Here is an Australian Victory that I came across, and added to my Victory family. Serial number is V379911, 5" in .38 S&W.

LOBO, I'm guessing that was one of the Lend-Lease guns. I haven't noticed many of the Victories in that configuration, but I know the .38 S&W CTG was the ctg of Commonwealth countries. Nice Victory
Larry

Thanks Larry!

Yeah, these old Victorys have become one of my favorites I do believe

I remember when they were imported into the country and I think they sold for about $135.00, at that time I did'nt buy firearms with import marks on them. Dumb me, so a couple of years later I paid twice that amount to get one.

SWCA 892

Nice condition. I had one a few years back, same import mark, same FTR Lithgow rebuild &yr Aust DOD mark, etc.
But not anywhere near as nice as this one.

Mine had plain walnut grips too IIRC.

Question,,of what if any importance is the 'X' stamping on the bottom of the one grip panel?

I have a Pre Victory return from Australia. S/N 8333XX, and according to Roy shipped Oct. 41. It is also 38 S&W with 5" barrel. Roy indicated the checkered grips would have been correct. It was also imported by Vega, and was rebuilt as was yours prior to being shipped back.

__________________
H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Keep in mind that these were originally blued. The Parkerized look is the result of the Factory Thorough Repair in 1955.

Guns originally with dull gray finishes like this came after April, 1942, and they had smooth grips. By then, the five-inch barrel (as seen here) was standard.

The grips on that gun are probably not original to that piece. The serial number indicates mid to late 1943 production. From early 1942 post February the grips on both US and Commonwealth Victories were plain without medallions. They could have been replaced during the FTR if the original grips were unserviceable and grips on hand from scrapped beyond repair guns being utilised.

Which mark indicates it was rebuilt in Lithgow?

I am curious about the 'X' on the grip too. Anyone have any ideas?

The FTR and 54 also the smaller L indicates Thorough factory repair at the Lithgow New South Wales armoury. Just as a check on the grips, remove them, the right grip should carry the number of the gun they were assigned to stamped in to the wood. If they dont match the gun as I suspect that does not mean they are not wartime grips, but they are incorrect for your particular revolver. But hell, enjoy what you have, shoot it and have a ton of fun.

The 3/959 refers to the third military district the 959 unknowm but could mean a unit marking or issue number or block issue number. The third district indicated it went to a military issue area in the Australian state of Victoria. There are numerous rarerish Colt Official Police guns with 5inch barrels in 38-200 that carry the 3 stamp on the right sideplate. But no further 959 number under it, I own one of these which also carries a Woolwich arsenal number its one of 18250 of such marked specimens. Though close to 50,000 were produced. only 18250 carries those markings, getting off the subject now.

Check the grip number. The X by the way could mean and its speculation that what I said previously could be the case, older grips scrapped from a beyond repair gun and fitted to an FTR at Lithgow. Whose grips in turn were scrapped.

Look at the colour difference on the rejector rod and the rest of the gun, the ejector rod shows the original finish before FTR.

Check the grip right panel for the serial number.

Its still a unique revolver and the refinish and stampings are all part of its great history. From the war and until the Commonwealth couintries adopted the Browing High Power as its official sidearm.

The 'MA' stamping is the factory designation used at the time for the Lithgow Plant .
There are earlier forms of the Lithgow Factory mark.

So,, FTR/MA55 is,,
Factory Through Repaired @ Lithgow in 1955

The 'Crown/30/L' is a Lithgow (L) inspection stamp
(There are several forms & early & late styles of inspection marks also)

'D arrow D' is an Austrailian Dept of Defense ownership marking. Sometimes a D with an arrowhead inside of it was used.

I think speculation may be correct on the meaning of the X. I'm more familiar with No1MkIII rifles than Victorys. I don't recall a simple 'x' stamping being used. But there are so many different markings , it could simply have been an in-house designation. Simple and plain..

