Here is a group of four round and square butt 2" .38's, that are casually related to each other.



Proceeding from left to right, the serial numbers are 694101, 694105, 694106, & V176757. The first three have been the subject of a couple of S&WCA Journal articles. The Victory 2" is the proof of the presumptions in those articles.

694101 & 694105 were both late-shipped, by about 6 years. The frames were serial numbered in the middle of 1940, around the time that 694106 was made and shipped. It went to the Boston PD, and was therefore exempt from a pre-WW2 ban on commercial sales of 2" round-butt .38's

694101 and 694105 were ordered by different dealers in the summer of 1940, and both dealers received letters from the factory, advising them that 2" round-butts were not available, but 2" square-butts were still available. After WW2 ended, both of these guns were shipped in the fall of 1946.

In the Journal articles, it was mentioned that, presumably, the reason for the late shipping was due to some unknown training at Ft Mason, San Francisco, CA, in preparation for the US entry into WW2. This training required 2" .38's, and this resulted in the ban of commercial shipment of these guns. (The butt configuration of the early 2" Ft Mason guns is not known.)

Its not clear whether it was the butt configuration, or the 2" barrels, that was causing the ban on commercial shipments of these .38's, in 1940.

The last gun in the picture, V176757, was shipped to Ft Mason, San Francisco, Ca in 1942, and is a 2" square-butt .38 . (At this point in time, the factory was only making square-butt frames.) It has all the military markings of that period. This gun confirms that Ft Mason did have a need for these gun; this particular shipment was for 200 2" .38's, presumably all square butt.

Regards, Mike Priwer