A favor to a friend...

[Truckman]

An old friend owns a pawn shop and is now the owner of a gun neither of us knows about...This is a Colt New Service, S/N 137042 which puts the DOM about 1917...It was presented to him as .44-40, but it is not marked anywhere on the gun with any caliber...I don't have any .44-40 ammo to chamber in it, but my non-calibrated eyeball says it looks about right...The charge holes in the cylinder are bored straight through which from my reading was the norm until the late 20's...

The puzzling thing about the gun is the 7 1/2" barrel is a smoothbore...I miked the diameter at the muzzle at .406" which tells me it was not just a bored out .44-40 barrel, but more likely factory...Otherwise it would just be contraband to the ATF...

Other features are the hard rubber grips, a lanyard ring and an unusually tall, brass-topped front sight...Rear sight is just a U notch...The lanyard ring could be explained by the 1917 DOM meaning the frame could have been intended for a military contract, but produced as an exhibition gun for the trick shooters of the day shooting thrown glass balls or balloons...

I'm hoping someone here might shed some light on this mystery revolver, and perhaps suggest a value to attach to it...I'll attach a few crappy cell phone photos and I can produce more if needed...Thanks......Ben

 

[Truckman]

One more pic of the nasty looking right side......Ben

 

[iPac]

Call Colt archives & get a factory letter. That will tell you if the smooth barrel was factory or not.

 

[rockquarry]

Jim Harvey of Lakeville Arms offered smoothbore conversions for shot cartridge use in the '50s and early '60s. The only one I'm remotely familiar with was owned by a resident of Montague, Texas some years ago. I believe it was a 4" New Service if I remember all this right. He had to have ATF approval and pay a tax.

I'm pretty sure this gun orignally belonged to gun writer Kent Bellah of Saint Jo, Texas. Bellah wrote about a lot of the Lakeville Arms products.

Conversions began in 1952 on either large frame Colts or N-frame Smith & Wessons chambered in either .45 ACP or .45 Colt. In addition to the bores being reamed out, cylinders were reamed out full length. .30-06 or .30-40 Krag brass was cut to cylinder length. I think a choke tube was often threaded on the muzzle, but this may not have always been done. Case forming and loading was a real job. I don't know how many of these conversions were done.

 

[s&wchad]

The stylized "MP" stamp on the butt signifies it shipped to the RCMP. I've got the book Arms and Accoutrements of the Mounted Police, which lists models, purchase orders, dates and serial numbers. I'll look up the serial number for you. If IIRC, these were chambered in .455 and .45 Colt. I suspect the smoothbore barrel was a later conversion.

 

[s&wchad]

It took me a few minutes to find it, since they're not listed in numerical order.

Here's the data on that gun:

Mine was in the same shipment! Small world...

The original barrel was almost certainly replaced. It's missing the markings, it should be 5-1/2" and the front sight is wrong. Here's what it looked like when shipped:

I just saved your buddy over $100 on a letter. He owes me a beer!

 

[Brooks]

I don't get it. Why would a .406 bore be a 44-40? More like 38-40. Unless it's a 44-40 made into a shot pistol with a choked barrel. Which would make it dangerous to fire a 44-40 with a 200 gr factory load.

 

[desi2358]

I don't get it. Why would a .406 bore be a 44-40? More like 38-40. Unless it's a 44-40 made into a shot pistol with a choked barrel. Which would make it dangerous to fire a 44-40 with a 200 gr factory load.

It is definitely NOT a 44-40 or a 38-40, don't know why the OP or his friend with the gun would have thought that it was. Unless they were fixated on the idea that a revolver would chamber revolver ammo.

When these smoothbore revolver conversions were popular they seem to have mostly used rifle cases to form a full length shotshell case. No shoulders in the chamber as the rifle casing would be cut to allow for a straight tube to hold the maximum amount of shot. Conversions done on 1917 revolver frames often used a cut off 30-06 case with moon clips. Other cases were used in some conversions, usually a rimmed case with the desired body diameter.

There were several articles in the 1950's American Rifleman about these which I found to be interesting reading (I have quite a collection of these old magazines and enjoy reading them)........... The ATF eventually cracked down on these as being under the minimum length for smoothbore guns under the 1934 Firearms Act. Unless they have issued a change in the rulings I believe they are still required to be registered ("Any Other Weapon" or "Destructive Device", can't remember which) and they are considered illegal without the proper paperwork.

 

[Truckman]

I just saved your buddy over $100 on a letter. He owes me a beer!

Chad, thank you very much and I will relay the information...

I don't get it. Why would a .406 bore be a 44-40? More like 38-40. Unless it's a 44-40 made into a shot pistol with a choked barrel. Which would make it dangerous to fire a 44-40 with a 200 gr factory load.

I don't have any information on it other than what was posted...With Chad's revelation above, I suspect it's a later conversion, possibly from Jim Harvey...I returned the gun to its owner and will relay this new info to him...

Thanks to all for the replies......Ben

 

[s&wchad]

It's a shame it was converted. NWMP guns bring a good premium.

I'd check the cylinder and see if it's still chambered in .45 Colt. If so, it might be worth looking for an original barrel. It would probably be a good idea to remove the smoothbore barrel and deep six it. I'm pretty sure it's an NFA violation and can't be registered without another amnesty period (highly unlikely).

 

[rockquarry]

I'd have to dig out some old publications for the details, but at least one other company took over and did the same work Lakeville Arms had been doing. I think Jim Harvey died around 1962(?). Perhaps someone here can remember the company's name. Maybe their work was marked in some way.

 

[Truckman]

Thanks for all the help...The item has now been identified as a Frankengun......

We know it was originally a .45 LC from Chad's finding of the S/N on a Canadian MP list...Checking today confirmed that the cylinder on the gun now is not .45 LC because a .45 LC cartridge will not even start...A .44-40 will fully chamber but the charge holes are no longer stepped so the brass would split if it was fired as such...A .410 shotshell will fit in the cylinder but is obviously too long...Therefore we believe it was used with custom made, very short .410's...

The big problem of it's legal status was solved by removing the barrel from the frame...My advice to the owner was to list the barrel on Gunbroker as an unrifled barrel blank for someone's project gun to be bored and rifled to the caliber of choice...The action on the remainder is very good, all nice and tight...I told him he should list that part separately on GB as parts only...

Financially he's buried in it, but he may be able to recover some value......Ben

 

[Moo Moo]

Excuse my ignorance, but what would this revolver be used for as a smooth bore? Is it an early version of the Taurus Judge?

 

[Truckman]

Excuse my ignorance, but what would this revolver be used for as a smooth bore? Is it an early version of the Taurus Judge?

Our guess is it may have been a gallery gun, or maybe built for a trick-shot specialist who drew and fired from the hip to break thrown glass balls...

Since it is now rendered into two perfectly legal pieces, if anyone here would like to contact the owner (an FFL and it is on his books), and might want to make a bid on either or both halves to use in a project, just PM me for his name and phone number......Ben