(gun firing)
- [Voiceover] Hey guys, it's Alex C with TFB TV.
Today we're taking a look at the American M1917 Revolver.
Today these are generally overlooked, but they are
a very significant pieces of American Firearm History.
Basically, these were adopted by the US Army during
World War One because the US could not produce enough
semi-automatic 1911 Pistols.
Colt and Smith both produced M1917's chambered in
45 ACP, and issued them with half moon clips.
The Smith version was based on the second model hand
ejectors and had a shoulder machined in each cylinder
to allow users to shoot 45 ACP without a moon clip,
something that the Colt guns initially lacked.
While these saw service in the trenches of World War One
and 300,000 were made, they stuck around through
World War Two and even appeared in Vietnam,
where certain situations, like extremely cramped conditions
may have been problematic for self-loaders.
So let's load up this classic American revolver,
and see what it can do in my less than capable hands.
(gun firing)
Here you can see that extracting the half moon clip
is actually quite easy, you just press the ejector rod,
and pull each of the half moon clips right out of there.
It's also quite easy to load them, although to be honest
I would prefer a full moon clip.
As stated, because of the shoulder machined into each
cylinder on the Smith guns you can also single load
without fear of the cartridge case slipping forward
in the cylinder and the firing pin failing
to ignite it, and you can see that pressing the ejector
rod in this case does absolutely nothing.
(gun firing)
It's worth noting that the military at the time
would have taught handgun shooters to shoot one handed,
today we think of this as strange, awkward, and
the wrong way of doing things, but really that didn't
change for a very long time.
Even in 1911 in training videos and manuals,
you'll see pictures of soldiers basically holding
the pistol far away from their body, postured in
a 19th Century shooting pose.
(gun firing)
Notice that after pretty much each shot I'm re-adjusting
my grip, because the gun really has quite a lot of
muzzle flip, and the grip's slick sides make it really
want to go full 90 degrees on you each time you
shoot it.
With two handed shooting, you notice this
significantly less, and I do try that towards the
end of the video, and it does improve quite substantially.
(gun firing)
Here I tried shooting with two hands at about
50 or 60 meters, I don't recall exactly how far away
I was from the target, but I think I did pretty well,
I was shooting at about an 18 inch gong on this one,
and I landed a fair amount of the shots on target.
I'm pretty rusty with a revolver, but I enjoyed shooting
this gun nonetheless for its historical value,
and realistically, it's a very well put together gun.
It's something that you'd expect from pretty much any
Smith and Wesson product from the 20th Century.
I'm not a seasoned revolver shooter but I would not
really be able to perform any better with a brand
new 686 than I would this one.
I hope you guys enjoy this video of a classic
American revolver, big thanks to Ventura Munitions
for supplying the ammunition, we hope to see you next time.