Folks,
In about 1973 the neighbor of my Grandfather passed away and his widow gave my Grandfather two guns. One was a Winchester model 12 with a mutton leg case and the other was this New Service. My Grandfather had both refinished and when he passed away just a couple years later my Dad ended up with them. He gave the model 12 away but we kept hold of the New Service and shot it with .44 special loads. In fact, it's one of two guns I learned to handload on using Lee loaders. This last weekend I presented my nephew with the P64 M70 .243 my Dad gave to me and brother gave me two family pistols I wanted (see Woodsman post for other).
So, to the story. The story on this pistol is the gent was a officer in WWI and that this was his service sidearm and that he put the fox you see on one side and the bunny on the other in with a nail and a rock while serving in the trenches in France. The serial number is a mid five digit that puts the date of manufacturer in the 1912-1913 range so the story is certainly plausible. The timing is a bit off so thought I'd take it to a pistolsmith to see what can be done and since the value was pretty much destroyed with the refinishing I see no harm in shooting it. I have a .44 Mag I've been meaning to get dies for anyway. Also thought I'd write Colt and see of they had any details on that serial.
In about 1973 the neighbor of my Grandfather passed away and his widow gave my Grandfather two guns. One was a Winchester model 12 with a mutton leg case and the other was this New Service. My Grandfather had both refinished and when he passed away just a couple years later my Dad ended up with them. He gave the model 12 away but we kept hold of the New Service and shot it with .44 special loads. In fact, it's one of two guns I learned to handload on using Lee loaders. This last weekend I presented my nephew with the P64 M70 .243 my Dad gave to me and brother gave me two family pistols I wanted (see Woodsman post for other).
So, to the story. The story on this pistol is the gent was a officer in WWI and that this was his service sidearm and that he put the fox you see on one side and the bunny on the other in with a nail and a rock while serving in the trenches in France. The serial number is a mid five digit that puts the date of manufacturer in the 1912-1913 range so the story is certainly plausible. The timing is a bit off so thought I'd take it to a pistolsmith to see what can be done and since the value was pretty much destroyed with the refinishing I see no harm in shooting it. I have a .44 Mag I've been meaning to get dies for anyway. Also thought I'd write Colt and see of they had any details on that serial.
