Friday, July 16, 2010

1917 COLT .45

SO, ACCORDING TO SOME RESEARCH, STEVE MCQUEEN SOLD HIS NICKLE PLATED COLT.45 REVOLVER TO MEL NOVAK (A FELLOW ACTOR, NOW TURNED STREET PREACHER) AFTER THEY MET TO SHOOT SOME CLAYS WITH JOHN MILIUS AND STEVEN SPIELBERG. THE MEETING WAS IN THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY AND THE TRAP SHOOTING OUTING WAS TO TALK TO STEVE ABOUT A STARRING ROLE IN APOCALYPSE NOW. ABOVE IS THAT GUN THAT SOLD AT AUCTION. STEVE LOVED HIS HAND GUNS AND SHOT THEM IN STYLE. CHECK OUT MORE PICS OF STEVE MCQUEEN WITH GUNS AT THE LIFE MAG WEBSITE.



THE COLT 1917 REVOLVER AND THE SMITH & WESSON "VICTORY" WERE COMMONLY ISSUED TO OFFICERS AND PILOTS. 

MILITARY ISSUE COLT .45 (TOP)
MILITARY ISSUE SMITH & WESSON .38 "VICTORY"
THIS .38 CALIBER PISTOL WAS PART OF THE LEND/ LEASE PROGRAM THAT GAVE GUNS TO BRITAIN. BOTH GUNS DATE BACK TO THE EARLY 1900'S 

LANYARD RING BUTT OF COLT

COLT BARREL DETAIL

LANYARD RING OF S&W "VICTORY".38

S&W PARKERIZED "VICTORY".38




3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bravo Zulu... well done. What a great post.

Matt said...

Great post. Beautiful guns. I'm not positive about the nickle plated Colt, but the Army Colt 1917 was chambered in .45 ACP, not the ordinary .45 Long Colt that one ordinarily thinks of from Cowboy shooting. The .45 ACP cartridge has a rim that is no bigger in diameter than the rest of the case, and if you dropped one in the cylinder of a revolver, it would drop right through and land on the ground. In WWII, they didn't have enough 1911 semi- automatics to meet the need, but didn't want to have two different sets of pistol ammo, so they came up with a piece of spring sheet metal which would hold 6 (full moon clip) or 3 (half moon clip) rounds of .45 acp and prevent them from dropping through. http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/MAG900-36.html
Smith and Wesson also made the Model 1917, and Indiana Jones carried one in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Matt said...

Uh, I meant to write WWI not WWII, sorry. The 1917 dates to 1917, natch.