Q: M1917 Revolvers Eventual Disposition

Hello,

I've asked around with people that I know have stores of revolver lore, and I feel like I've used search engines the right way, but I'm coming up empty and turning to the gang here with my question:

What happened to the approximately 300K M1917 revolvers made by Colt and S&W? 

I was thinking about the CMP and the 1911s that they are selling; I wondered if something similar had happened to the wheel guns sometime in the past that just wouldn't have necessarily made the jump from paper to disk. Does anyone have any idea of what happened to them? Sold, given away, destroyed, other?

Thanks,
Chase

I think a lot of them might have ended up in “secondary” law enforcement organizations like Customs, Postal, Immigration, and the like. Certainly some were sold in between the wars. I do remember seeing one in a cross draw holster on a customs officer at a British Columbia border crossing in the earlupy 1970s. I saw the model stamp on the frame of the butt.

I think most of them were sold off as surplus. If you look at magazine ads from the 50s & 60s you will see them for sale along with all kinds of other surplus arms. Guns magazine has their back issues from 1955-1972 on line.  Browse through some of those and you’ll see what I’m talking about. 

John

A collector local to me has a both the colt and the smith. Allegedly when he got them some time ago, they were not too difficult to find. I would guess they mostly became surplus and/or lend lease items.