The Colt New Service is a large frame, large caliber, double-action
revolver made by
Colt
Colt(s) or COLT may refer to:
*Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age
People
* Colt (given name)
*Colt (surname)
Places
*Colt, Arkansas, United States
*Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...
from 1898 until 1941. Made in various calibers, the
.45 Colt
The .45 Colt (11.43×33mmR), is a rimmed, straight-walled, handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It was originally a black-powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver. This cartridge was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1 ...
version with a 5½" barrel, was adopted by the U.S. Armed Forces as the Model 1909.
[Murphy (1985) pages 25-30.]
The
Colt M1917 revolver was created to supplement insufficient stocks of
M1911 pistols during World War I.
[Murphy (1985) p. 31.] It was simply a New Service re-chambered to take the
.45 ACP
The .45 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol) or .45 Auto (11.43×23mm) is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After successful military trials, it ...
cartridge and used half-moon clips to hold the rimless cartridges in position. After World War I, the revolver gained a strong following among civilian shooters.
[ A commercial rimmed cartridge the ].45 Auto Rim
The .45 Auto Rim, also known as 11.5x23mmR, is a rimmed cartridge specifically designed to be fired in revolvers originally chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge.
The Peters Cartridge Company developed the cartridge in 1920 for use in the M19 ...
was also developed, that allowed the M1917 to be fired without the need for moon-clips.
In the 1930s, the New Service was chambered for .38 Special
The .38 Special, also commonly known as .38 S&W Special (not to be confused with .38 S&W), .38 Smith & Wesson Special, .38 Spl, .38 Spc, (pronounced "thirty-eight special"), or 9x29mmR is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & ...
, and then .357 Magnum
The .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum, .357 S&W Magnum, .357 Magnum, or 9×33mmR as it is known in unofficial metric designation, is a smokeless powder cartridge with a bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, and Douglas B. ...
. As one of the most powerful handgun cartridges available at the time, it was easily capable of penetrating the automobile bodies and body armor used by public enemies such as gangsters, bank robbers, and fugitives of that era. As such, it became instantly popular with lawmen, state troopers and highway patrolmen.
History
The Colt New Service was introduced in 1898. It was an up-sized and strengthened Colt M1892
The Colt M1892 Navy and Army was the first general issue double-action revolver with a swing out cylinder used by the U.S. military.
Overview
In 1892, the revolver was adopted by the United States Army chambered for .38 Long Colt cartridges, ...
and Colt Firearms first large caliber revolver with a swing-out hand ejector cylinder. It was made in the popular large caliber revolver cartridges of the day: .38-40
The .38-40 Winchester is actually a .40 caliber (10 mm) cartridge shooting .401" (10.2 mm) caliber bullets. The cartridge was introduced by Winchester in 1874 and is derived from their .44-40 Winchester. This cartridge was introduced f ...
, .44-40
The .44-40 Winchester, also known as .44 Winchester, .44 WCF (Winchester Center Fire), and .44 Largo (in Spanish-speaking countries) was introduced in 1873 by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. It was the first metallic centerfire cartridge ma ...
, .44 Russian
The .44 Russian, also known as the .44 S&W Russian, is a black-powder center-fire metallic revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1870.[.44 Special
The .44 Smith & Wesson Special, also commonly known as .44 S&W Special, .44 Special, .44 Spl, .44 Spc, (pronounced "forty-four special"), or 10.9x29mmR is a smokeless powder center fire metallic revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1 ...](_blank)
, .45 Colt
The .45 Colt (11.43×33mmR), is a rimmed, straight-walled, handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It was originally a black-powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver. This cartridge was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1 ...
, and .455 Webley
.455 Webley is a British handgun cartridge, most commonly used in the Webley top break revolvers Marks I through VI. It is also known as ".455 Eley" and ".455 Colt".
The .455 cartridge was a service revolver cartridge, featuring a rimmed car ...
. It was made with a blued finish or nickel plating, and with a 4", 4½", 5", 5½", 6", and 7½" barrels. It also came with walnut or hard rubber grips.
Model 1909
The Colt M1892 revolver was thought of as a decent handgun for its time, but complaints soon arose concerning the .38 Long Colt
The .38 Long Colt, also known as .38 LC, is a black powder cartridge introduced by Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1875. In 1892, it was adopted as a standard military pistol cartridge by the United States Army for the Colt M1892 revolver. The ...
s stopping power. Beginning in 1899, combat reports from the Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
campaign showed that the .38 caliber bullets repeatedly failed to stop Moro fighters, even when shot multiple times at close range. The complaints caused the U.S. Army to hurriedly re-issue the now retired .45 caliber Colt Single Action Army revolvers with newly shortened 5½" barrels version, cut down from the original 7½" barrels. These old war horses handily stopped the kris and bolo wielding fighters and played a central role in the Army's decision to replace the M1892 with the .45 caliber New Service revolver in 1909. It also played a key role in the Army's decision to adopt the .45 ACP
The .45 ACP ( Automatic Colt Pistol) or .45 Auto (11.43×23mm) is a rimless straight-walled handgun cartridge designed by John Moses Browning in 1904, for use in his prototype Colt semi-automatic pistol. After successful military trials, it ...
