Drool...
www.coolgunsite.com/pistols/colt1909/usarevpage_m1909.htm

Damn, I didn't know that over 19,000 of these were made. I thought the one order for 6000 was the only one placed.

You learn something new every day.
They did leave out one part though, the enlarged rim on the M1909 revolver ball cartridge was not just to make extraction easier, it also kept those cartridges from being chambered in M1873 Colts. The M1909 load is about even with some of the 230gr .45 Super loads. 230gr FMJ @ 1150fps

The 1909 and the followup 1917 were great handguns. One of my Colts from that era is still as tight as a brand new gun.

The M1909 was the first New Service I ever bought.  It had seen many miles, and was pretty worn out, but after a rebuild by F. Bob Chow in San Francisco, it looked and shot great.  That R.A.C. guy must have been one busy dude.  He inspected mine, and all the others I've seen.

I fell in love with the New Service after that, and still can't get enough of them (though my wallet certainly has had enough of them at today's prices).  I've managed to get a few more, and would like one more to round things out, but I'm not too sure I'll ever spend that kinda money.  They used cost so much less...

Ross

Back in the first part of the last century, during the steamship age when a world travler could actually travel armed, this would be a great firearm to have.

Powerful, reliable, and thanks to the British Empire, you could find ammunition almost anywhere in the world.

.45 Long Colt chambered guns could chamber and fire .455 Boxer/Eley/Webley cartridges. The UK service revolver cartridge in its various iterations over the last quarter of the 19th century and into the the 20th.

And back then there was enough trade in firearms in the old Empire that US made cartridges could still be found in the larger cities, and just about everywhere in Canada and Austrailia.

Hmm, I feel a new topic coming on...