Hi Bob,
To address your question regarding the 45 revolver cartridge and the S&W chambered for it:
THE VERY FIRST PROTOTYPE TRIPLE LOCKS WERE CHAMBERED IN THE 45 S&W SPECIAL
The .45 S&W Special began life as the .45 Frankford or "Cal. .45 Ball, Model of 1906" developed in late 1905 by Frankford Arsenal for use in testing revolvers submitted for the Army trials of Jan 1907. The case was rimmed, 0.923" in length, and was loaded with a 230-grain cupro-nickel jacketed round-nose bullet over 7.2 grains of Bullseye smokeless powder. The muzzle velocity was 800 fps. S&W had high hopes for a lucrative military contract, but it wasn't to be. As we well know, the military chose the Model 1911 Colt 45 Semi Auto Pistil and its new 45 ACP round.
10,000 rounds were ordered manufactured for the trials. The bulk of the casings were manufactured in April 1906, with most of the order being completed as loaded rounds by July of that year. The only reported head stamp is "F A 4 06". Evidently, both cannelured and uncannelured cases were made, with the cannalure being located on the case just behind the base of the bullet where it served to control seating depth.
It would seem that there was never any commercial production of this ammo, but the Union Metallic Cartridge Company provided 5000 rounds to Smith & Wesson in June of 1906.
For the semi-autos tested in the Army trials, there was a similar rimless cartridge, with a case length of 0.918" (also reported as 0.923"), loaded with the same 230-grain bullet as the revolver ammunition, and to the same muzzle velocity.
Attached is a drawing of two rimmed varieties of the cartridges used in the revolver tests with dimensions for both versions.
Photo credit: Triple Lock
In 1908 or 1909 [S&W] seriously considered introducing a model that was to be called the "45 S&W Special." This cartridge was designed for use in what became the 44 Hand Ejector 1st Model [New Century] or Triple Lock. The cartridge was a revolver cartridge developed for military use at the Frankford Arsenal. Smith's anticipation of their 45 Spl (45 FA) chambered TLs for military and commercial success caused them to order a large quantity of boxes. So when their gun/cartridge was not adopted by the Army, it was never commercially sold. They were stuck with a huge pile of boxes labeled 45 Special inside the cover and on the end label.
As we all know, S&W never threw anything anyway. Therefore when the British came thru with a huge contract for 455 Mk II chambered Hand Ejector service revolvers for WW I, guess where the boxes went? Yep, British contract guns were packed in them and shipped across the big pond!
These boxes are usually found with a new 455 label glued over the 45 Spl end label. I can picture the British armorers unpacking the ~ 79,000+ 455 contract revolvers and once inspected, stamped, and issued to the military, a huge pile of these boxes stacked in the trash!
The boxes:
455 SN# 53541 Shipped June 9, 1916 in a 45 Special box from 1908 w/pasted over end label.
NOW ABOUT THE SMITH TLs CHAMBERED FOR THE 45 SPECIAL
Only two are known to my knowledge:
#2 Pre-production for Army Trials of Jan 1907, 4 screws (no trigger guard screw), 45 S&W Spl, no caliber markings, 6 1/2"
#09 Jim Fisher's is the only survivor of the four pre-production TLs used for the Army Trials, Jan 1907, 45 S&W Spl, no caliber markings, 6 1/2"
A NOTE ABOUT THE COLT NEW SERVICE 45 REVOLVER:
Colt chambered the New Service for the 45 Colt which were produced as the Frankford Arsenal 1909 .45 Revolver Ball Cartridge for it with widened rims to work with the DA extractor. The old Colt SA ammo rims were too small. The Colt NS 45 was in the trials. Don't know if they chambered specifically for the 45 Special or just used with 45 Colt chambers.
The 45 Colt NS was purchased by the army as a stop gap for the Philippine insurrection.
