Colt Model 1898 (New Service)

History of Colt Model 1898 (new service)

In 1898 Colt Firearms introduced a new six-shot revolver designed for the .45 Colt cartridge, Model 1898 - better known as the "Colt New Service". That . The 45 Colt cartridge is a round-nose bullet with a rimmed case designed in 1872, adopted by the U.S. Army as standard in 1873, and maintained for nearly 20 years before being replaced. The new service line was eventually manufactured by the Colt Patent Gun Manufacturing Company from 1898 to 1946, with over 356,000 examples. Amazingly, the new line of service operated successfully from 1898 to 1946, spanning World War I (1914-1918) and World War II (1939-1945) and many other conflicts in between.

Some also entered the battlefields of the Vietnam War (1955-1975). The new service revolver was first used in the Spanish-American War in 1898.

The design of the new service is fairly conventional for a revolver. A rotating cylinder is mounted in a solid metal frame, with the malleus protruding from the rear of the frame for thumb operation. The palm and fingers wrap around the curved handle covered by the wooden handle for a more stable grip. The curved trigger assembly hangs below the frame as usual, protected by a thin, sturdy ring.

The barrel sticks out of the frame and is covered by the front sight (complemented by the rear notch). Loading and unloading of the cylinder is carried out using a loading arm located under the barrel.

The cylinder is then unscrewed and the cartridge is loaded into each of the six available chambers. The revolver uses a double-action system that simply pulls the trigger to trigger and release the hammer.

The U.S. military adopted the new line of service through the Army, Marine Corps, and Naval Services under the designation "Type 1909" and retained the . 45 Colt Chambering. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, the revolver was redesigned as a new . 45 ACP die "Model 1917" - mainly due to the limited stock of Colt M1911 semi-automatic pistols available (Smith & Wesson also were commissioned to produce their own Model 1917 revolver). Due to the .45 ACP cartridge, the Model 1917 also supports the use of three-round "Crescent" magazines designed to speed up reloading.

These clips basically hold three rounds to their bases and are used in the three available chambers - so two clips can fit into a single cylinder for a total of six rounds.

Throughout its life cycle, the new service saw a variety of rooms beyond the original. 45 Colt and subsequently. 45 ACP. This includes .455 Webley, . 476 Enfield, . 44-40, .44 Special, ,38-40, .38 Special and .357 Magnum Cartridges.

Canada and the UK became prominent operators of the Colt New Series, first released in 1899 during the Boer War. When used locally, the British identified their new service gun as "Pistol, Colt, 0.455", 5.5" barrel, Mk I".

455 Webley cartridge, it is worth noting that many officers preferred their American Colts to the standard Webley service revolvers used at the time.

With the production of new service revolvers reaching hundreds of thousands and proving to be extremely reliable and robust battlefield weapons (and proving popular in the civilian market as well), this type of revolver was still It is not surprising that many of the new service revolvers of World War II were "officially" abandoned after 1946, although limited stocks have remained in more modern "Cold War" conflicts since then.

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