Questions about S&W Brazillian Contract M1937 .45 acp revolver

I've got one of these that I bought about 20 years ago for $200. It was pretty rough when I got it, with a lot of shiny spots, so I had it re-blued. Bought some N-frame grips for it that I didn't like, so put the originals back on.

Mine looks more like pics cracked91 posted. The barrel is stamped "S.&W. D.A.45" on the left and "Smith&Wesson" on the right. The frame is stamped with the S&W trademark on the left, the Brazilian Army seal and "1937" on the right, and "Made in U.S.A." just in front of the trigger guard on the right.

Serial number is 194248, stamped in the butt just behind the lanyard swivel.

The grips are ugly as sin but fairly comfortable, and it shoots nice. Haven't shot it as much the last few years, though.

I really hated the half-moon e-clips I had, they tended to break and chewed up my finger tips to boot. If anyone is interested, I found these polymer moonclips that work great at http://www.beckhamdesign.com/khxc/index.php?app=ccp0&ns=prodshow&ref=RIMZ-25

Not shilling for them, but I really really like the clips, they were great to deal with, and cheap too. A guy I know who had a 1911 sold it and bought a .40, so he gave me ~400 rounds of .45 ACP that he had. I don't think I'll ever need to buy ammo for this gun now.
 
Hello WyMark and welcome to the forum.

There's a thread over on the Revolver form where owners of old 45 service revolvers can post photos of their S&W or Colt Model 1917's and their Brazilian 1937 revolvers. We'd love to see a photo of yours on that thread if you'd care to post one.

I always preferred full moon clips to half moons. I bought a ton of metal full moon clips to hold my 45 ACP rounds back when I bought my gun many years ago. I still have a few of them left. However, nowadays, I prefer to load for home defense purposes with some of the better defensive rounds that within the past couple of years have become availiable in 45 Auto Rim caliber, which is a revolver cartridge with an extra thick, rimmed case that's made to fit in 45 revolvers that can take moon clips..
 
I currently own a smith and wesson 1917, and just last sunday purchased a Webley Mk 6 in 45 acp. My question is how to sight in the 1917. It shoots high and to the right. The
Webley puts them in the same hole. Both are a blast to shoot, and the range owner starts to drool when I bring them out. He likes the webley just a bit too much (lol). Does anyone out there know where I can pick up a butt swivel for the webley?

1/2 moon clips seem to bend too easily when loading or unloading them. 1/3 moon clips are too hard to unload, so I use full moon clips only. I do want to hear from anyone who has the rimz plastic clips and get their feedback.
 
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I have and love both a S&W 1917 and a Webley MkVI. I might just be lucky, but both send the same load to the perfect POA/POI. I don't think there is any adjustment you can do to sight-in the Smith. If you reload, you will just have to do a little trial-and-error to find the right load. Mine is 4.4 grains of Bullseye with a 200 grain LSWC bullet.
Now I need a Colt 1917.
 
My plan was to get a sidearm for each side of the european theater in ww twice. So far I have the colt auto, webley mk 6, and the p-38. When I was younger, I remember my uncle (a Houston cop at the time) saying he used to correct point of aim on a model 10 smith by tapping the barrel against a sand bag or bag of lead bird shot, which would bend the barrel to POA. I am too much of a coward to try this. Anybody else heard of this?
 
"While the 1917s were designed to be shot with .45 ACP ammo, most people really don't consider them to be strong enough for a stead diet of hard ball.

.45 Auto Rim loading data is a step below the .45 ACP ammo in most reloading manuals. "


Speer 14 shows the same data for 45 AR and 45 ACP so perhaps this trend is changing.
 
My understanding is that the hard ball ammo tends to wear the old softer steel bores in these 1917 guns. They where adapted from a design and barrel steel that was intended to shoot lead bullets not GI ball.
 
The only way I get any accuracry, great accuracy, is shooting hardball or hard cast lead, the swaged stuff is all over the paper.
 
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