Unusual markings on the Colt Model 1917 Army revolver

[Dmitry]

Hello, gents.
My first post here.

I saw this rather early Colt M1917 Army revolver at a local gun emporium today. My question is this - what are these numbers next to the Colt serial number? Number 6082 is repeated on the barrel, frame and crane. This is not the Army inventory number, because the butt has number 1509 stamped on it. I have never seen this on other M1917 Army revolvers.

What do you think?

 

[Beagle-zebub]

Could you post some large pics of the whole revolver? The barrel alone looks really handsome.

Such extra information might prove helpful, too.

 

[Dmitry]

The revolver looks like every other M1917, aside from the additional numbers in the three areas, as shown on photos. It has been reblued at some point.

 

[BlindJustice]

Perhaps it was refurbished/refinished prior to WWII, and numbered to
keep the parts identifiable for reassembly in a large batch?
any USA or Brit proofmarks?

R-

 

[Majic]

Most likely one of the many rebuild jobs done in the armory.

 

[Old Fuff]

The number on the frame behind the crane (153419) is Colt's serial number, within the New Service model series. The number on the butt is the Army's inventory number (1509) which is based on the contract for these revolvers, with the first one being number 1. The othe numbers, such as 6082) are assembly numbers, put on certain fitted parts (such as the barrel) to insure the right ones were put together after they were blued. The numbers or marks above the serial number on the frame are inspector's stamps.

 

[Dmitry]

>>The othe numbers, such as 6082) are assembly numbers, put on certain fitted parts (such as the barrel) to insure the right ones were put together after they were blued.

If I understand your post correctly, first the gun was assembled by Colt, at which time the serial # stamped on frame and crane, and assembly #s were stamped on the barrel, frame and crane. Then the gun was taken apart, brush-blued, again by Colt, put back together and sent to an Army arsenal, at which point the butt was stamped with the Army serial # on the butt?
What was the point of having serial numbers AND assembly numbers?

This particular revolver is reblued, probably by an individual, not the arsenal, since blueing looks nothing like the factory "brush-blue", and has nothing to do with overhauling in the 1940s, because the guns were parkerized, rather than blued. Correct?

Bear with me. I am a newbee.

 

[Old Fuff]

You're almost right. The Model 1917 was nothing more nor less then a regular Colt New Service revolver set up to use the .45 ACP cartridge and fitted with plain walnut stocks in place of the usual black hard-rubber kind. So they took frames out of regular inventory that were already stamped with a Colt New Service serial number. In your case that was 153419.

Parts such as the crane and barrel were stamped with an assembly (in your case 6082) because at the time they were fitted to the frame it did not yet have a serial number - that came later.

Colt also stamped the markings and number on the butt, but it was done in a different machine set up exclusively for Model 1917 production, and the number matched the production of that model, and didn't relate to other New Service revolvers. So the number on the butt (on your gun it is 1509) denotes that it was the 1,509th Model 1917 made by Colt. The serial number (153419) means that it was the 153,419th New Service made by Colt.

And you're right about the World War Two reworks - they were sandblasted and Parkerized. Between the wars some revolvers were referbished, both by Colt and at Springfield Armory, but they were either brush-blued or Parkerized.