I have found a short barreled S&W Victory at auction.
Would this have been produced in 1942 or '43? Did S&W produce snubbies or was this altered after the fact?

Thank you very much.

Snipe

That SN would have shipped about May 1943. Many, many British .38/200s were chopped and bored to .38 Special for civilian sale after the war. In the unlikely event that your barrel is original, it will have the ejector rod latch on the barrel. If there is no latch, the barrel has been chopped.

Add a picture and someone will tell you for sure what you have.

Yes, it does have the ejector rod latch on the barrel. The frame is stamped "US PROPERTY G.H.D." and it has a small flaming bomb stamp in front of the property mark.

I guess I'll bid on it.

Thanks,

Snipe

If you score a real Victory snubby for an insanely low price - congratulations! - and I hate you.

:-)

Well, I don't know how low I'll get it for, but the estimate is well above $1500.

Snipe

For an authentic Victory snubbie, I wouldn't be surprised. But I would definitely and strongly recommend verification via a factory letter that it left the factory that way. Those are fairly unusual and prized.