Colt New Service

The Colt New Service is a large frame, large caliber, double-action revolver made by Colt from 1898 until 1941. Made in various calibers, the .45 Colt version with a 5½" barrel, was adopted by the U.S. Armed Forces as the Model 1909.^[1]

The

In the 1930s, the New Service was chambered for .38 Special, and then .357 Magnum. As one of the most powerful handgun cartridges available at the time, it was easily capable of penetrating the automobile bodies and body armor used by public enemies such as gangsters, bank robbers, and fugitives of that era. As such, it became instantly popular with lawmen, state troopers and highway patrolmen.

History

The Colt New Service was introduced in 1898. It was an up-sized and strengthened

Model 1909

The Colt M1892 revolver was thought of as a decent handgun for its time, but complaints soon arose concerning the

In 1899 Canada acquired a number of New Service revolvers (chambered in .45 Colt) for Boer War service, to supplement its existing M1878 Colt Double Action revolvers in the same caliber.^[8] In 1904 and 1905 the North-West Mounted Police in Canada also adopted the Colt New Service to replace the less-than satisfactory Enfield Mk II revolver in service since 1882.^[9]

New Service revolvers, designated as Pistol, Colt, .455-inch 5.5-inch barrel Mk. I, chambered for the .455 Webley cartridge were acquired for issue as "substitute standard" by the British War Department during World War I.^[10] British Empire Colt New Service Revolvers were stamped "NEW SERVICE .455 ELEY" on the barrel,^[11] to differentiate them from the .45 Colt versions used by the US (and Canada).

The Colt New Service was a popular revolver with British officers and many of them had privately purchased their own Colt New Service revolvers in the years prior to World War I as an alternative to the standard-issue Webley Revolver. British Empire and Canadian forces received 60,000 Colt New Service revolvers during World War I and they continued to see official service until the end of World War II.^[11]

Colt M1917 revolver

The

John Henry Fitzgerald first came up with the

Fitz Special revolvers are made by taking any standard size Colt revolver, shortening the barrel to two inches, shortening the ejector rod, bobbing the hammer spur, rounding the butt, and removing the front half of the trigger guard. Reshaping the hammer and the butt allows the gun to be drawn quickly with little risk of the weapon snagging on clothing. The halved trigger guard facilitates quick trigger acquisition, even for shooters with large fingers or gloves.^[15]

Historians believe that somewhere between 40 and 200 Fitz Specials left the factory, made from various Colt revolvers, by Fitzgerald himself.^[16] The Fitz Special was the precursor to the modern snubnosed revolver, and specifically the prototype for the Colt Detective Special, the first production two-inch snubnosed revolver. Even after the introduction of the Detective Special in 1927, Fitz continued to make custom revolvers for special clients.

Colonels

In 1933, the New Service was chambered for

With the onset of World War II the Colt New Service was discontinued in 1941. It was the largest revolver ever manufactured by Colt and one of the largest production revolvers of all time until the introduction of the .44 Magnum Colt Anaconda in 1990. There are several generational variants including the "Old Model" (which refers to the first 21,000 units made), "Transitional Model" (which incorporated a hammer-block safety), "Improved Model" (325,000 units), and "Late Model" (manufactured from 1928 to 1941). A "Target Model", "Shooting Master", and "Deluxe Target Model" were offered as well.^[18]

Notes