I have been on a mission lately to try to understand the Victory Model, especially the 2" version. Mr. Flick has been incredibly helpful as has Charlie Pate and, most notably, Roy Jinks. Roy has shared factory documents/invoices and all three gentlemen have reviewed everything I've written. The latest issue of the S&WCA Journal has an 8 page article about the 2" guns and the next issue will add the data tables (serial numbers). I want to encourage those of you with a strong interest in S&W products to join the S&WCA. Access to the Journal, the official historian, the annual symposium...the benefits are great and the cost minimal. And we can reduce the repetition of out-of-date speculation about many of the issues discussed in this thread. I believe we have now documented all the shipments of 2" Victory Models, including a couple of small shipments that were heretofore unknown.
The FBI did not get any 2" Victory Model revolvers, as Charlie points out. Neither did military intelligence or counter intelligence. Their standard issue was the Colt Detective Special supplemented by Official Police and Commando revolvers, most with 4" barrels.
There is still work to be done on S&W's military sidearm. The markings need to be sorted out and documented. My current focus in on finishes. Almost everything we read in these threads about the finish on Victory Models is wrong. It turns out to be a much simpler story than we thought.
So, no offense to anyone but there is more recent research and much of the conjecture about these guns, especially the 2" version, can be laid to rest.
Regards,
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Kevin Williams SWCA1649 HF208
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