Model 1917 moon clip source

[Mlschnei]

My 1917 received a factory rework in 1954 and the cylinder was replaced with one with straight thru charge holes. The bad news is without the shoulders it is no longer capable of shooting 45 ACP without the moon clips. The good news is that using the thin TK clips it functions with 45 Colt. Not a bad tradeoff.

Will it handle Colt pressures or do you reload “lights”?
I considered having this done to mine, but bullet clearance
looked tight with the barrel.

 

[StrawHat]

My 1917 received a factory rework in 1954 and the cylinder was replaced with one with straight thru charge holes. The bad news is without the shoulders it is no longer capable of shooting 45 ACP without the moon clips. The good news is that using the thin TK clips it functions with 45 Colt. Not a bad tradeoff.

Yours is the only S&W ACP revolver I have heard of that has bored through charge holes! Are you sure that was done at the factory? Does it letter that way?

Kevin

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

My 1917 received a factory rework in 1954 and the cylinder was replaced with one with straight thru charge holes. The bad news is without the shoulders it is no longer capable of shooting 45 ACP without the moon clips …

In 1954 what was the purpose?

 

[desi2358]

Straight through charge holes sounds like it was modified to be a shotgun revolver. Most of which were modified to smoothbore barrels as well and used cut down 30-06 cases for the loads. This was brief fad in the 1950's until the ATF found out and declared that the smoothbore barrel made them an illegal "short barreled shotgun". I suppose it would have been okay with a regular rifled barrel (like the Judge and other modern shotgun pistols) but rifling tends to spin the shot column and can result in poor shot patterns. Seems odd the factory would modify one that way but I suppose if there was money involved they might have made what the customer wanted.

 

[halfmoonclip]

I'm astonished any of you are having trouble with halfmoons in a .45ACP revo. Been using cheapo gunshow clips in a 1917, two 625s, and a 325; no problemo.
Now .45ARs (AutoRims) are a different creature, and not meant for moons of any sort. Their whole purpose was to avoid using the clips.
I've some .45 fullmoons that haven't been troublesome either.
Now 9s are another matter entirely, and generally require expensive clips.
Moon

 

[DWalt]

The .45 AR cartridge was the brainchild of the Peters Cartridge Co. in the early 1920s. It was intended to capitalize on all of the M1917 revolvers the doughboys brought back in their duffel bags after the end of WWI. To my knowledge, it was never adopted as an official military cartridge by any nation.

 

[desi2358]

The .45 AR cartridge was the brainchild of the Peters Cartridge Co. in the early 1920s. It was intended to capitalize on all of the M1917 revolvers the doughboys brought back in their duffel bags after the end of WWI. To my knowledge, it was never adopted as an official military cartridge by any nation.

Quite true, the round was a civilian development. Besides "liberated" 1917s there were also a fair number of revolvers donated by the government to law enforcement agencies. Due to a surge in robberies the Post Office also got some as did some banking companies. These non-military users were a good market for the 45AR round. Since they were out of the military supply chain they likely weren't receiving pre-clipped ammo for any training or practice they might do. As far as foreign usage most were intended for military use and would have stuck with the standard jacketed 45ACP round.