{"id":33626,"date":"2026-07-18T00:01:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T07:01:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/?p=33626"},"modified":"2026-07-18T07:40:56","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T14:40:56","slug":"my-1917-smith-and-wesson-repop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exhaustnotes.us\/blog\/index.php\/2026\/07\/18\/my-1917-smith-and-wesson-repop\/","title":{"rendered":"1917 Smith and Wesson Repop"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Joe Berk<\/h6>\n

The revolver du jour<\/em> is a Smith and Wesson Model 22, which is one of a limited run Smith sent to Turnbull for their signature color case hardening. It is a repop of the famed World War I Model of 1917 Smith and Wesson, a revolver we’ve written about in these pages before.\u00a0 This revolver is beautiful, with Altamont grips, high polish bluing, and mesmerizing color case hardening.<\/p>\n

I have a big bottle of Red Dot powder and I’ve been using it for reloading 9mm ammo.\u00a0 I wanted to try it in .45 ACP.\u00a0 I thought I would try it in my 1911A1 .45 Auto until I realized I’m not supposed to bend at the waist for another couple of weeks (a consequence of my back surgery), and that meant I couldn’t pick up my brass.\u00a0 So I decided to shoot it in one of my .45 ACP revolvers (so I wouldn’t have to chase my brass).<\/p>\n

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.45 ACP cartridges in the 1917. The color case hardening sure does pop!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When you shoot .45 ACP ammo in a 1917 revolver, you have to use a clip to provide the right headspace, and to allow the ejector rod to eject the cartridges.\u00a0 Putting each cartridge into the clips is kind of a pain in the you-know-what, but it’s an elegant and simple solution to the problem the Army faced in both World Wars when there weren’t enough 1911A1s to go around.\u00a0 After firing, you also need to extract the empty brass cases from the clip.\u00a0 I used a Brownell’s tool for both inserting the ammo into the clip and for removing the empty cases after shooting.<\/p>\n

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The Brownell’s tool for inserting and removing .45 ACP cartridges from the star clip.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After my first few shots, I realized again that my 1917 shoots low (I knew this previously but had forgotten it).\u00a0 On my first target, I held at 6:00 on the orange bullseye, and at 10 yards my shots were 3 inches low.\u00a0 Not a problem; I simply held at 12:00 on the bullseye, and I shot the multi-round group you see below.\u00a0 I shot that group standing up.\u00a0 I’ve done better in the past, but this wasn’t too bad for an old guy.<\/p>\n

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Results with the Red Dot load. I held at the top of the orange bullseye. The revolver as configured from the factory shoots 3 inches low.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The group was not great, but it was not terrible, either.\u00a0 I went home and started wondering…could I get a replacement front sight that wasn’t quite as tall?<\/p>\n

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A shark’s fin of a front sight. Smith dropped the ball on this design.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I searched the Internet, and what I found is that on these guns the front sight being too tall (which causes the gun to shoot low) is a known problem.\u00a0 I had called Smith and Wesson’s customer support a few years ago to discuss this, but they told me the gun was too old for them to do anything (this particular revolver was manufactured in June of 2007).\u00a0 In my recent Internet sleuthing, I found that Smith had owned up to the problem and were replacing the front sights at no charge, but that was nearly 20 years ago.\u00a0 When I called a few days ago, the nice lady at Smith and told me they no longer stock the part (I should have been more persistent in the first call to Smith and Wesson).\u00a0 She also told me that because I live in California, even if they had the part, they could only ship it to an FFL.\u00a0 Our California legislature and our Brylcreem governor had struck again.<\/p>\n

I loaded another batch of ammo identical to the recipe described above, except this time I used 4.2 grains of Bullseye propellant (the first load had 4.5 grains of Red Dot).\u00a0 I had the same issue with the gun shooting too low, but wowee, did the groups ever tighten up.\u00a0 The photo below shows two groups.\u00a0 On the head shots, I held at the top of the target’s head; on the bullseye shots, I held at the top of the bullseye.\u00a0 Both are six-shot groups, and both were with me resting my elbows on the bench.\u00a0 Once again, I realized why I love reloading so much.\u00a0 And Bullseye powder, too.\u00a0 There’s a reason they call it Bullseye.<\/p>\n

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Results with the Bullseye load.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here’s the chronograph data for the above two loads:<\/p>\n

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One thing about the Bullseye and Red Dot loads in a revolver:\u00a0 They sure get your hands dirty.<\/p>\n

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Post Bullseye reloads dirty hands. Red Dot is even worse.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I didn’t do any load development for the two recipes above.\u00a0 I already had the Bullseye ammo loaded and it had proved to be very accurate in the 1911A1.\u00a0 There’s not a ton of published data for Red Dot, so when I found a source with this data, I just picked a load (4.5 grains) and went with it.\u00a0 This was intended to be a quick look and not an exhaustive assessment, and it was.\u00a0 For the two loads I used, and as you can see from the table above, the Bullseye load has a much lower standard deviation than does the Red Dot load. The Red Dot load’s average velocity, though, is closer to factory ball ammo.\u00a0 I probably could have increased the Bullseye load to bring it up to factory levels, but it is so accurate I’m going to leave it alone.<\/p>\n

As a follow up check on this front sight business, the next day I grabbed some .45 ammo I had loaded a couple of years ago with AutoRim brass and Jim Gardner’s excellent 230-grain powder coated bullets.\u00a0 I had loaded that ammo with 5.6 grains of Unique, which has been my accuracy load for the .45 ACP in a 1911 for literally decades.<\/p>\n

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.45 AutoRim ammo with 230-grain Jim Gardner powder coated bullets. The AutoRim ammo is much easier to shoot in a 1917 or .45 ACP revolver, as it does not require the use of clips. Alas, the Gardner bullets are no longer available.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I knew the velocity would be a little higher than what I was seeing with the Bullseye load described above, and I expected the load to print a little higher on the target.\u00a0 I was right on both counts.<\/p>\n

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Chrono data for the Unique AutoRim load.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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My first cylinder of AutoRim ammo loaded with 230-grain bullets and 5.6 grains of Unique. I held at 6:00 on the orange bullseye.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I liked what I saw on the target above.\u00a0 The 1917 was still shooting a bit low, but not by as much as it had with the Bullseye load.\u00a0 I proceeded to put the rest of the 5.6-grain Unique load into the orange bullseye, this time with my aimpoint being the center of the bullseye.\u00a0 Just for good measure, and to make sure this zombie wouldn’t be getting up again, I put my last three rounds into its head.<\/p>\n

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For other than the shots that went low, I held in the center of the orange bullseye. This is close enough for government work. These shots were all fired off hand.\u00a0 The 1917 is a lot of fun to shoot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unfortunately, I think Jim Gardner is out of business.\u00a0 I liked his bullets because of the extra thick powder coating and because they shot so well.\u00a0 These were the last of the 230-grain Gardner bullets I had in my stash, so I will start hunting around for a new source.<\/p>\n

So there you have it.\u00a0 I may poke around a bit and do something with the front sight, or I may leave it as is and simply remember to hold high on the target.\u00a0 I could go a little hotter with the Unique\/230-grain-bullet load (the online Alliant guide shows I could do so), and that would probably bring the point of impact to the point of aim.\u00a0 I like the way the 5.6 grain load handles, though, and as I said above, it hits close enough for government work.\u00a0 I want to shoot the 1917 with it at 25 yards and see where it groups (above or below point of aim, and by how much).\u00a0 I may try a few more loads in the 1917; these will be topics for future blogs.<\/p>\n

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How about an original 1917 Colt?\u00a0 That story is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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