M1911 Colt pistol
The M1911 (Colt 1911 or Colt Government) is a single-action, recoil-operated, semi-automatic pistol chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge. The pistol's formal U.S. military designation as of 1940 was ''Automatic Pistol, Caliber .45, M1911'' for the ...
. The Model 1909 in .45 Colt with a 5½" barrel, was adopted by the U.S. Armed Forces as the "Model 1909 U.S. Army", the "Model 1909 U.S. Navy" and the "USMC Model 1909".
British .455 Webley Model
In 1899 Canada acquired a number of New Service revolvers (chambered in .45 Colt) for Boer War service, to supplement its existing M1878 Colt Double Action revolvers in the same caliber. In 1904 and 1905 the North-West Mounted Police in Canada also adopted the Colt New Service to replace the less-than satisfactory Enfield Mk II revolver in service since 1882.
New Service revolvers, designated as Pistol, Colt, .455-inch 5.5-inch barrel Mk. I, chambered for the .455 Webley cartridge were acquired for issue as "substitute standard" by the British War Department during World War I. British Empire Colt New Service Revolvers were stamped ''"NEW SERVICE .455 ELEY"'' on the barrel,[Maze (2002) page 84.] to differentiate them from the .45 Colt versions used by the US (and Canada).
The Colt New Service was a popular revolver with British officers and many of them had privately purchased their own Colt New Service revolvers in the years prior to World War I as an alternative to the standard-issue Webley Revolver
The Webley Revolver (also known as the Webley Top-Break Revolver or Webley Self-Extracting Revolver) was, in various designations, a standard issue service pistol for the armed forces of the United Kingdom, and countries of the British Empire a ...
. British Empire and Canadian forces received 60,000 Colt New Service revolvers during World War I and they continued to see official service until the end of World War II.
Colt M1917 revolver
The U.S. Army Model 1917 was created to supplement insufficient stocks of M1911 pistols during World War I. The Colt M1917 Revolver was a New Service with a cylinder bored to take the .45 ACP cartridge and the half-moon clips to hold the rimless cartridges in position. Later production Colt M1917 revolvers had headspacing machined into the cylinder chambers, just as the Smith & Wesson M1917 revolvers had from the start. Newer Colt production could be fired without the half-moon clips, but the empty cartridge cases had to be ejected with a device such as a cleaning rod or pencil, as the cylinder extractor and ejector would pass over the rims of the rimless cartridges. As a result of these issues, a commercial rimmed cartridge the .45 Auto Rim
The .45 Auto Rim, also known as 11.5x23mmR, is a rimmed cartridge specifically designed to be fired in revolvers originally chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge.
The Peters Cartridge Company developed the cartridge in 1920 for use in the M19 ...
was developed that allowed the M1917 to be fired without the need for moon-clips. After World War I, the revolver gained a strong following among civilian shooters.[ The M1917s saw action again during World War II, when it was issued to "specialty troops such as tankers and artillery personnel."][http://www.historic-firearms.com/m1917-revolver.html M1917 revolver] During the Korean War they were again issued to support-troops. The M1917s were even used by the " tunnel rats" during the Vietnam War.
Fitz Special
John Henry Fitzgerald first came up with the Fitz Special
The Fitz Gerald Special, "Fitz Special", or "Fitz Colt" is a snubnosed revolver concept that was pioneered by John Henry Fitzgerald (also known as "Fitz"), an employee of Colt Firearms from 1918 to 1944. It is generally believed that fewer than ...
snubnosed revolver concept around the mid 1920s, when he modified a .38 Special Colt Police Positive Special revolver, whose shortest available barrel length was four inches. He later modified two .45 Colt New Service revolvers in the same manner,
and was known to carry the pair in his front pockets.
Fitz Special revolvers are made by taking any standard size Colt revolver, shortening the barrel to two inches, shortening the ejector rod, bobbing the hammer spur, rounding the butt, and removing the front half of the trigger guard. Reshaping the hammer and the butt allows the gun to be drawn quickly with little risk of the weapon snagging on clothing. The halved trigger guard facilitates quick trigger acquisition, even for shooters with large fingers or gloves.
