I see on here all the time about folks that for some reason can't seem to pass an S&W, whether good or bad, without buying it. Of course I am not one of those folks. I have not had the inclination to buy anything new, or old, this year. I got my first N frame, a 28-2 I won on GB the week before Christmas and picked up the day before Christmas Eve, and called it my present to myself.
Then comes my birthday this month. Now for several months I have had the urge to find a .45 ACP revolver. I looked at several, but something else always came up to buy.
Then a week ago, a Model 1917 that I had watched previously came up on GB again. The price was lower, and still no one was bidding on it. I think the reason was it was listed as reblued, had new grips on it, lost its collector value, and was not listed as a Model 1917, just a 45DA as it says on the barrel. I do not believe the seller knew to take off the grips. None of that bothered me, so I bid at the last minute and bought it.
It came in today and it appears to be a decent job on the reblue, and under the bluing you can just barely see some small freckling. It is a little dirty in the cylinder, no lanyard ring, but overall I am happy with it.
Serial number is 130xx, so it seems to be an early production. It looks like someone spent some effort at one point to keep it as clean, reblue it and put on new grips. Paid $350 including shipping, well under what others have been going for. Now I am waiting on the moon clips to get here.
pix375433662.jpg pix124453964.jpg

Congrats.

.45 wheelguns are fun!

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Nice find and good pictures.


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James

You did good grasshopper!

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Isaiah 55:8-9
Phil. 4:13

That's very pretty.....I really have to expand my collection.

I looks like you got one with the grooved hammer. Cool. Looks great. Have a log of fun with that one. Look in the cylinder and if it has the shoulder at the end of the case, you can shoot it without the moon clips, just have to punch the empties out. I would rather do that than use the moon clips.

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Richard Gillespie
FBINA 102

Good looking gun, good price, and best of all you won't feel bad shooting the snot out of it at the range.

Only thing to do at this point is buy more safes and fill them with guns. Trust me.

Dragon88,
I am at that point now, as this one won't fit.

Question for all-
Now that I am looking at the rebluing, I saw a comment on another GB auction that a factory reblue was signified by an "S" stamped on the gun. Is that true?

Thanks,

Repeat after me, "I will not purchase every S&W I see". Repeat this ten times. Repeat every morning. (Then ignore it if a nice S&W comes your way.)

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

If it was a factory reblue, depending on when it was sent back, there would be a star on the butt and a date stamp on the inside of the grip frame. The date stamp would be small such as 2.28 for Feb 1928, as an example. Later examples may be an R-B stamp . Don't know about an S marking. Some of the guys may know.

If I recall from my online education here on this forum, an S stamp, at least for Victory .38 models, was for the "new style" hammer block modification which then became the "S" prefix for post-war K-frames. I think delta-419 is correct.

Very nice find especially for the price. I have one of those on my short list. Anything in a .45 ACP's is winner in my book. It is up there as one of my favorite rounds. Congrats and happy shooting! You did very well.

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John 1:17
NRA Life Benefactor

As I have learned more about this model and looked it over, based on the above information, it does not appear to be a factory blue and the Lanyard ring has been removed . I was aware of that, but have able to find the remains of the inspectors stamp in front of the hammer. Most if it had been worn off prior to the blue but the model, serial number, and US ARMY are perfect under the grips that came on it.

Now my question is which grips would have been originally supplied with the gun? I thought that they should have been the smooth grips, but I have seen many with checkered diamond grips.

Regardless,a very nice pick up for you.
If you're not living on the edge,you're taking up too much space. When you go over the edge...that's when it really starts getting good.

a very nice find....check with S&W for the laynard ...i have a M10 from the royal hong kong police that was missing it...i called,they had it and sent it for free

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SWCA#2208
KK4EMO

They would have been the smooth grips if it is an Army 1917. Does it say US Army Model 1917 on the Butt plate? If so it is an Army issue and would have the smooth walnut stocks. If not I am not sure what configuration the Civvy models came with. Does it have a flaming bomb on left side of frame in front of hammer? Or a GHS marking? With that low of a serial # it should/ could have the GHS for major Gilbert H Stewart. (inspector) This SN low 5 digit SN puts it at a 1917 production date.. the 1st year they were produced. Nice find.

