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44-417: The Colt M1917 revolver was created to supplement insufficient stocks of M1911 pistols during World War I. It was simply a New Service re-chambered to take the .45 ACP cartridge and used half-moon clips to hold the rimless cartridges in position. After World War I, the revolver gained a strong following among civilian shooters. A commercial rimmed cartridge the .45 Auto Rim was also developed, that allowed

88-449: A sound suppressor and other non-standard weapons. "A few of the OSS -ordered World War II era suppressed High Standard HD .22 automatics made their way into Tunnel Rat hands. But these weapons were very few in number and wanted by a number of other special units. Personal weapons were used by the rats, ranging from .25 caliber automatics to sawn-off shotguns ." Besides enemy combatants,

132-516: A 4", 4½", 5", 5½", 6", and 7½" barrels. It also came with walnut or hard rubber grips. The Colt M1892 revolver was thought of as a decent handgun for its time, but complaints soon arose concerning the stopping power of the .38 Long Colt . Beginning in 1899, combat reports from the Philippines campaign showed that the .38 caliber bullets repeatedly failed to stop Moro fighters , even when shot multiple times at close range. The complaints caused

176-628: A 5½" barrel, was adopted by the U.S. Armed Forces as the "Model 1909 U.S. Army", the "Model 1909 U.S. Navy" and the "USMC Model 1909". 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. In 1904 and 1905 the North-West Mounted Police in Canada also adopted the Colt New Service to replace

220-510: A device such as a cleaning rod or pencil, as the cylinder extractor and ejector would pass over the edge of the rimless cartridges. Firearms developer and writer Elmer Keith considered the Colt model "rough finished" and generally not as well made as the Smith and Wesson. From 1917 to 1919, Colt and Smith & Wesson produced 151,700 and 153,300 M1917s in total (respectively) under contract with

264-477: 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. and all 9mm cartridges M1917 revolver The M1917 Revolvers were six-shot, .45 ACP , large frame double action revolvers adopted by the United States Military in 1917, to supplement

308-641: A high percentage of Agent Orange injuries and diseases due to soldiers' exposure to the chemicals on the ground, or that leached from topsoil into the tunnel environment. While in the tunnels, soldiers were breathing air heavily saturated with Agent Orange. Afghanistan features an extensive series of historic tunnels used for transporting water and the " kariz ." During the 1979–1989 Soviet war in Afghanistan , such tunnels were used by Mujahideen fighters. The Soviet 40th Army therefore fielded their own tunnel clearance and demolition units, which were given

352-433: A shoulder machined into it to permit rimless .45 ACP cartridges to headspace on the case mouth (as they do in automatics). The S&W M1917 can thus be used without half-moon clips, though empty .45 ACP cases, being rimless, must be poked out manually through the cylinder face as the extractor star cannot engage them. Colt had previously produced a version of their .45 Long Colt caliber New Service model, designated

396-411: A standard issue M1911 pistol or M1917 revolver , a bayonet , a flashlight , and explosives . Many tunnel rats reportedly came to dislike the intense muzzle blast of the relatively large .45 caliber round , as the .45's loud report could often leave one temporarily deaf when fired in a confined space. Consequently, some preferred to clear tunnels armed with a .38 Special revolver equipped with

440-449: A strong following among civilian shooters. A commercial rimmed cartridge, the .45 Auto Rim , was also developed, so M1917 revolvers could eject cartridge cases without using moon-clips. During World War I , many U.S. civilian arms companies including Colt and Remington were producing M1911 pistols under contract for the U.S. Army, but even with the additional production there was a shortage of sidearms to issue. The interim solution

484-813: The War Department for use by the American Expeditionary Force . The revolver saw prolific use by the " Doughboys " during World War I, with nearly two-thirds as many M1917s being issued and produced during the war as M1911s were. The military service of the M1917 did not end with the First World War. In November of 1940, the Army Ordnance Corps recorded a total of 96,530 Colt and 91,590 S&W M1917s still in reserve. After being parkerized and refurbished, most of

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528-482: 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. Historians believe that somewhere between 40 and 200 Fitz Specials left the factory, made from various Colt revolvers, by Fitzgerald himself. The Fitz Special

572-426: The .45 ACP without the half-moon clips was unreliable at best, as the cartridge could slip forward into the cylinder and away from the firing pin. Later production Colt M1917 revolvers had headspacing machined into the cylinder chambers, just as the Smith & Wesson M1917 revolvers had from the start. Newer production Colts could be fired without the half-moon clips, but the empty cartridge cases had to be ejected with

616-458: The .45 Auto Rim. This rimmed version of the .45 ACP allowed both versions of the Model 1917 revolver to fire reliably without the clips. In the late 1950s and 1960s, Colt and Smith & Wesson 1917s were available through mail order companies at bargain prices. In 1937, Brazil ordered 25,000 Smith & Wesson M1917s for its military, where they are no longer in service. They can be identified by

660-483: 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

704-460: The 3 Field Troop, an Australian combat engineering unit that served in Vietnam from 1965 to 1966, have made a convincing argument that they were the first allied troops to enter the tunnels. Tunnel rats were given the task of destroying them, gathering intelligence within them, and killing or capturing their occupants—often in conditions of close combat. Typically, a tunnel rat was equipped with only

