Colt New Service

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Unless Colt's handgun business is sold to new owners with a different outlook and perspective, you won't see anymore double-action/hand ejector revolvers. :(

And if in some unexpected event new revolvers are added to the line, they won't be a reproduction of a design that goes back to 1898 or 1908.

On the other hand, New Service revolvers in .44-40 or .45 Colt are relatively common, while .44 Special's (a S&W development after all) are much harder to find.

Genuine Fitz Specials are rare birds, as they were custom made on a special order basis, and total production probably wasn't over 100 guns. Today Colt's lawyers would swoon and pass out if the idea was even suggested.

This is not to say that one can't have an aftermarket one made up by a custom 'smith. :evil:
 
I also like the Colt DA revolvers. I have a late model NS in 45 ACP, built in 1942. Nice gun, and accurate.
If Colt were to restart DA revolvers, the Mark III design would be a good platform. They are easier to work on and are built with a lot less hand fitting. Updated with todays materiel and machining techniques I think they would give the other "guy" a run for the money.
 
The trouble is, Colt's top brass doesn't think the way you do. If in the future they do come out with an entirely new handgun it will be a large-cap pistol with a polymer frame.

Why? because that's where the larger police/military/civilian market is. Also tooling aside, such pistols are less expensive to make, which means better profits for the manufacturer.
 
I would have to find the funds if Colt resurrected the New Service and they were as good as the new SAA's. Fixed and adjustable sights, with lengths from 3" to 7½". With modern metallurgy, it would easily be strong enough for the .41Mag, .44Mag and "Ruger only" .45Colt. Make them in .357Mag, .38-40, .44-40 and .45ACP too.
 
Very little as sweet or as accurate as a NS Target in 44 Special/Russian (they amre usually dual marked and will shoot either round). I have an early model and a very late, 1930s NS Target in 44 and they are great guns. Too labor intensive to be resurrected today. The closeset your are going to get to guns from this era are the S&W Classic series. But even there, Smith didn't try to re- introduce their premier revolver of that era, the New Century, aka Triple Lock. I spoke to a Smith insider about that, and he said just too labor intensive and they would essentially have to be hand built and fitted.

I hamve been a NS collector (and an early Smith collector) by entire adult life. The centerpiece of my collection are these guns, including a cased set of consecutive numbered and lettered NS Targets in 455 delivered to London in 1915 as well as a 7.5" Triple Lock Target with factory pearl grips, mint and very rare. I love them and consider myself their custodian until I pass on.


Enjoy what you can find, it is a bygone era. Dave
 
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At the risk of potentially derailing, slightly, this thread.

My father recently passed and left me a 6" .45 Colt New Service in about 95% condition. What type of ammunition is safe to put through it? Never owned a pistol of this quality/age. Thank you.
 
Forget about a fitz special.

I would guess even some gunsmiths would refuse to do the mods today. No one is going to bring back an old fashioned hand fitted revolver. Especially not colt. However, it might be possible for some enterprising ambitious person to set up a primitive firearm factory in pakistan or afghanistan and start churning out crude hand made copies of hundred year old colt double action revolvers. They'd probably have to have a ruger-like action to avoid the ire of colt though.
 
Assuming the timing etc is good and it locks up fine, the NS is built like a tank. To be on the safe side, shoot the lower pressure 'cowboy loads'. Dave
 
They're still out there...

You can still find a pretty good deal on Colt 1917s, really a New Service in .45 acp. I have 5 of these and if you are not too picky about finish, you can get one for $500 to $600, sometimes cheaper. I picked up a .44 special & russian a couple years ago at an auction and paid (IIRC) around $800. It is in probably "very good +" condition with a 4.5" barrel. If you want a "Fitz Special" I know that Andy Horvath at the Diagonal Road Gun Shop in Ohio will build you one. He built mine on a nice old 1917 I found with no finish left (but no pits either). He does an excellent job, and a few years ago he charged about $900 to do it. That sounds expensive, but there is a lot of work that goes into the job and on reflection it is a pretty fair price.

Much as I would love to believe that someone will come out with a new New Service, it would be prohibitively expensive to duplicate it today. I mean, you can barely find a 'smith to work on one of the old ones these days. The guys that do know what they're doing are so backed up with work that they are effectively unavailable. Oops, too depressing. Good luck with your search for a nice old Colt.
 
Here’s a New Service in the .455 Eley with the correct British markings. Got the correct stocks/ grips to put on it. Just haven’t got around to doing it.

Colt New Service .455 Eley (1914)
aColtNewService455Eley1914SN69608.jpg
 
Assuming the timing etc is good and it locks up fine, the NS is built like a tank. To be on the safe side, shoot the lower pressure 'cowboy loads'.

Built like a tank but only shoot light loads?:scrutiny:
 
Built like a tank but only shoot light loads?

Excluding some chambered in .357 Magnum, the cylinders were not made from special high carbon steel with a double heat treating process. Other revolver cartridges of the time were what we might call "standard loads" which CAS loads approximate.

It is not easy to blow up a New Service, but a cylinder with expanded chambers caused by shooting overloads is still ruined.

Common sense should apply...
 
Why hope for a repro/replica?
Because some of us would rather spend our thousand dollars or more for a sixgun that doesn't look like it has been dragged behind a truck for ten miles or refinished several times. Target models are typically quite expensive. Might also like a little more latitude in our load selection. Don't wanna relegate a sixgun the size of a Redhawk to mousefart loads.
 
Yes, I can see where you would not want to put any "Ruger Only" loads or any other hot handloads but any factory ammunition that is not otherwise noted will be fine.

Sigh,

such as the Cowboy loads that manufacturers offer.:eek:
 
The so called "cowboy loads" are light target loads and they're produced so that competitors can get faster time on their scores.

They are NOT "standard loads".

The standard loads, to include blackpowder loads, in .45 Colt, .44 Special, and .44/40 are nothing to sneer at. They are large, heavy, man-killing rounds that have been getting the job done for over a century.
 
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Fishpaw French walnut grips. Douglas Airgauged 4" bull barrel with machined ball detent lock underlug, dovetailed front gold Patridge sight sighted to 25 yards with GI ball ammo. action blueprinted with new parts where necessary. All work done by Cylinder and Slide 18 years ago. THEN went to Colt for Banknote engraving and Royal blue. Cost around $2500 in the process started 20 years ago on a $400 sound but worn 1917.
 
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