WW1 Era Colt .38 Revolver

[Gildwiller1918]

Here is the US Model 1901 service revolver in .38 caliber long colt. As the US faced the reality of war, it soon realized it was not properly equipped to provide troops with necessary arms. M1911 semi-auto pistols were being produced, however they were not in sufficient numbers. The main reason the US moved away from the .38 to the .45 was stopping power. In the Philippines, the US military found the .38 to be a failure, which gave birth the widely popular M1911. During WW1, however 25,000 .38 revolvers of various models were taken out of storage and issued to non-combat/front line units such as the signal corps, engineers, artillery, etc. They were also used stateside for training purposes. It was even considered to put these revolvers back into production to meet the demands of war, but this was dismissed due the negative reputation of the .38 round. 

This particular revolver is marked "U.S. Army Model of 1901/No. 106311 on the butt. The rest of the revolver has all matching parts to correspond to the serial number. On the left side of the barrel is is marked "Colt D.A. (double action) 38" On the top of the barrel is the manufacturer's information. Only detraction are the wooden grips, at some point these were etched, normally they would be smooth plain wood. Although considered obsolete, this firearm and many others played a vital role in helping to end the conflict in Europe.