748-516: The M1909, to replace their .38 Long Colt caliber M1892 revolvers that had demonstrated inadequate stopping power during the Philippine–American War . The Colt M1917 Revolver was essentially the same as the M1909, but with a cylinder bored to take the .45 ACP cartridge and the half-moon clips to hold the rimless cartridges in position. In early Colt production revolvers, attempting to fire

792-544: The M1917 to be fired without the need for moon-clips. 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. The Colt New Service

836-593: The New Service was chambered for .38 Special and .44 Russian, other less common calibers were discontinued. In 1936, the New Service was chambered for new .357 Magnum cartridge. As one of the most powerful handgun cartridges available of the time, it was easily capable of penetrating the automobile bodies and body armor used by the gangsters , bank robbers , and fugitives of that era. As such, it became instantly popular with Lawmen, State Troopers and Highway Patrolmen. These guns were offered with 4", 5" and 6" barrels. The early models came with checkered walnut grips, while

880-504: The U.S. Army to hurriedly re-issue the now retired .45 caliber Colt Single Action Army revolvers with newly shortened 5½" barrels version, cut down from the original 7½" barrels. These old revolvers easily stopped the kris and bolo wielding combatants and this played a central role in the Army's decision to replace the M1892 with the .45 caliber New Service revolver in 1909. The Model 1909

924-715: The U.S. for commercial sale since then. Tunnel rats The tunnel rats were American , Australian , New Zealand , and South Vietnamese soldiers who performed underground search and destroy missions during the Vietnam War . Later, similar teams were used by the Soviet Army during the Soviet–Afghan War and by the Israel Defense Forces in campaigns in the Middle East . During

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968-692: The Vietnam War, "tunnel rat" became an unofficial specialty for volunteer combat engineers and infantrymen from the Australian Army and the U.S. Army who cleared and destroyed enemy tunnel complexes. Their motto was the tongue-in-cheek Latin phrase Non Gratum Anus Rodentum ("not worth a rat's ass"). In the early stages of the war against the French colonial forces , the Viet Minh created an extensive underground system of tunnels, which

1012-502: The War, Naomi Alan, an engineer employed by Smith & Wesson, developed the 6-round full-moon clip. However, many civilian shooters disliked using moon clips. Although full moon clips allow a 1917 to be very quickly reloaded, loading and unloading the clips is tedious, and bent clips can bind the cylinder and cause misfires. For these reasons, in 1920, the Peters ammunition company introduced

1056-445: The end of World War II. The U.S. Army Model 1917 was created to supplement insufficient stocks of M1911 pistols during World War I. The Colt M1917 Revolver was a New Service with a cylinder bored to take the .45 ACP cartridge and the half-moon clips to hold the rimless cartridges in position. Later production Colt M1917 revolvers had headspacing machined into the cylinder chambers, just as the Smith & Wesson M1917 revolvers had from

1100-729: The large Brazilian crest stamped on their sideplates and are sometimes referred to as the M1937, the Modelo 1937, or the Brazilian-contract M1917. They have altered rear sights, a "Made in U.S.A." stamp on the left sideplate, and most were fitted with commercial-style checkered grips (though some utilized smooth grips left over from the United States contract). These Modelo 1937 revolvers were shipped to Brazil until 1946, and some surplus batches have been re-imported back into

1144-466: The later models used plastic-like "Coltwood" grips. 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

1188-499: The less-than satisfactory Enfield Mk II revolver in service since 1882. 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. British Empire Colt New Service Revolvers were stamped "NEW SERVICE .455 ELEY" on the barrel, to differentiate them from

1232-420: The mid-1920s, when he modified a .38 Special Colt Police Positive Special revolver, whose shortest available barrel length was four inches. He later modified two .45 Colt New Service revolvers in the same manner, and was known to carry the pair in his front pockets. Fitz Special revolvers are made by taking any standard size Colt revolver, shortening the barrel to two inches, shortening the ejector rod, bobbing

1276-506: The narrow dark passages. Tunnel rats were generally men of smaller stature (165 cm (5 ft 5 in) and under), who were able to maneuver more comfortably in the narrow tunnels. Tom Mangold and John Penycate, authors of one of the definitive accounts of tunnel warfare during the Vietnam War, reported that the U.S. tunnel rats were almost exclusively soldiers of European or Hispanic descent, many of whom were Puerto Rican or Mexican American . By Mangold and Penycate's account,

1320-533: The request of the Army allowed Colt to also use the design free of charge in their own version of the M1917 revolver. The Smith & Wesson Model 1917 is essentially an adaptation of the company's .44 Hand Ejector 2nd Model chambered instead in .45 ACP and employing a shortened cylinder and a lanyard ring on the butt of its frame. The S&W M1917 differs from the Colt M1917 in that the S&;W cylinder has

1364-531: The revolver gained a strong following among civilian shooters. The M1917s saw action again during World War II, when it was issued to "specialty troops such as tankers and artillery personnel". During the Korean War, they were again issued to support troops, and even used by " tunnel rats " during the Vietnam War. John Henry Fitzgerald first came up with the Fitz Special snubnosed revolver concept around