Nice Victory Model.

Thanks for the great information! I looked at the grips and their serial number is way off. It doesn't bother me at all though,

LOBO, its still a great find and I hope you enjoy her. She still has plenty of history just in the stampings let alone if it could talk. Who knows where it has been in service before the FTR.
Enjoy.

Rgds

I thank you for the breakdown of all the markings! I appreciate it very much

While searching for information about the Lithgow Plant, I found the website for the Lithgow Museum. It looks like a very interesting place to visit. Too bad its not closer

There is some excellent information in the above postings , especially by Ballarat, regarding the stampings found on Aussie Victory models. The subject specimen, being a V series gun in the 300K range, left S&W with the dull finish, not a polished blue finish. Judging from the excellent photos, the finish may even be original, as it's color is closer to the S&W Sand Blast Blue ( Black Magic) than the usually seen Aussie refinish, which is darker. As noted above, the stocks are replacements from an earlier Aussie gun. Original stocks would have been the smooth walnut style. Nice gun. Ed,

If any of you gentlemen ever get to visit Australia and especially the Sydney region, then the Lithgow museum up in the Blue mountains is a visit not to be missed. It is spectacular. The exhibits are extremely well presented with a wealth of information I could not even begin to describe. I could spend months there just researching let alone reviewing the exhibits. Its a true part of modernish day Autralian military weapons history, which in this day and age sadly is not politically correct, for whatever reason. However you cannot deny history and the facts. We fought hard for freedoms in many conflicts but sadly today those freedoms are being erroded by politicians who have never had to fight for their freedoms, we and past generations did it for them.
The ungrateful few are now trying to deny history at any cost. Shame on them.

Sorry for the rant, its my two bobs worth. I fought for this country and I dont like the way its going. You cannot deny history no matter how hard the pollies try.

The museum looks like it would be a great place to camp out for a spell. I wonder if they have any records/invoices regarding the lend lease guns?

"Sorry for the rant, its my two bobs worth. "
Bellarat, I would assume that two bobs worth is about the same as my two cents worth? The US is hot on everyone elses heels in trying to change history to meet political correctness. We are being ran by a bunch of folks that have never been in the military and most of them haven't worked a day of physical labor in their life.
Maybe we need to found the country of Smith and Wesson and require everyone to serve in the military in some capacity and go to the range at least 26 times a year and own a Hand Ejector. Hummm....

Oldiron, that may be just the place to start, Yes two bob or two shillings was probably worth a little more than two cents years ago, but it wont buy much these days!!

Regards
Bob

Nice looking FTR. The smooth service grips would really top it off though. Just for fun, this is my favorite FTR Victory. The pamphlet came with it.

Attached Images

	auss V 001.jpg (148.2 KB, 195 views)
	auss V 002.jpg (150.8 KB, 216 views)
	aussie pam2.jpg (45.7 KB, 226 views)
	aussie pam.jpg (47.8 KB, 200 views)

That really looks great!! I especially like the pamphlet

Attached are a few photos of my Australian FTR Victory Model. All the markings appear to be the same as those of the gun shown earlier, with the exception of the large "F" stamped into the wood at the butt. The earlier gun had an "X". I can't shed any light on the meaning of this, but would love to know more!

Attached Images

	butt markings.JPG (101.9 KB, 143 views)
	FTR stamp.jpg (85.0 KB, 157 views)
	inside grips.jpg (159.3 KB, 169 views)
	left side.jpg (123.8 KB, 157 views)
	right side.jpg (120.9 KB, 159 views)

The only thing I can see on yours Rute Boye and which you are no doubt aware of is the grips are not original to that gun. So again were probably replaced during the FTR at Lithgow in 1955, cannot shed any light on that F stamp though.

Rute Boye, I thought mine was great looking unil I saw the pictures of yours. What a fine example. Beautiful revolver. I think matching grip numbers are very rare, but I'm no expert, just an admirer.