Weapons
The Colt .455 New Service Model Revolver
The Colt .455 New Service Revolver, first
issued to the officers and men of the second Canadian contingent and
used by all the contingents sent subsequently.
The officers of Canada's first contingent to South Africa, the
2nd (Special Service) Battalion, Royal
Canadian Regiment of Infantry, carried the old Colt .44 Calibre
Model 1878 pistol acquired at the time of the North-West Campaign in
1885.
The interval between the dispatch of the first contingent and the
raising of the second gave the Department of Militia and Defence the
opportunity to purchase a more modern firearm. Familiar with Colt
products, the department chose Colt's .455 New Service Model introduced
in 1898. It was a large pistol, which fired a heavy bullet intended to
stop an enemy quickly. The weapon was carried in a Canadian-made
holster, suspended from the Oliver Pattern Equipment waistbelt.
The usefulness of the pistol in South Africa was debatable.
Lieutenant-Colonel François-Louis Lessard
of the
Royal Canadian Dragoons felt
that it was an unnecessary weight for the overburdened mounted
infantryman, and had them returned to stores.
Lieutenant-Colonel T.D.B. Evans of the
Canadian Mounted Rifles, on
the other hand, considered it a most useful weapon for mounted
troops, particularly when scouting and searching houses for prisoners.
Whatever the opinion of the pistol's utility in South Africa, the
weapon remained in the Canadian military inventory and was employed
during the First World War.