Smith & Wesson Victory Revolver with U.S. Army “P” proof mark and British markings.

[drm3m]

Smith & Wesson Victory Revolver with U.S. Army “P” proof mark and British markings.

In 1974 my father bought two S&W Victory revolvers ($20 each) from a police equipment supply dealer.

One of the two revolvers has the markings shown below the other revolver does not.
I think that these revolvers came from the CNR Police when they were changing their sidearms.
I also think that the barrel was shortened, the grips were changed and the grip swivel was removed.
The revolver in question is serial number V 560105.
It shows a “P” marking on the left frame as well as on the cylinder.

I had not thought about these revolvers for a long time until recently when I was reorganizing my photos.

I reached out to Charlie Pate regarding this subject and this was his response.

"They were probably Lend Lease guns. The only way to get more specific would be to get factory letters on them to see where and when they were shipped. I think the letters cost $50 now. The "P" on the frame and cylinder is the U.S. Army proof mark from when the revolvers were first purchased. The crown over BNP proof marks are British commercial proofs. When the British government disposed of their Lend Lease guns they had to go through a commercial proof before they were sold."
Charlie















A holster that I bought years later that seems to fit the revolver.



I have seen these S&W Victory revolvers with the U.S. GHD inspector's acceptance stamp so I found this to be a bit different with the U.S. Army "P" proof with the rest of the British markings.

David

 

[bearhunter]

The barrel has been shortened to prohibited length, the lanyard ring is missing and someone checkered the plain grips the pistol was issued with in a similar fashion to the Colt design. The grips should be of oiled, uncheckered walnut. The barrel should be five inches long. The front sight has also been replaced or cut down and it also looks like the whole pistol was refinished. It should be parkerized or matte finished rather than polished and blued. The barrel looks to be just at four inches but if you're lucky, it may be more than 105mm.

This pistol may have been modified by the police for their service use of maybe the Brits modified it for their police or some other service. About 40 years ago a bunch of similar pistols came into International Firearms in Montreal. They were around the price you mentioned, $20. I don't remember the background information. Just that I wanted one and in the early 70s, $20 plus taxes and shipping put it beyond my means at the moment and by the time I managed to put the money together the only pistols left were the US marked units with 5in bbls and parkerized finish.

I have the same model pistol that never went into the lend lease program. It only has US marks on it. On the butt on the opposite side of the lanyard ring there is a capitol WB and flaming bomb with a capitol P stamp and a United States Property stamp on the backstrap. It loves 200grn cast lead hollow base bullets at about .363in diameter. It has the parked finish.

It may look like an anemic round but the 38-200 (38S&W on steroids) is a much maligned mauler. The use of lead bullets was banned by the Geneva Convention or the League of Nations, not sure which or by whom but the UK and colonies that used the same cartridge went to a copper or cupro nickel jacketed bullet with an exposed lead base that supposedly forced the bullets to obdurate into the grooves. They also dropped the bullet weight to around 180 grains.

This is an old cartridge. Sometime during the late 1870s S&W brought it into production for use in some of their top break revolvers. The UK didn't adopt the cartridge for service use until the mid thirties. it was to be a replacement for their excellent 455 round. It was a step down IMHO. Factory 38 S&W ammo is safe in these pistols as is the surplus UK ammo. The loads used by the commercial makers and in the surplus rounds are loaded to around 13000 CUP. I had one that had the chambers reamed to accept 38 special ammo. The 38 spec is loaded a bit hotter to around 16,000 CUP but the pistol seemed to digest it without a hiccup. I also had a friend with one that swapped out the original cylinder with one from a Model 14 chambered in 38 spc. The dimensions are identical, other than the depth of the chambers.

I have seen several that were fitted with adjustable rear sights and modified front sights, rechambered to the 38spc and loaded with 158gr hollowbase wad cutters. These pistols usually have excellent bores and with properly sized or designed ammo, they shoot extremely well.

The newly manufactured 38 S&W ammo is loaded with .358 diameter bullets that are quite hard. These are to small and because they are flat based they don't obdurate into the grooves. These bullets gave this potent little cartridge a bad name.

By the way, I am looking for a hollow base wadcutter 38 caliber mould. I prefer single cavity for hollow base bullets but beggars can't be choosers.

Looks like whoever did the job did it well though. Nice pistol. Nice that it is a memory of your father.

 

[stevebc]

I have a Victory model .38 S&W that I really enjoy shooting and reloading for. I use a 160gr lead RN .38 Super bullet, over 2.2gr of W231. It's quite accurate at 25 yds, even with those sights...

 

[drm3m]

bearhunter,

Thanks for your response.
The two S&W Victory revolvers came from Lessard Police Equipment in 1974.

A comment from Ed on S&W Forum regarding a manufacturing date question that I had asked.

V560105 was made in July 1944 as a caliber .38/200 ( .38S&W) and shipped to the Brits as a Lend Lease gun in Aug. 1944. As you probably know, it was sold surplus to a British gun dealer after WW2 and the barrel was cut from it's original 5 in. length to the present size, and the gun was refinished, lanyard swivel removed and non-S&W grips added. It may have had the chambers reamed to accept a .38 Special round. Ed.


David