Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Incredible
I have a 38 S&W Victory revolver that I'd like to get some information on. Date Manufactured, where shipped and any other info you may have.
5" barrel, 38 S. & W. CTG, left top strap says "U.S PROPERTY G.H.D." Serial number on butt and frame is V753727, smooth walnut stock, parkerized finish. On the left side states "POL.OLD.341" (but the 3 could be an 8). On the right side of the barrel has "??.38.767" and "3.5 TONS".
Thanks for any help.
Joe
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Joe
You have, since we're on the Smith & Wesson Forum, what is called a British Service Revolver, part of the wartime production of what had been known as the S&W .38 Hand Ejector "Military & Police" Model of 1905, 4th Change. If we were on a British military firearms forum, I might better refer to it as a Smith & Wesson Pistol No. 2, as that is how the Brits typically referred to it. The caliber is .38 S. & W. and not the .38 Special more normally encountered in this country.
Your BSR was of late-war production and would have been among the last of this caliber to be shipped (circa early 1945) during the war. Many of these later guns never saw service with the British troops, instead being issued straight out of the shipping crates to the disarmed police forces of occupied countries. Your revolver, based on the “POL.OLD.” marking, was issued to the Polizei of Oldenburg, or possibly Oldendorf, two cities in Lower Saxony, Germany. As both of these cities were within the British Occupation Zone, it makes sense that they would have been armed with a British-caliber sidearm. The “341” (or “841”) would have been a rack number or some other identifying inventory control number.
The markings on the barrel are postwar British civilian proofs necessary in order for a used/surplus gun to be marketed in Great Britain. I infer that the revolver, after seeing some years of service in Germany, was returned to the Brits, who sold it as surplus, necessitating the civilian proofing procedure. The “??” is probably the Crown/Nitro Proof marking; the “.38” is the caliber (Duh!); the “.767” is the length of the cartridge casing; and, the “3.5 TONS” is a measurement of the proof load. As noted above, it probably also has the "three Ps" U.S. proofmarks.
HTH!
Steve