The
Colt New Service was introduced in 1898. It was an up-sized and strengthened
Colt M1892 and Colt Firearms first large caliber revolver with a
swing-out hand ejector cylinder. It was made in the popular large caliber revolver cartridges of the day:
.38-40,
.44-40,
.44 Russian,
.44 Special,
.45 Colt, .450 Boxer,
.455 Webley, and
.476 Enfield. It was made with a blued finish or nickel plating, and with barrel lengths of . It also came with walnut or hard rubber grips.
Model 1909 The Colt M1892 revolver was thought of as a decent handgun for its time, but complaints soon arose concerning the
stopping power of the
.38 Long Colt. Beginning in 1899, combat reports from the
Philippines campaign showed that the .38 caliber bullets repeatedly failed to stop
Moro fighters, even when shot multiple times at close range. The complaints caused the U.S. Army to hurriedly re-issue the now retired .45 caliber
Colt Single Action Army revolvers with a newly shortened version, cut down from the original barrels. These old revolvers easily stopped the
kris- and
bolo-wielding
combatants and this played a central role in the Army's decision to replace the M1892 with the .45 caliber New Service revolver in 1909. The Model 1909 was also chambered for the .45 Calibre Revolver Ball Cartridge, Model of 1909, which was dimensionally similar to the original .45 Colt cartridge, but it has a rim that is wider for a more positive ejection with the use of the swing-out cylinder's star extractor. It also played a key role in the Army's decision to adopt the new
.45 ACP M1911 Colt pistol, only two years later in 1911. The Model 1909 in .45 Colt with a barrel, was adopted by the U.S. Armed Forces as the "Model 1909 U.S. Army", the "Model 1909 U.S. Navy" and the "USMC Model 1909". In 1904 and 1905 the
North-West Mounted Police in Canada also adopted the Colt New Service to replace the less-than satisfactory
Enfield Mk II revolver in service since 1882. New Service revolvers, designated as
Pistol, Colt, .455-inch 5.5-inch barrel Mk. I, chambered for the .455 Webley cartridge were acquired for issue as "substitute standard" by the British War Department during World War I. British Empire Colt New Service Revolvers were stamped
"NEW SERVICE .455 ELEY" on the barrel, to differentiate them from the .45 Colt versions used by the US (and Canada). The Colt New Service was a popular revolver with British officers and many of them had privately purchased their own Colt New Service revolvers in the years prior to World War I as an alternative to the standard-issue
Webley Revolver. British Empire and Canadian forces received 60,000 Colt New Service revolvers during World War I and they continued to see official service until the end of World War II. During the Korean War, they were again issued to support troops, He later modified two .45 Colt New Service revolvers in the same manner, and was known to carry the pair in his front pockets. Fitz Special revolvers are made by taking any standard size Colt revolver, shortening the barrel to two inches, shortening the ejector rod, bobbing the
hammer spur, rounding the butt, and removing the front half of the trigger guard. Reshaping the hammer and the butt allows the gun to be drawn quickly with little risk of the weapon snagging on clothing. The halved trigger guard facilitates quick trigger acquisition, even for shooters with large fingers or gloves. Historians believe that somewhere between 40 and 200 Fitz Specials left the factory, made from various Colt revolvers, by Fitzgerald himself. The Fitz Special was the precursor to the modern
snubnosed revolver, and specifically the prototype for the
Colt Detective Special, the first production two-inch snubnosed revolver. Even after the introduction of the Detective Special in 1927, Fitz continued to make custom revolvers for special clients. Colonels
Rex Applegate and
Charles Askins were proponents of the Fitz Special, and it would become a popular after-market conversion for many gunsmiths.
Charles Lindbergh,
William Powell and
Clyde Barrow were also known to carry Fitz Specials. ==Notes==