Interesting 45, Is it old Army issue?

[Beemer]

Hello, a friend of mine has this pistol and I am not sure I know what it is. Only markings are S&W D.A. Any ideas what it is or what it may bring? Thanks in advance.

 

[zzephaniah]

Hello, a friend of mine has this pistol and I am not sure I know what it is. Only markings are S&W D.A. Any ideas what it is or what it may bring? Thanks in advance.
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no idea, that's a puzzler.

 

[scottm]

an old 1917 that's seen some hard buffing and refinishing many mango seasons ago.

 

[ghostdncr]

Bingo: M1917 revolver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Beemer]

Do you guys think it is original?

 

[ghostdncr]

I think it may well be, but that's based on a couple of rather smallish pics on the internet. The 1917 was originally blued, but many were parkerized by S&W during factory refinishing in the WWII era. Yours has the look of the original S&W blued finish, but with lots of holster wear. The edge lines look far too crisp and even to have been buffed by some jazzbo in a garage, and the color has that early S&W royal blue look about it.

 

[Beemer]

Anyway to know for sure?

 

[ghostdncr]

Anyway to know for sure?

I would seek out a specialist in the field. A dedicated collector with a long history of dealing with early S&W's. I am likely more familiar with these early revolvers than anyone I know personally, which is disappointing. Hopefully, someone else can chime in with a name or shop with the experience to accurately call yay or nay on your revolver's condition. The best advice I can probably give at this point is don't change anything, and don't wander into the local gun shop and ask whoever happens to be working what it's worth. Above all else, ***DO NOT*** accept the $250 they'll offer you for it. An original, blued 1917 is worth many times that.

 

[karl77]

no lanyard ring, does it have any marks on the bottom of the hand grip (IE: model of 1917 and a serial #)

 

[NKBJ]

Oh wow. A real gun with no plastic. Refreshing!

 

[Beemer]

Yea, I thought it was a nice piece.

 

[ghitch75]

no lanyard ring, does it have any marks on the bottom of the hand grip (IE: model of 1917 and a serial #)

does it?

 

[kalboy]

no lanyard ring, does it have any marks on the bottom of the hand grip (IE: model of 1917 and a serial #)

Maybe it had one, the owner could look at the butt for a hole where a lanyard had been.

 

[kml]

If it's an army issue one it will be marked "united states property" under the barrel and have U.S. Army model 1917 on the bottom of the grip frame. There was also a Brazilian contract in 1937 that would have a fairly distinctive crest on the side of the frame. If it has none of the above marking it's almost certainly a civilian model which were made up till the 50's.

This is about the best short history of these guns I've found:

History of the Model 1917 S&W revolver...

By the way the grips alone are hard to come by and worth some money themselves.