Murphydog and jackflash, thanks for the comments. Thank you to everyone for the advice.

Jackflash.... no, unfortunately no grooves on the hammer but it is still a fairly early model and i couldn't be more pleased by the condition for an nearly 100 year old pistol.


Regarding the holster, I suppose someone could have gotten confused over the years or perhaps the guy was issued the wrong holster, I guess the old codger may have even snookered me a little.... but he claims the gun, belt and holster came together from the original guy it was issued to.... says he was working for him in the mid 1950's and they got to talking about guns in general, one thing led to another and he bought the 1917 off of the guy. Says they've been together in his collection since the 1950's.

I have a copy of the original owners obituary as well. Not much info out there but found a little by googling the name. Wish I could actually see his service records but don't know what that would take if even possible.