Colt M1917

About the Colt M1917

The Colt M1917 is an American six-shot, .45 ACP double-action revolver adopted by the U.S. Army in 1917 to supplement the M1911 pistol during World War I. Built on Colt's New Service frame with a swing-out cylinder, it chambered the rimless .45 ACP cartridge using three-round half-moon clips, which held the rounds for extraction and allowed rapid reloading. It served U.S. forces through both World Wars and remained in secondary service into the 1950s.

When the United States entered World War I, M1911 pistol production could not keep pace with demand, so Colt and Smith & Wesson adapted their large-frame revolvers to fire the standard .45 ACP cartridge via half-moon clips, putting a rimless automatic round into a wheelgun.

Colt M1917 specifications

The half-moon clip, developed by Joseph Wesson, allowed the rimless .45 ACP automatic-pistol cartridge to be used and extracted in a revolver; the later .45 Auto Rim cartridge added a thick rim so the revolver could be fired without clips. Smith & Wesson produced a parallel Model 1917 on its own frame.