Looking at a New Service, what do I need to know?

[awp_101]

Its difficult to tell for sure in the pictures, but do the chambers have a ridge or lip in them, such as the point where a 45 Colt or whatever case comes to and transitions to the throat?

There's something there but I can't feel the transition with a small pick. I can see it but not feel it. It may be powder residue, I haven't given it a good cleaning yet so what I'm seeing may scrub out. Then I'll slug it and see what's what.

That actually looks pretty cool. Looks right at home in a Threepersons next to a camp fire.

It's confirmed that I really do prefer 4"-5" barrels over anything else. Yes I give up sight radius but the balance is very nice and that goes a long way in my book. I know he used a S&W 1917 but handling this Colt puts me in an Indiana Jones frame of mind.

My opinion is this specimen is not a $500 gun. $500 plus the money in labor and parts would cost as much as a much nicer specimen. I bought and sold these revolvers over the years when they were cheap. I owned many. This one will be a money pit.

If I had any designs on restoring it I would agree. As it sits, it fills the role of an old big bore that I'll take out to the range every so often and enjoy and explaining to my 7 y/o grandson it's possible history. He might be more impressed if I tell him it's older than Grandma...

[Malamute]

There's something there but I can't feel the transition with a small pick. I can see it but not feel it. It may be powder residue, I haven't given it a good cleaning yet so what I'm seeing may scrub out. Then I'll slug it and see what's what.


It's confirmed that I really do prefer 4"-5" barrels over anything else. Yes I give up sight radius but the balance is very nice and that goes a long way in my book. I know he used a S&W 1917 but handling this Colt puts me in an Indiana Jones frame of mind.


If I had any designs on restoring it I would agree. As it sits, it fills the role of an old big bore that I'll take out to the range every so often and enjoy and explaining to my 7 y/o grandson it's possible history. He might be more impressed if I tell him it's older than Grandma...

Its likely the mouth of the chamber. If you have a dial caliper you can check both ends and see how they compare. The back should be .480-something, thats minimum chamber spec, older guns tend to be pretty loose chambered, particularly 45 Colts. I think John mentioned .488"-ish being common in Rugers The throats will probably be around the .455" range, noticeably smaller than whatever the chamber end is, meaning it wasnt bored straight through. You can fine tune that measurement and slug the barrel when getting cast bullets to fit.

I see no reason to throw lots of money at that gun unless doing it as a project you would enjoy. It has a lot of character as is. If it times and shoots OK, its fine as is. It looks like much of the finish may have flaked off. If it runs, id carry and shoot it, but thats me.

[358156hp]

A number of New Service revolvers have been rechambered to 45 Colt for a usable power upgrade with minimal effort. There was an article in Handloader Magazine December, 2016, written by the Dave Scoville who had a 455 Eley marked NS and converted it to 45 Colt. He went into a lot of detail about working up loads for it. The 455 Eley is of course the 455 Webley cartridge. Colt has had a long standing policy of not marking their firearms with a competitors name. So the early 32 S&W guns were marked "32 Colt New Police", the 38 S&W guns were marked "38 Colt New Police", and so on. Colt did however change John Browning 45 Automatic Cartridge Pistol to 45 Automatic Colt Pistol, and of course the early 32 & 38 Colts were simply rimfire cartridges converted to center fire, which explains the weird bore diameters and heeled bullets. Just like rimfires. Even the much later 40 S&W became known as the "40 Auto" by Colt, and even Ruger jumped onto that bandwagon.