Colt 1917 caliber?

[sgtredleg]

As a young man,I was given a Colt 1917 revolver by my father. We always fired .45 long Colt cartridges thru it with no problem.
When I got older I realized that there was an inscription on the barrel: ".455 Eley". Are the long colt and Eley cartridges interchangeable? Has it been modified? Any info is appreciated.

 

[Mike Irwin]

GOOD LORD! Don't see many of these around every day.

If your revolver is unaltered (many of these guns were altered by shaving the rear of the cylinder) it may actually be worth a good bit of money.

Your gun is marked .455 Eley because it was either destined for the Canadian market or destined for Britain during World War I. The .455 Eley is also known as the .455 Colt, and is a slightly longer version of the British military .455 Webley round, and actually predates the .455 Webley.

I don't know as much about Colts as I do about the S&W 1917, but your gun is, I think, actually a New Service instead of a 1917. The 1917 Colt was the US military version chambered in .45 ACP.

You should not fire .45 Colts in this, although the gun probably can handle them, as .45 Colt was an original chambering in the gun.

The fact that you CAN fire .45 Colt in it leads me to believe that it has been altered (.45 Colt has a thicker rim than the .455 revolver round), which drops the price.

Are there any markings on it that would make it seem as if it were a military gun?

 

[sgtredleg]

Mike,
Unfortunatly, I am in one location and my revolver is in storage in another. However, this I do know. The barrel is indeed inscribed with "New Service", and there are "proof marks" on the sideplates. One of the Proofmarks was of a "Crown". It has a "lanyard ring" and was patented in 1905.
I have tried to use half moon clips with .45 ACP ammo in it and found that the space between the rear of the cylinder and the face of the frame was to narrow, I could not close the cylinder.
Again, I really dont know what I have and I thank you for the info.

 

[Mike Irwin]

Sgt,

Given that information, it would appear that your gun is an unaltered Colt New Service in .455 Eley that was sent to either Canada or Britain.

The fact that it appears to be unaltered means that it is probably worth a nice premium. It's pretty uncommon to see these guns in unaltered condition.

That you can fire .45 Colts through it is a little surprising, given than the rims are kind of thick as compared to the .455 Eley round, but given the fact that early New Service .45s didn't have shoulder chambers, it isn't a total shock.

Sounds like it's a nice gun. You may want to have someone who knows more about these things take a physical look at it.

 

[sgtredleg]

Thanks Mike you've been a big help. I now know more than I did.

 

[Harley Nolden]

.455 Eley

Sgtredleg:
Happened to find this lying around and thought it might be useful.

The 455 Revolvere MkI was adopted by the British army to replace the 476 MkIII and the 455 Enfield MkI ammunition. Despite the different caliber designation, these two cartridges actually have the same case dimension. They differ only in bullet diameter, type and construction. The 476 was a blackpowder cartridge and so was the 455 MkI at its inception. However, in 1894 the propellant was changed to the then new Cordite, and after a few years, it was found the
smokeless powder burned more efficiently in a shorter case. Consequently a shorter case was adopted in 1897 and this altered round was designated the 455 Revolver MkII.

The MarkII British revolver cartridge adopted in 1897 and designated the 455 Revolver MkII. It is a modification of an earlier round originally designed for blackpowder (455 Revolver MkI) Modern revolvers will chamber and fire either the old or new cartridge. The 455 Webley was used officially in both WWI and II, although it was partly replaced by the 380/200 (38S&W) adopted in the mid 30's. In addition to the Webley revolver, both Colt and S&W chambered arms for this cartridge.

476 ELEY
Introduced: 1881
Other Names: 476 Enfield MkIII
455/476
British military cartridge used from late 1881 to mid 1891,when the 455 Webely revolver cartridge, MkI was introduced. This round has the same case and bullet dimensions as the 455
MkI except the latter is .05mm shorter in case length. Unlike the 476 MkII the MkIII has a clay plug in the holow base. The charge was 18 grains of black-powder. also known as the 476 Eley and 476 Revolver, the MkIII can be used in any British service 455, but the bullet may be a bit large for use in 455 Colts of S&W's of late manufacture.

HJN

 

[James K]

The .455 New Service would not normally have enough head space to accept the .45 Colt cartridge. I suspect the revolver was altered either by shaving the cylinder or by running a .45 Colt chambering reamer in to the chambers, resulting in a recessed head.

Jim