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John 1:17
NRA Life Benefactor

Thanks!
Yes!
Yes!
It has the remnants of the worn circle.
Thanks!

Now if it's original factory blue and you got it for $350 you really stole it. A lanyard and the correct grips will increase that value. Someone was selling one a couple weeks ago and wanted $1100. I was thinking I would pay between $700 & $800. So you really scored.

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John 1:17
NRA Life Benefactor

"Now my question is which grips would have been originally supplied with the gun?"

I believe that with that serial number, it should have smooth grips with concave tops. These were produced for a short time and then they were replaced with smooth grips with convex tops.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Bringing up an old thread here to hopefully get a question answered about this gun.
Looking at many other 1917's I have noticed that most have a "United States Property" under the barrel. Mine seems to have all the other Army 1017 markings but not this one.
Any significance to this or indication that it went somewhere other than the US Army when made?
Thanks as always for the information.

Do you see the serial number on the flat part of the barrel with the cylinder opened and does it match the number on the butt and back of the cylinder? Some of these guns have had parts changed over the years and some people removed the U.S Property markings.
I'm certainly no expert but this will push your post to the top so maybe one of the experts will comment.

It is possible that the gun was aggressively polished when reblued to remove US Property markings. Does the gun still have the US ARMY MODEL 1917 stamp on the butt? The model stamp should be on one side of the lanyard loop hole and the serial number in two lines on the other side.

There were some commercial 1917s manufactured that had no government markings and carried instead a S&W logo on the left side of the frame. But I think those came along later, and I would not expect to see a commercial 1917 with a serial number in the low five digits.

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David Wilson

It's worth what you paid. Looks fine for shooting. Stocks cut down a bit?

"I think I went over the edge..."

If you only think you went over the edge, you didn't.When you do, you'll know, trust me on this.

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You're shy a few manners.

Yes, it does have the correct serial number on underside of the barrel.
Based on the condition, it does not appear that the area where the "USProperty" should be has been polished out.

Yes the US ARMY MODEL 1917 stamp with the SN is very clear around the lanyard loop hole under the grips.

The stocks are not cut down but the angle in that photo does make them appear to be distorted now that you mention it.

Only problem on the first time at the range was that i had several light strikes and fail to fires when shooting Double action. I tried a mix of light reloads with some factory ammo, and I think it was all the reloads. All rounds fired the second time.

Since that trip last week, I did see in another thread that these 1917's may have some issues with different primers not firing. So if that persists, I will try a different brand of primer.


Now I need to get used to the tall thin front site...Thanks for all the help.

For those light strikes, make sure the strain screw on the bottom front of the grip frame is screwed in all the way. Some shooters will back them out to get a lighter trigger pull, but that gives a lighter hammer hit as well. Most PPC or other custom revolver shooters around here tend to favor Federal primers for their soft metal. These two considerations will probably take care of your misfires.

Are you using full moon clips? You will find that a warped clip will lift some of the rounds slightly, thereby cushioning the hammer strike and causing misfires. I don't recall hearing of this with 1/2 or 1/3 moon clips, but it is possible, I guess.

It would be obvious if the hammer had been lightened, but you might also find that the mainspring has been altered to improve trigger pull... either of those will potentially lead to misfires if carried to the extreme.

HTH ~ Froggie

Thanks for the suggestions. I was not using Federal primers, but either CCI or Winchester. I did not consider the strain screw so I will check that. I was using the full moon clips, they were new, but I will check to make sure they are flat in the cylinder.
Thanks again.

Very nice and a very good looking shooter price.

Yours is very early and the earliest ones had fine concentric grooves on the sides of the hammer. That feature was dropped approximately Feb. 1918 at serial number approx. 25,000.

The target stocks are post 1968 and have been shortened at least 1/4" to remove some bulk but you will find them excellent as modified for shooting if they fit your grip. Much better than the originals. If you replace the lanyard ring as I did, here's a compromise to allow the use of the target stocks. Much better than original stocks.

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Jim
S&WCA #819