Colt New Service

Winning

The New Service actually overtook the Single Action Army in total production numbers due to the fact that more than 150,000 New Service revolvers chambered in .45ACP with 5 ½” barrels (known as the Model 1917) were ordered for the use of the troops in World War I. At the same time, Smith & Wesson was also producing their version of the Model 1917 using a 5 ½” 2nd Model Hand Ejector. In the late 1950s when I first discovered the joys of double action sixguns, both surplus models were still readily available with excellent specimens going for $15. I tried them both and selected the Smith & Wesson due to the simple fact that the grip frame was better suited to my large but short fingered hand. If the New Service had any drawback, it would be the fact it was definitely made for those with large hands and long fingers.

Collectors now apply special terms to distinguish the various models of New Service revolvers from 1898 to 1941. The Old Model, the name applied to the first 21,000 New Service revolvers, was rather ungainly looking with a straight stovepipe-shaped barrel and a trigger guard looking like it was added on as an afterthought. After the Old Model, approximately 2,000 Transitional Models were offered with mainly interior improvements including a hammer block safety.

Next came the Improved Model, which would go to serial number 328,000, and is the New Service most often encountered. The barrel now had a larger collar where it screwed into the frame, and the trigger guard was also larger and shaped to look like it was actually part of the frame. We can thank the United States Army for the collar on the barrel as all Model 1917s were ordered with the collar to provide a snug fit of the barrel to frame. Designed for better function, it also resulted in a better form. Sometime around 1928, the Late Model New Service arrived with a change in the shape of the top strap to give it a more flattened appearance at the same time the rear sight was milled to a square notch.

In the 1940 Colt catalog, three versions of the New Service were offered. A standard model with barrel lengths of 4 ½”, 5 ½” and 7 ½” and either blue or nickel finish in .45 Colt, .45 ACP, .455 Eley, .44-40, .44 Special, .38 Special, .38-40, and the latest and most modern cartridge, the .357 Magnum. For some reason, barrel lengths for the .38 Special and .357 Magnum were set at 4″, 5″ and 6″. Colt’s advertising read, “The New Service is essentially a holster Revolver for the man in the open — Mounted, Motorcycle and State Police; the Hunter, Explorer and Pioneer. It is the Arm adopted as Standard by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and hundreds of city and state Police Organizations throughout the world …”

The Colt was definitely a sixgun for both outdoor and duty use and it was adopted at the north and south ends of the country as the official sidearm of both the RCMP and the United States Border Patrol. The Mounties chose the .45 Colt, while our officers on the southern border had the New Service in .38 Special.