Historians believe that somewhere between 40 and 200 Fitz Specials left the factory, made from various Colt revolvers, by Fitzgerald himself.[https://www.guns.com/2015/09/02/fitz-colt-snub-nosed-revolver-benchmark/ The Fitz Colt: The snub-nosed revolver benchmark 9/02/15 by Chris Eger] The Fitz Special was the precursor to the modern snubnosed revolver
A snubnosed revolver (colloquially known as a snubbie, belly gun, or bulldog revolver) is a small, medium, or large frame revolver with a short barrel, generally less than 4 inches in length. Smaller such revolvers are often made with "bobbed" o ...
and specifically the prototype for the Colt Detective Special
The Colt Detective Special is a six-shot, carbon steel framed, 2" or 3" barreled, double-action revolver, and the first example of a class of firearms known as "snubnose revolvers". Made by Colt's Manufacturing Company, this model revolver, as th ...
the first production two-inch snubnosed revolver. Even after the introduction of the Detective Special in 1927, Fitz continued to make custom revolvers for special clients.
Colonels Rex Applegate
Rex Applegate (June 21, 1914 – July 14, 1998) was an American military officer who worked for the Office of Strategic Services, where he trained Allied special forces personnel in close-quarters combat during World War II. He held the rank of co ...
[https://www.personaldefenseworld.com/2016/12/rex-applegate-fitz-special/ Perfect Fitz: Col. Rex Applegate's One-of-a-Kind Fitz Special. COL. APPLEGATE'S FITZ SPECIAL IS TRULY A ONE-OF-A-KIND FIREARM WITH DEEP HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE. By MICHAEL JANICH] and Charles Askins were proponents of the Fitz Special, and it would become a popular after-market conversion for many gunsmiths. Charles Lindbergh
Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...
, William Powell
William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the '' Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Charles characters cr ...
and Clyde Barrow
Bonnie Elizabeth Parker (October 1, 1910May 23, 1934) and Clyde Chestnut (Champion) Barrow (March 24, 1909May 23, 1934) were an American criminal couple who traveled the Central United States with their gang during the Great Depression. The co ...
were also known to carry Fitz Specials.
.357 Magnum Models
In 1933, the New Service was chambered for .38 Special
The .38 Special, also commonly known as .38 S&W Special (not to be confused with .38 S&W), .38 Smith & Wesson Special, .38 Spl, .38 Spc, (pronounced "thirty-eight special"), or 9x29mmR is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & ...
and .44 Russian
The .44 Russian, also known as the .44 S&W Russian, is a black-powder center-fire metallic revolver cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1870.[.357 Magnum
The .357 Smith & Wesson Magnum, .357 S&W Magnum, .357 Magnum, or 9×33mmR as it is known in unofficial metric designation, is a smokeless powder cartridge with a bullet diameter. It was created by Elmer Keith, Phillip B. Sharpe, and Douglas B. ...](_blank)
cartridge. As one of the most powerful handgun cartridges available of the time, it was easily capable of penetrating the automobile bodies and body armor used by the gangster
A gangster is a criminal who is a member of a gang. Most gangs are considered to be part of organized crime. Gangsters are also called mobsters, a term derived from '' mob'' and the suffix '' -ster''. Gangs provide a level of organization and ...
s, bank robbers, and fugitives
A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...
of that era. As such, it became instantly popular with Lawmen, State Troopers and Highway Patrolmen. These guns were offered with 4", 5" and 6" barrels. The early models came with checkered walnut grips, while the later models used plastic-like “Coltwood” grips.
With the onset of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
the Colt New Service was discontinued in 1941. It was the largest revolver ever manufactured by Colt and one of the largest production revolvers of all time until the introduction of the .44 Magnum Colt Anaconda
The Colt Anaconda is a large frame double-action revolver featuring a full length under-barrel ejection-rod lug and six round cylinder, designed and produced by the Colt's Manufacturing Company in 1990. Chambered for the powerful .44 Magnum ...
in 1990. There are several generational variants including the "Old Model" (which refers to the first 21,000 units made),"Transitional Model" (which incorporated a hammer-block safety), "Improved Model" (325,000 units) and "Late Model" (manufactured from 1928 to 1941). A "Target Model", "Shooting Master" and "Deluxe Target Model" were offered as well.
Notes
References
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* Official U.S. Army description of the Army Model 1909 revolver and its .45 Colt
The .45 Colt (11.43×33mmR), is a rimmed, straight-walled, handgun cartridge dating to 1872. It was originally a black-powder revolver round developed for the Colt Single Action Army revolver. This cartridge was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1 ...
ammunition.
External links
The Colt Revolver in the American West—New Service
Guns and Ammo Magazine article on Colt New Service Revolver
Colt New Service Revolver (infographic tech. drawing)
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017
Colt revolvers
Military revolvers
.45 ACP revolvers
.45 Colt firearms
World War I British infantry weapons
World War I infantry weapons of the United States
World War II firearms of the United States
Police weapons
Weapons of the Philippine Army