muzzle velocity: 760 ft/s ( 231.7 m/s)
• Feed system: six-round cylinder, loaded singly (.45 Auto Rim) or with two three-round half-moon clips (.45 ACP)
• Sights: blade front sight, notched rear sight

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Film

Title	Actor	Character	Note	Date
Journey's End	Colin Clive	Capt. Denis Stanhope	Colt	1930
	Ian Maclaren	Lt. Osborne	Colt
Gun Crazy	John Dall	Bart Tare	Colt	1950
Halls of Montezuma	Reginald Gardner	Sgt. Johnson	Colt with pearl grips, in shoulder holster	1951
Paths of Glory	Kirk Douglas	Colonel Dax	S&W	1957
Amphibian Man (Chelovek-Amfibiya)	Mikhail Medvedev	Zurita's boatswain	Colt	1961
The Oil Prince	Stole Arandjelovic	Prince's henchman	Colt	1965
El Dorado	Robert Mitchum	Sheriff J.P. Harran	Colt Model 1917 modified to look like a Colt SAA	1967
Farewell, Friend	Alain Delon	Dino Barran	S&W	1968
Farewell, Friend	Charles Bronson	Franz Propp	S&W	1968
Farewell, Friend	Olga Georges-Picot	Isabelle Moreau	S&W	1968
Battles Without Honor and Humanity	Hiroshi Hatano	Police		1973
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia	Kris Kristofferson	A biker	S&W	1974
The Great Gatsby	Scott Wilson	George Wilson	S&W	1974
Raiders of the Lost Ark	Harrison Ford	Indiana Jones	Shortened S&W	1981
Batman (1989)	Jack Palance	Carl Grissom	S&W	1989
Mulholland Falls	Michael Madsen	Det. Eddie Hall	Colt	1996
Last Man Standing		Thugs	S&W	1996
The Newton Boys	Vincent D'Onofrio	Dock Newton	S&W	1998
The Newton Boys	Dwight Yoakam	Brentwood Glasscock	S&W	1998
The Mummy	Cory Johnson	Mr. Daniels	Two Colt revolvers	1999
American Soldiers: A Day in Iraq		Iraqi police officer	S&W	2005
All the King's Men (2006)	Mark Ruffalo	Dr. Adam Stanton	S&W	2006
The Spirit	Eva Mendes	Sand Saref	S&W	2008
The Good, the Bad, the Weird	Jung Woo-sung	Park Do-won	S&W	2008
The Good, the Bad, the Weird		Henchman	S&W	2008
Captain America: The First Avenger	Neal McDonough	Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan	Colt	2011
Fury	Brad Pitt	Staff Sergeant Don "Wardaddy" Collier	S&W	2014
Hacksaw Ridge	Hugo Weaving	Tom Doss	S&W	2016
Hacksaw Ridge	Andrew Garfield	Desmond Doss	S&W	2016

Television

Show Title	Actor	Character	Note	Air Date
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	James Handy	Det. Frank Brady	S&W; Ep. "Spring Break Adventure"	1992-1994
The Lost Battalion	Jay Rodan	Lt. Leak	Colt	2001
Agent Carter	Neal McDonough	Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan	"The Iron Ceiling" (S01E05)	2015
Westworld	Ben Barnes	Logan	Colt	2016
Man in the High Castle, The - Season 3	Jason Beaudoin	Griggs		2018

Video Games

Game Title	Appears as	Notation	Release Date
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine		Colt	1999
Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb		Colt	2003
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault		S&W	2004
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth		S&W	2005
Forgotten Hope 2		Colt	2005
Sniper Elite III		S&W	2014
Heroes & Generals		Colt	2016

See Also

• Smith & Wesson - A list of all firearms manufactured by Smith & Wesson.
• Colt's Manufacturing Company - A list of all firearms manufactured by Colt.