One of my first handguns was a M-1917 in really nice condition. I got it when I was 16, for Christmas, I think. My father paid $16.88 at a dept. store.But money was worth more then and large amounts of surplus guns were flooding the market.

I've also owned a commercial .45 Colt, made about 1936, also in top condition. It shot to the sights, which Colts often don't, and hit 25 yard targets dead center with Remington 250 grain ammo. Groups were about as small as I could shoot with my six-inch Python, but of course, the holes were bigger.

I had no problem with service grips, walnut in both cases. But I don't have fat hands, although they're otherwise fairly large for my 5' 10 " 165 pound body. I also don't get hammer bite from Colt .45 and Browning 9mm autos, or from a Walther PP .32.

I traced the rounded cylinder release to about 1928. My later .45 had it. I wrote a short story in FanFiction.net in which a hero had a New Service .45. The story was set in 1928, with a sequel in 1929. In the first, he had walnut grips, but by 1929, had replaced them with ivory from an elephant that he shot. The gun was new when bought in 1928.

I doubt if readers cared, but I like to be precise and have guns fit the story and imagine them in use as I write. Anyway, I was curious to see when the cylinder release changed, so I looked it up. It was just in time for that story!