OLD COLT: WE PROVIDE THE PUBLIC WITH AN ONLINE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE FOR OLD COLT GUNS.
This Colt New Service was a personal revolver of J.H Fitzgerald. It was shipped to the Loan Account of J.H. Fitzgerald, Main Office at Colt's Patent Fire-Arms Mfg. Company in Hartford, Connecticut on January 4th, 1944 in a 3 gun shipment. It was on factory order order #4153. The letter states a special notation of "Fitz Pocket" in the configuration.
The factory letter further indicates this gun was subsequently sold to Mr. Fitzgerald on April 17th, 1944. It is also significant to note that Mr. Fitzgerald was employed by the Colt Company from 1918 until 1944. He was a well-known and respected ballistics expert and competition pistol shooter. He was also author of the book entitled "shooting" which dealt with topics of pistol shooting techniques and tactics.
John Henry Fitzgerald or "Fitz" as he's more commonly known was an employee of Colt from 1918 until 1944. Fitzgerald was a well known and respected competition pistol shooter of the 1920s and 30s and a theorist and innovator of combat pistol shooting tactics. In 1930, he wrote a book titled Shooting, on the topics of pistol shooting techniques and tactics.
During his period at Colt Fitzgerald had prototyped his modifications that included a shortened barrel, the cutaway trigger guard and the bobbed hammer. These modifications eventually became an option that dealers could special order. These special order guns are know as "Fitz Specials" or "Fitz Colts".
