Quote:
Originally Posted by Waveski
Getting back to the OP revolver -
"It is a very nice Victory and nice Victory's are getting harder to find every day. This one actually has a tie to the past, maybe true, maybe not."
I am not doubting that the Victory in question was owned by the late veteran referenced in the letter. I do doubt that the veteran in question carried that gun in combat , and it should be noted again the the letter does not make a claim as such.
My reason for my opinion that the OP Victory was overvalued is that someone marred the side plate with a screwdriver. Aside from that slight blemish , I have to wonder why someone wanted to take the side plate off , and what that person did to the internals. Victories and DSC revolvers of that high general condition usually have not had the side plate off because there was no need due to low round count.
Had I been in the market my reasoning would have been :
For that amount of money I can find other Victory revolvers that have not had a tool taken to them. I would not be willing to commit $1000 if I have any reservations at all.
The old adage applies here: Buy the gun , not the story.
|
I am not going to wade into the issues of whether or not the gun was issued or if the price was appropriate, but the mention of the sideplate being removed is interesting.
I have enjoyed owning quite a few Victory models as they were a particular interest of mine. I recall two Navy shipped guns guns that I owned that I don't think were ever issued. Both were heavily coated with grease and Cosmoline as seemed to be the standard for storage before being issued and were essentially non-functional due to the preservatives. I cleaned one, including the removal of the sideplate to clean the internal bits and left the other in it's as received condition as I thought they would be an interesting pair for comparison, I was more careful in my disassembly and didn't mar the gun.
Perhaps you have heard the documented story of a Navy Victory that was so clogged with grease that when it was dropped to the deck of a ship the "old style" hammer block failed to function due to the grease and resulted in the death of a sailor. S&W developed the "new style" hammer block as required for a further contract. Certainly a reason the sideplate would be removed to clean the internals to ensure the proper function of the revolver.