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1408-466: The revolvers were re-issued to stateside security forces and military policemen , but 20,993 of them were issued overseas to "specialty troops such as tankers and artillery personnel" throughout the course of U.S. involvement in World War II. During the Korean War they were again issued to support troops. The M1917s were even used by members of the " tunnel rats " during the Vietnam War. Overall,

1452-418: The standard M1911 pistol during World War I . There were two variations of the M1917, one made by Colt and the other by Smith & Wesson . They used moon-clips to hold the cartridges in position, facilitate reloading, and to aid in extraction since revolvers had been designed to eject rimmed cartridges and .45 ACP rounds were rimless for use with the magazine -fed M1911. After World War I, they gained

1496-441: The start. Newer Colt production could be fired without the half-moon clips, but the empty cartridge cases had to be ejected with a device such as a cleaning rod or pencil, as the cylinder extractor and ejector would pass over the rims of the rimless cartridges. As a result of these issues, a commercial rimmed cartridge the .45 Auto Rim was developed that allowed the M1917 to be fired without the need for moon-clips. After World War I,

1540-454: The task of clearing the tunnels of enemy combatants, disarming booby traps, and destroying the underground complexes. According to contemporary accounts, the U.S. Marine Corps and British Royal Marines were involved in similar work in the war in Afghanistan . SAMOOR ( Hebrew : סמור , " weasel "), a formation within Israel's Yahalom elite combat engineer unit, is charged with many of

1584-655: The tunnel rats first garnered public attention in January 1966, after a combined U.S. and Australian operation against the Củ Chi tunnels in Bình Dương Province , known as Operation Crimp . The "Diehards" of the U.S. Army 's 1st Engineer Battalion later were tunnel rats during their rotation through the Củ Chi District of South Vietnam in 1969. In the years since the Vietnam War ended, tunnel rats have suffered from

1628-406: The tunnels themselves presented many potential dangers to tunnel rats. Sometimes they were poorly constructed and they would simply collapse. Tunnels were often booby trapped with hand grenades, anti-personnel mines, and punji sticks . The VC would even use venomous snakes (placed as living booby traps). Rats, spiders, scorpions , and ants also posed threats to tunnel rats. Bats also roosted in

1672-570: The tunnels, although they were generally more of a nuisance than a threat. Tunnel construction occasionally included anti-intruder features such as U-bends that could be flooded quickly to trap and drown the tunnel rat. Sometimes poison gases were used. A tunnel rat might therefore choose to enter the tunnels wearing a gas mask (donning one within was frequently impossible in such a confined space). According to U.S. tunnel rat veterans, however, most tunnel rats usually went without gas masks because wearing one made it even harder to see, hear, and breathe in

1716-699: The two variants of the M1917 enjoyed over fifty years of service in the U.S. armed forces. The British Army adopted it during World War I, and the Home Guard and the Royal Navy used it during the Second World War. The M1917 was also popular on the civilian and police market. Some were military surplus, while others were newly manufactured. Smith & Wesson kept their version in production for civilian and police sales until they replaced it with their Smith & Wesson Model 22 in 1950. After

1760-448: Was also chambered for the .45 Calibre Revolver Ball Cartridge, Model of 1909, which was dimensionally similar to the original .45 Colt cartridge, but it has a rim that is .03 inches (0.76 mm) wider for a more positive ejection with the use of the swing-out cylinder's star extractor. It also played a key role in the Army's decision to adopt the new .45 ACP M1911 Colt pistol , only two years later in 1911. The Model 1909 in .45 Colt with

1804-403: Was introduced in 1898. It was an up-sized and strengthened Colt M1892 and Colt Firearms first large caliber revolver with a swing-out hand ejector cylinder . It was made in the popular large caliber revolver cartridges of the day: .38-40 , .44-40 , .44 Russian , .44 Special , .45 Colt , .450 Boxer, .455 Webley , and .476 Enfield . It was made with a blued finish or nickel plating, and with

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1848-523: Was later expanded and improved by the Viet Cong . By the 1960s, the tunnel complexes included hospitals, training areas, storage facilities, headquarters, and barracks. These diverse facilities, coupled with sophisticated ventilation systems, allowed VC guerrillas to remain hidden underground for months at a time. During the Vietnam War , ANZUS troops uncovered a great number of enemy tunnels while patrolling or conducting larger operations. The men of

1892-761: 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 Rex Applegate and Charles Askins were proponents of the Fitz Special, and it would become a popular after-market conversion for many gunsmiths. Charles Lindbergh , William Powell and Clyde Barrow were also known to carry Fitz Specials. In 1933,

1936-413: Was to ask Colt and Smith & Wesson, the two major American producers of revolvers at the time, to adapt their heavy-frame civilian revolvers to the standard .45 ACP pistol cartridge . Both companies' revolvers utilized half-moon clips to extract the rimless .45 ACP cartridges. Daniel B. Wesson 's son Joseph Wesson invented and patented the half-moon clip, which was assigned to Smith & Wesson, but at

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