I have 3 Victory Models which have an "S" stamped on the rear face of the cylinder, the yoke and the grip frame under the right grip. I have seen several others with the same marking. Anyone know the significance of this marking?

When they changed the hammer block safety to the new style they put the S on the existing guns in service.

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Tom
NRA Pistol Inst

Allegedly, the "S" was added to the SN, e.g., SV XXXXXX, for revolvers originally manufactured with the early 1945 hammer safety improvement. Revolvers which were converted post-manufacture could have an "S" stamping in various places. I don't know much about the history of post-manufacture safety conversions, but I do remember a posting here regarding several thousand being done at the S&W factory for a fairly expensive amount per gun after the war, about half the cost of a new gun. I suppose it's possible that some conversions may have been done at locations other than at S&W, possibly at military arsenals, but I don't remember ever reading about that happening. It's not a simple drop-in conversion, and requires some machining operations.

Welcome to the forum BibleronKJV.

This thread goes to show that one can learn something new on this forum almost all the time. I was unaware that the "S" was added to any parts of the Victories OTHER THAN the butt, but then I've never examined one of the modified Victories.

Did the OP find, or have others found, the added "S" on the barrel flats of modified Victories? What would be the reason for adding the "S" to the yoke and the right side of the grip frame? (Those places do not customarily have serials.)

Fwiw, I just examined a postwar M&P that happened to be handy & found the "S" prefix on the rear of the cylinder & the bottom of the barrel as well as on the butt. The "S" when applied became part of the official serial number, so it seems logical that while S&W's long-standing practice of putting the s/n on the cylinders & bbls endured, the "S" would be applied to both those parts as well as to the butt.

In general, a revolver which had the hammer safety converted later would not have an S included in the SN for obvious reasons, namely it would change the serial number from what it was originally. There also may well have been already-SNed Victory receivers in factory inventory made up with the new hammer safety, and rather than stamping an additional S prefix to the various SN locations, the S may simply have been stamped elsewhere on the frame and/or sideplate. There's lots of room for speculation, and I don't have any answers.

None of the Victories with the "S" have the new hammer block. All are still equipped with old style block. The mystery deepens. Thanks for all the input thus far.

I have a navy marked victory with the S markings. And it was fitted with the new safety.

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Tom
NRA Pistol Inst

The 3 Victories are as follows...One is a pre-Vic #975xxx, one is a U.S.Navy #V241xxx and the other is lettered to Maritime Commission #V491xxx. All are 4 inch 38 specials. All are marked similarly with the "S" marking on cylinder, yoke and inner frame. Maybe this info will help. Thanks so far.

All of those are much too early to have been manufactured with the new hammer safety. So if they have not been modified after the war, I can't say what the S means.