Mod. 1917 .45 Colt Cylinder

[oksmle]

Am looking for a .45 LC cylinder for my S&W 1917. Gun Parts shows them but hasn't had any for some time. Any help is appreciated.

[Char-Gar]

The Smith and Wesson 1917 was made in 45 ACP and never in 45 Colt. Any 45 Colt cylinder would be either rechambered or from another model of Smith N frame that may or may not work.

[fishhawk]

Some of the first one's made had a bored through cylinder. That's why many say they were 45 colt. Will it stand a 45 colt I don't know.

[Artful]

There was an article about S&W 1917 conversion but as I remember there were issues with it being short for 45 colt so only some loads worked. Factory pressures should be fine but doubt you could hot rod it much. I think it was done by King gun works in CA as I recall - I think ed (CE) Harris wrote the article. I'll see if I can find it tonight when I get home - gotta go to work now.

[Char-Gar]

There were a number of Smith and Wesson Triple Locks (New Century) and 2nd. Model Hand ejectors in 455 Eley furnished to the British and Canadian governments for use in WWI. When these were reimported as surplus back in the 50's and 60's some of them had their cylinders rechambered to 45 Colt. This worked OK, but required a lighter bullets like 453423 so the rounds would not stick out the front of the cylinder.

[Ziptar]

Try your library or your favorite auction site and scare up a copy of the 1981 Gun Digest Deluxe Edition.

Theres a long article by Ed Harris on how to build a .45 Colt / ACP Convertible S&W 1917. He used a .357 cylinder (I think) and re-chambered to for .45 Colt.

http://i.ebayimg.com/19/!CEGwsW!Bmk~$(KGrHqYOKnUEz1r)VGYcBNQzYjyfTw~~_3.JP G

It's been a long time since I read it but, much of the work involved the cylinder length / clearance, retaining lug, and barrel shank length.

At least you can read that and see what you are in for.

I've always been of a mind that one day I might stumble across a 1917 for short money and co similar but, make it permanently a 45 Colt, no swappable cylinders.

If you've already got a 1917 to convert then it might make sense. For the prices that S&W 1917 and Brazilian 1937 Contract revolvers go for nowadays it might not be worth it. I watched one on GunBroker a while back that had a bulged barrel and still sold for $325.00.

I think by the time you buy a 1917, a 45 Colt cylinder, any other needed parts, and pay to get the work done you'd be up into the S&W Model 25 price range anyway. Maybe just buy a 25 and be done with it?

[Artful]

That's the article I was thinking of. In the end I found the Ruger blackhawk convertable to be the best way to go. Later on I added a 25-2 adn 25-5 but for just one convertable the Ruger is out of the box ready.

[onceabull]

I Have enjoyed my Brazilian with extra 45 Colt cylinder&Crane for close to 20 years now..I never exceed 8.5 gr Unique with a 255 gr swc in the 45 colt cylinder,and generally am happy with 6 gr Red Dot and that bullet,for my intended purpose(s).. Glad I got it before the 1917's prices went up so much... Onceabull

[oksmle]

I sold a convertable back in the early '90s & have regreted it. I now have a real nice S&W & a Brazilian that I built from pieces. That's the one that I intend to convert. Seems to me that I originally shot about 6.0 grains of Unique with a 232 grains WW boolit in the .45 ACP & about 8.0 grains with a 250 grain WW boolit for the .45 Colt. But that's been too long ago for my memory to be accurate. I used to enjoy changing cylinders in the middle of one of our Military Revolver Matches. Kinda' shook the guys on my right & left up a bit.

[The Virginian]

The easier thing to do is just load .45 ACP or .45 Auto-Rim with .45 Colt weight bullets in the 250-270 grain range with a safe velocity in the 800-900 fps range and you have the same thing with out a costly and unnessecary build.

[Dale53]

The Virginian;
The original 1917 cylinders were not heat treated. They are a bit "tender" for anything that resembles a "heavy" load.

Frankly, if the original cylinder is long enough for the bullet chosen, then your idea has MUCH merit.

I have a pair of late 625's and load the 454424 clone (from an NOE mould) ahead of a charge of 7.0 grs of Unique. It gives me 900+ fps. I'm not sure I would go that far in an original 1917 (due to their "soft" cylinders) but it sure works well in my 625's.

FWIW
Dale53