Colt New Service

YEMX1775

YEMX1775

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This Colt New Service was made in 1903 according to its serial number (8555) and the Colt website. There is a faint stamp on the frame behind the cylinder which identifies it as a New Service, and I tend to believe it with the information provided by the Colt site. My issue is with the tapered barrel and odd front site, as no other New Service I have viewed has a similar barrel. The barrel measures 7" from shoulder to the end of the muzzle. Also, the caliber looks like a 32-20 or possibly a 38-40, but previous research doesn't advise that Colt made the gun in 32-20. I'm looking for any information from someone familiar with these revolvers.

images.tapatalk_cdn.com_16_01_26_4d3241be1ea1782f39d246f47facb172.jpg


images.tapatalk_cdn.com_16_01_26_b00ad1b75801b161db972d8a1a4df7b7.jpg


images.tapatalk_cdn.com_16_01_26_23a75becb5fe29f03e5e8172bec2f01b.jpg
 
Definitely Not 38/40. Or at least from what I can see, the cylinder hole look way to small. But that's a simple Grab a .40s&w cartridge the Bullets are the same as 38/40.
 
Colts from the early 1900s were sometimes offered as "target" or "special target" variations, with different sights.
This looks like that kind, but the blade of the front sight doesn't look like any others I see on the internet.
 
The most common ".32" calibers for early 1900s Colt revolvers were either the .32 Long Colt (invented in 1870s) and a newer round that was just a copy of the .32 S&W Long, which Colt re-named the ".32 New Police" for use in their DA revolvers (Colt knew that S&W's round was more popular, but didn't want to stamp the name of the cartridge on the COLT gun if "S&W" was part of the cartridge's name).

I suggest measuring the chambers at the back end of the holes, and compare that to the "base diameter" figures you find for various .32 cartridges.

If it were a .32-20, you'd see a significant "shoulder" or tapered area in the cylinder. I'm not seeing that in the pics, but then, it's hard to tell from a pic. But measuring the exact width of the chamber holes in the cylinder will show you if it's a .32-20, since that has a fatter cartridge case near the base than either of the other popular .32 rounds.

AS FOR THE BARREL, could it be a customized gunsmith job? Maybe a 7" or 8" barrel was taken off some other handgun, maybe a P-08 Luger (artillery model) and used?
What about a barrel switch from another company's gun-- S&W, Iver Johnson, etc? What if the barrel came from a Colt Single Action Army, and was polished and fitted to this Colt New Service frame?
It is possible that somebody could have used the last 8" of an .32 rifle barrel to turn down on a lathe and re-thread the shank end and make a handgun barrel out of it.
That would explain the weird front sight, too. That sight seems too tall for a handgun.
Is the barrel marked at all, anywhere?
Can you take pics of the muzzle end close-up?

At first glance, this barrel looks like the kind used on the Artillery model Luger:
http://www.deactivated-guns.co.uk/images/1917 Artillery Luger/1917 Luger artillery-4.jpg
The Luger was a 7.65 caliber, which is sometimes called a ".30 cal" but others call it a ".32 cal". Actual bullet diameter is .309 inches.
That would present a problem, if it were installed on a gun made for use with .32 caliber bullets of the .312" diameter.
(Consider that the 7.65 Browning is also called the ".32 ACP" and it uses a bullet diameter of .3125" or almost 8 mm).
The .32 S&W Long , .32 Long Colt , and .32-20 WCF all use .312" or .3125" bullets.
However, from the early 1900s up to WWII there were a bunch of "8mm Mauser" rifles with bore diameters that were either .318" or .323", and I assume that foolish or ignorant people actually did shoot ammo made for the bigger bore rifles in the smaller bore ones (though it was dangerous and not recommended, especially with full power loads), which just goes to show that 4/1000" or 5/1000" of a difference in bore diameter may not make much of a practical difference, shooting a low powered pistol round with an unjacketed lead bullet.
 
GAgunLAWbooklet said:
The most common ".32" calibers for early 1900s Colt revolvers were either the .32 Long Colt (invented in 1870s) and a newer round that was just a copy of the .32 S&W Long, which Colt re-named the ".32 New Police" for use in their DA revolvers (Colt knew that S&W's round was more popular, but didn't want to stamp the name of the cartridge on the COLT gun if "S&W" was part of the cartridge's name).

I suggest measuring the chambers at the back end of the holes, and compare that to the "base diameter" figures you find for various .32 cartridges.

If it were a .32-20, you'd see a significant "shoulder" or tapered area in the cylinder. I'm not seeing that in the pics, but then, it's hard to tell from a pic. But measuring the exact width of the chamber holes in the cylinder will show you if it's a .32-20, since that has a fatter cartridge case near the base than either of the other popular .32 rounds.

AS FOR THE BARREL, could it be a customized gunsmith job? Maybe a 7" or 8" barrel was taken off some other handgun, maybe a P-08 Luger (artillery model) and used?
What about a barrel switch from another company's gun-- S&W, Iver Johnson, etc? What if the barrel came from a Colt Single Action Army, and was polished and fitted to this Colt New Service frame?
It is possible that somebody could have used the last 8" of an .32 rifle barrel to turn down on a lathe and re-thread the shank end and make a handgun barrel out of it.
That would explain the weird front sight, too. That sight seems too tall for a handgun.
Is the barrel marked at all, anywhere?
Can you take pics of the muzzle end close-up?

At first glance, this barrel looks like the kind used on the Artillery model Luger:
http://www.deactivated-guns.co.uk/images/1917 Artillery Luger/1917 Luger artillery-4.jpg
The Luger was a 7.65 caliber, which is sometimes called a ".30 cal" but others call it a ".32 cal". Actual bullet diameter is .309 inches.
That would present a problem, if it were installed on a gun made for use with .32 caliber bullets of the .312" diameter.
(Consider that the 7.65 Browning is also called the ".32 ACP" and it uses a bullet diameter of .3125" or almost 8 mm).
The .32 S&W Long , .32 Long Colt , and .32-20 WCF all use .312" or .3125" bullets.
However, from the early 1900s up to WWII there were a bunch of "8mm Mauser" rifles with bore diameters that were either .318" or .323", and I assume that foolish or ignorant people actually did shoot ammo made for the bigger bore rifles in the smaller bore ones (though it was dangerous and not recommended, especially with full power loads), which just goes to show that 4/1000" or 5/1000" of a difference in bore diameter may not make much of a practical difference, shooting a low powered pistol round with an unjacketed lead bullet.
Click to expand...
I will see if I can get some measurements. A barrel swith or gunsmith work was the top of my list, especially after confirming the serial number and model were published on the Colt records site. The barrel is completely unmarked as well.
 
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