Historical info on M1917

[OldUncleErn]

My nephew has a S&W Model 1917 U.S. Army revolver.
Where can I find historical information on this particular gun? SER: 138490. also a # BER141808 stamped on the frame.

 

[Doc44]

You can request a factory letter from Roy Jinks, S&W's Historian. It will tell you when and where your nephew's revolver was shipped. You can download and print a copy of the letter request form by clicking on downloads at the top of the screen.

Bill

 

[625smith]

SER: 138490 dates to November 1918.

 

[DCWilson]

The BER141808 stamp is nothing that would have come from the factory. It could be an inventory number or owner ID from later in its life that was intended to guard against theft. Can you post photos of the gun? If not, there are a couple of 1917 threads on this forum where you can see lots of photos of 1917s in their original configuration. You can compare the gun to those to see if there are any modifications.

 

[Jack Flash]

You can enter your serial number at this site ...

U.S. Military Dates of Manufacture

... and get the following:

The year of manufacture for serial number 138490 is
1918.
November
U.S. government contract Smith & Wesson 1917 revolvers had serial numbers between 1 and 175100, they should have U.S. property markings on the bottom of the barrel and U.S. army marking on the bottom of the butt. After the war S&W 1917 revolvers were sold commercially and also to the Brazilian government. Brazilian contract revolvers have the Brazilian seal stamped on the side plate.

There is a lot more on the internet if you look. But always take what you find on the internet with a grain of salt.
M1917 revolver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You could also just search this Forum and find a lot of information that is also probably more accurate. You may want to start at the Notable Thread Index and look for M1917.
http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-hand-ejectors-1896-1961/166145-notable-thread-index.html

 

[Jack Flash]

How Could I Forget?

How could I forget that one of our Forum members wrote an article on the Model of 1917 for Dillon Precision's Magazine? Here it is:

http://smith-wessonforum.com/s-w-hand-ejectors-1896-1961/166052-article-model-1917-s-w-revolver.html