View Single Post
 
Old 04-07-2017, 09:01 PM
DWalt's Avatar
DWalt DWalt is online now
Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: South Texas & San Antonio
Posts: 33,483
Likes: 236
Liked 28,949 Times in 14,015 Posts
Default

"I just got off the phone w/ Paul from Colt Archives. My New Service is 100% correct. No barrel swap. It is a commercial USMC 1909 that was a private purchase by a Marine Corps Officer in 1909. Only two of these were known to exist....now three!! Mine went to Col. Charles L.F. Robinson. Col. Robinson was....wait for it....the president of Colt from 1911-1916!!! "

I can believe it was a private purchase civilian New Service in .45 Colt for Col Robinson. However, it is not a normal USMC M1909, at least to the extent that it differs in several significant respects from those 1300 M1909s sold and delivered to the USMC. First is the extractor rod knob, as previously mentioned. All M1909s (Army, Navy, and USMC) had a longer (three-section) extractor rod knob, somewhat longer than those shorter (two section) knobs used on the civilian New Service and M1917 revolvers. There was a purpose for that, namely to provide a shorter extractor rod stroke limit to help protect against fired case jams during extraction. Actually, the M1917 knob differs slightly from those used on the civilian New Service. Second, the M1909s made for the USMC had USMC (in two lines) stamped on the butt, plus a unique USMC number, not actually a serial number. Third, the USMC grip frame had rounded corners, not square, not actually a round butt, a la S&W, but easily distinguishable from the Army M1909 and the civilian New Service. That required special wood grips, which were also checkered. The more common Army M1909 used smooth grips, similar to those used on the M1917. And those M1909 grips were inspector-stamped on the bottom flats of the grip, most being R.A.C., for sub-inspector Rinaldo A. Carr. M1917 smooth wood grips were not so stamped, nor were civilian grips.
------------------
My two Army M1909s. Note the long extractor rod knobs and square grip frame corners.

Last edited by DWalt; 04-07-2017 at 09:58 PM.
Reply With Quote
The Following 13 Users Like Post: