After the turn of the century, in response to the lackluster performance of the Model 1892/1894/1896 revolvers with the anemic .38 Long Colt in use in the Philippines, the US Army asked Colt to design a new double action revolver in the .45 Colt originally introduced with the Colt Peacemaker in 1873. The result was the Colt New Service revolver. It initially entered army service as the M1909. Within two years, its replacement, the Colt M1911 in .45 ACP was introduced. At the onset of World War 1, and especially after trench warfare commenced, the British Army realized they did not have enough Webley Mk. VI revolvers to suit the requirement. Many European nations considered the pistol a badge of office for officers to be issued while regular enlisted men had to make do with their rifles. Of course, in the trenches the rifles used many of the participating nations would be all but unusable due to the limited amount of room to maneuver. Hence, pistols were needed quickly. They purchased many Colt New Service and S&W New Century revolvers chambered for their .455 Webley. When the US entered World War I in 1917, the US Army came to the same conclusion as their European counterparts did – there simply weren’t enough 1911’s to go around. It was a simple matter to alter the New Service/M1909 and the New Century/Mk II to shoot the .45 ACP round using moon clips. Both revolvers became the M1917 revolver and were issued alongside the M1911 to US troops. The Colt is easily identifiable by its larger frame and much thicker barrel. While a Colt M1917 would have been heavier to carry, the thicker barrel would certainly have been more efficient at soaking up heat than the S&W’s pencil barrel. This Model 1917 is very special as it comes with a Colt Factory letter, which states the revolver left the Colt factory with serial number 273140 and butt number 121505 on October 18th, 1918, and was shipped to the Commanding Officer, Ordnance Depot of Camp Wadsworth in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It was one of 1,350 guns Model 1917’s sent in the shipment. According to the Colt Serial Number Database on the Colt website, the Army Serial number dates the frame to 1916 when the frame was built. At a later time, this M1917 was refinished at the Augusta Arsenal in Georgia. The Arsenal’s signature stamp “AA” is located on the left side just ahead of the side plate. The original Colt markings are still visible despite the refinish though there is naturally some wear to them. The revolver now sports a parkerized finish, which was faster and easier to apply than a blued finish. There are few small spots of finish wear, but nothing like one would expect from a revolver that has been sitting in a holster on a regular basis. The 1917 is in excellent mechanical condition. The cylinder locks up like a bank vault as they say. This means that when the trigger is pulled, and the hammer goes forward and the gun fires, the cylinder is locked up very tightly with virtually no play until the trigger is allowed to return to the forward position. The wood grips are in excellent shape for their age. The bore is in excellent condition with some minor lead fowling near the muzzle. The gunsmith, despite having a great deal of work to do, took some time to clean some of the fowling out of the bore and it looks better than it did before. Further cleaning should remove the remainder of the fowling from the bore. Overall, this M1917 is in excellent condition given its age. With the official Colt letter, it would make a nice addition to any Colt or military collection.