Picked up from local GS last week. Interesting rework of front sight. The re-blue is so good that I feel Smith might have done. Would there be markings under the incorrect / ill fitting grips? The only markings I see are the R S in the rectangle and the number 274 which does not correspond to serial number.

Serial number indicates US Army put into service in November 1918. WWI ended that month, so doubt it made it to war. Does the flaming bomb indicate WWII service or was it used in WWI as well. Have seen conflicting stories on that.

Ordered some repro grips and a few moon clips from Numrich.

Attached Images

	HE 1917 (1).jpg (145.8 KB, 444 views)
	HE 1917 sight (2).jpg (43.4 KB, 337 views)
	HE shield (1).jpg (63.6 KB, 375 views)
	He stampings (2).jpg (77.2 KB, 343 views)

R S indicates "refinish standard". 274 means it went back to the factory in February 1974.

Nice looking 1917.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

I had a 1917 that I was able to get S&W to re-blue after I retimed it before they stopped working on guns that old. It was beautiful; looked very much like your's. S&W used to do great bluing jobs. Haven't had one done in some years, but I assume they would still know their stuff.

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Dave Frost

would a gun of that age have the 4 line address?

Under normal circumstances NO. This was one of the factory practices that was halted by Roy Jinks, S&W Historian/Service Manager during this time frame. When a gun came back for a refinish, the factory thought that they were doing a service by upgrading the Made in the USA roll stamping with the newer 4 line address.

Again, they were merely looking at it as a firearm and not as some future collectible. Remember, when these guns came back from WWII, many were sold to the general public and could be had for pennies compared to today's prices.

This is why when you cruise the isles at your local gun show looking for older Smith's, you cannot merely look only for one liners as occasionally a 4 liner could be from the early 1900's and had previously gone through a factory upgrade.

PS: The same thing can be said for diamond stocks. The lack of the diamond around the stock screw is not definitive that the gun is post 1968 either. Many older, very well made, S&W's will show up with either Goodyear's or non diamond later replacements. I always use the upper side plate and trigger guard screws as my tell tale signs.

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James Redfield
LM #497

IIRC, there is no address stamp of any kind on the WWI issue revolvers. Mine was made in 1918 and is blank in that area.

The "Made in USA" stamping wasn't used until mid 1922.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Actually there was an address stamp on almost all early S&W revolvers. It was on the top rib rather than the side frame. I ran across a factory refinished 455 HE that also had a 4 liner on the frame.

Doing research at the time, I found information as noted above. The factory also would quite often lose or break old stamps and would substitute with a newer version often. Also, if no stamp was available, they would just leave the remnants of the original stamps in place.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

That is correct, the order wasn't issued until May of 1922 by Harold Wesson to add the Made in USA stamp.. I should have clarified that.

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James Redfield
LM #497

Sorry, but hat is not correct. As I noted above, the stamp was on the barrel and moved to the frame in the late 1940s.

The statement is: "there is no address stamp of any kind on the WWI issue revolvers", which is not the case.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

I knew that they would add the S&W logo to the side plate (I don't thing any war issue smith had the logo on them) but I didn't think that they would add the address also. Thank You, for the info. JSR III

Replaced the magnas with the reproduction grips. Shot it last week with 230 grain hardball and the trigger frame is giving my middle finger a good smack right at the knuckle. I have very large hands and usually put finger groove Altamonts on my smiths as they fit my hands well. Don't want to change the look of this gun that much so, would like to add T grips to alleviate. Do the N frame T grips fit the 1917?

Also, the T grip website lacks a bunch as in are they even still in business?

Any recommendations on different adapter manufacturers?

Attached Images

Smith 1917.jpg (109.8 KB, 101 views)

Those are pretty grips for a really nice 1917. However, they are not replicas of the originals. The WWI guns had smooth, round top walnut with no medallion. An N frame grip adapter should work. The pre-WWII N frames had slightly longer butt extension but the curvature behind the trigger guard should be the same.

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Guy
SWHF #474 SWCA LM#2629

Duman444,

Send me a PM with your name/address. I'll send you a T-Grip for FREE. Question is, which type: Gloss or Matte. Your choice. A good revolver like that deserves a T-Grip.

Dumann444,

You should receive the T-Grip by Saturday. Please let us know when you get it by posting a pic. Cheers!

Received today. Looks good on the 1917, hope it helps keep it from barking my knuckle.

A great big Thank You to GToppcop!

Attached Images

	1917 1.jpg (97.6 KB, 75 views)
	1917 2.jpg (99.1 KB, 64 views)

Just what the Doctor Ordered! Looks like it should be there... Cheers!