Great thread, it gives me a chance to again share this story. The old "unmarked" Model 1917 pictured below was obtained from the son of a Detroit PD, Homicide Lieutenant from the late 1920's thru the early 1950's. The son, now 78 years old, told me that his Dad aquired the Army Model 1917, 45 acp in the 1930's after being shot by a perp. The perp had been shot by the Lieutenant with a .38 special, but not stopped. He went to the .45 after this incident because, "when you hit somebody with a .45 they stayed hit". The old revolver was modified to the Homicide Lieutenant's specfications by another guy on the Detroit PD in the 1930's. The barrel was cut down, a front sight adjustable for elevation installed, a rear sight adjustable for windage, and the grip frame was rounded as were the service stocks. A set of Sanderson Grips were made for the revolver and were the ones prefered by the Lieutenant, the holster is a cut down U.S. 1917 issue that has most likely been with the gun since day one. I later learned that Lew Sanderson (grip maker) was on the Detroit PD in the late 1930's, the son told me the guy that made the grips did the modifications to the revolver. The son is the last in his family's line, so he passed his Dad's old friend on to me last fall. Greg
That is one of the best 1917 "Conversions" I have seen.
Back in the day, you would think the S&W factory would produce something like this.
A 45 ACP revolver is a great "Cop" gun.
Back in the day the half moon clips were the ultimate speed loaders.
I used a 6.5 and later a 6" Mod 25 for years as a duty gun.
At first with half moon clips, later with full moon clips.
While the long barrels shot great I always wanted a 4" but just could not cut one down...
even then GI trench guns were worth 1k apiece. They also had some riot models and some confiscated 97's that DPD had cut down to riots.
oh well
