M1917 Revolver

The M1917 Revolver refers to two .45 ACP revolvers with the same designation used by the United States during World War I. During World War I, the official sidearm 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 revolvers 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 .45 ACP was a rimless round, and thus the revolvers required half (or full) moon clips to load the cartridges.

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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Smith & Wesson M1917 Revolver

Smith & Wesson M1917 Revolver (Military issue with lanyard ring) - .45 ACP. Note the ejector-rod socket, common of a S&W 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.

Film

Title	Actor	Character	Note	Date
The Heart of Humanity	William Stowell	John Patricia		1918
The Big Parade		American officers		1925
All the King's Men		police officer		1949
Paths of Glory	Kirk Douglas	Colonel Dax		1957
Farewell, Friend	Alain Delon	Dino Barran		1968
Farewell, Friend	Charles Bronson	Franz Propp		1968
Farewell, Friend	Olga Georges-Picot	Isabelle Moreau		1968
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia	Kris Kristofferson	A biker		1974
The Great Gatsby	Scott Wilson	George Wilson		1974
Raiders of the Lost Ark	Harrison Ford	Indiana Jones	Shortened	1981
Batman (1989)	Jack Palance	Carl Grissom		1989
Last Man Standing		Thugs		1996
The Newton Boys	Vincent D'Onofrio	Dock Newton		1998
The Newton Boys	Dwight Yoakam	Brentwood Glasscock		1998
American Soldiers: A Day in Iraq		Iraqi police officer		2005
All the King's Men (2006)	Mark Ruffalo	Dr. Adam Stanton		2006
The Spirit	Eva Mendes	Sand Saref		2008
The Good, the Bad, the Weird	Jung Woo-sung	Park Do-won		2008
The Good, the Bad, the Weird		Henchman		2008
Fury	Brad Pitt	Staff Sergeant Don "Wardaddy" Collier		2014
Fury	Logan Lerman	Norman Ellison	M3A1	2014
Hacksaw Ridge	Hugo Weaving	Tom Doss		2016
Hacksaw Ridge	Andrew Garfield	Desmond Doss		2016
The Highwaymen	Kevin Costner	Frank Hamer		2019

Television

Show Title	Actor	Character	Note	Air Date
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles	James Handy	Det. Frank Brady	Ep. "Spring Break Adventure"	1992-1994

Video Games

Game Title	Appears as	Notation	Release Date
BloodRayne	W&S 1917		2002
Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault			2004
Call of Duty 2		unused.	2004
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth			2005
Sniper Elite III			2014
Battle of Empires: 1914-1918	"S&W Revolver"		2015
Rising Storm 2: Vietnam			2017
Enlisted		Smith & Wesson M1917	2021

Colt M1917 Revolver

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

Film

Title	Actor	Character	Note	Date
Journey's End	Colin Clive	Capt. Denis Stanhope		1930
	Ian Maclaren	Lt. Osborne
Gun Crazy	John Dall	Bart Tare		1950
Halls of Montezuma	Reginald Gardner	Sgt. Johnson	With pearl grips, in shoulder holster	1951
Amphibian Man (Chelovek-Amfibiya)	Mikhail Medvedev	Zurita's boatswain		1961
The Oil Prince	Stole Arandjelovic	Prince's henchman		1965
El Dorado	Robert Mitchum	Sheriff J.P. Harran	Modified to look like a Colt SAA	1967
Battles Without Honor and Humanity	Hiroshi Hatano	Police		1973
Mulholland Falls	Michael Madsen	Det. Eddie Hall		1996
The Mummy	Cory Johnson	Mr. Daniels	Two revolvers	1999
Captain America: The First Avenger	Neal McDonough	Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan		2011
Rust	Alec Baldwin	Harland Rust	film indefinitely suspended production	N/A

Television

Show Title	Actor	Character	Note	Air Date
Fantômas	Jacques Dufilho	Inspecteur Juve	Ep.2	1980
	Jean-Paul Zehnacker	Lupart
Tales from the Crypt	Eric Douglas	Lt. Kalthrob	episode: "Yellow" (S3E14)	1991
The Lost Battalion	Jay Rodan	Lt. Leak		2001
Agent Carter	Neal McDonough	Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan	"The Iron Ceiling" (S01E05)	2015
Westworld	Ben Barnes	Logan		2016
The Man in the High Castle - Season 3	Jason Beaudoin	Griggs		2018

Video Games

Game Title	Appears as	Notation	Release Date
Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine			1999
Forgotten Hope 2	"M1917 Colt"	Added in v2.2 (2009)	2007
State of Decay	"M1917"		2013
Heroes & Generals			2016
State of Decay 2			2018
Beyond The Wire	"Colt M1917"		2022

Animation

Title	Voice Actor	Characters	Notation	Date
What If...? - Season 1	Neal McDonough	Timothy "Dum Dum" Dugan	holstered; "What If... Captain Carter Were The First Avenger?" (S1E01)	2021

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.