Colt 1917 Question

C

Col. Mosby

New member
I am looking at a Colt 1917. The frame Ser. # is 281xxx. The Army Ser. # on the bottom of the grip is 130xxx. From looking at different sites, it looks like the Army assigned a ser. # in 1918 but Colt didn't make it till 1919 or 20. What's up with that? Maybe my info. is wrong. Sure could use some help here.
Thanks
 
I once did some research on those numbers, based on the starting service and serial numbers and the number of guns accepted per month.

My figures contradict the usually published figures, and show that NS serial 218xxx, Service serial 130xxx, was made in October 1918. Part of the problem is that Colt apparently made at least 2500 revolvers for commercial sales while working on the contract, so the two numbers don't quite track. Plus Colt skipped the NS serial block 143000-149999 in 1917 to start the 1917 at NS 150,000, then picked it up in 1919. Production of the 1917 ended at about NS 302500, but Colt then skipped to 305000 when civilian production was restarted. My calculations are that Colt made some 2500 NS revolvers in that period off the contract.

Jim
 
The last Colt deliveries happened on 2/11/19. The Colt contract was suspended about 12/14/18.

My Colt M1917 has a 249xxx frame number and a US No. 104xxx. It was delivered to the Springfield Armory during the week of August 31, 1918 as part of a weekly delivery of 2600 revolvers.

If you do the math between my 249xxx and your 281xxx, that is ~ 32000 M1917's. At 2600-3000 per week, that is ~12 weeks, so your 1917 should have been made between Oct 1918 - Nov 1918. The 130xxx Army SN's were made between Oct 1918 and Nov 1918

The M1917 data online has some huge discrepancies and it takes quite a bit of research to find the right data.

You can check the Army SN here: http://oldguns.net/sn_php/mildateslookup.php

and the Colt number here: http://www.colt.com/customerservices/serialnumberlookup.aspx
 
FWIW, here is what I compiled. The original format and basic production figures are from Bob Murphy's Colt New Service Revolvers.

Sorry for the format; this site has a blank eliminator so tabs and excess spaces are removed. I hope it is readable.

Colt Model 1917 Production, with Serial and Service numbers.
The first number is the quantity of the monthly dellivery.
The second number is the starting New Service (Colt) serial number for that month.
The third number is the starting service (Army) number on the butt for that month.

Year/Month Number produced Starting NS Ser. No. Starting Service No.
1917
Apr 6 - Dec 29 20,900 150000 1
1918
January 8700 170900 20901
February 8800 179700 29601
March 11,800 191500 38401
April 10,400 201900 50201
May 11,100 213000 60601
June 11,100 224100 71701
July 11,600 235700 82801
August 11,300 247000 94401
September 11,100 258100 105701
October 13,500 271600 116801
November 11,900 283500 130301
December 9,500 293000 142201
Ending numbers 302500 151701
 
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