I recently acquired a pre Victory 38-200 with Australian markings "D (broad arrow) D" and it has the original blued finish rather than a military parkerized finish. Most of the Australian pre Victories I have seen have the refinish done during FTR. How is it that some of the Aussie pre Victories escaped the FTR? Mine is one of the Vega imports which are usually FTR guns. Thanks for the input, Ron

You did not mention the condition of the original blue finish or the overall condition of the gun. That might have something to do with. It's just a guess on my part, but the Aussies may have inspected the gun and it did not require any further work.

Three questions: (1) How do you know it is Australian, (2) How do you know... "it has the original blue finish"…? and (3) What is the serial number ? Ed.

Ed, In answer to your 3 questions....1) It must be Australian because of the "D (broad arrow) D" marking on the left frame; 2)It is clearly an original S&W blue finish (brush blue?) and not a reblue and 3) Serial is 871262. With the exception of normal dings and scratches the gun is in excellent condition with about 50-60% blue beginning to turn brown and nice case colors on hammer and trigger. Sorry, but I am unable to do pix. Thanks, Ron

At that serial number, it should have originally been finished with the brush bluing (Black Magic oxide). Bead (sand) blast bluing did not begin until around SN 900000. SN 871262 would have shipped late 1941-early 1942.

I think Retired W4's suggestion is probably correct, in that the gun was in satisfactory condition when the Aussies surveyed their WW2 Lend Lease guns it did not get the FTF treatment. Ed.

Thanks Ed and W4, Your idea makes good sense. I am presently in contact with Ian Skennerton to see if he can provide info on the condition criteria used to determine if FTR was necessary. Will post answer when I hear back from him. Thanks again for your help. Ron

Thanks Ron. I also have an Aussie 38/200 which has no markings whatsoever except a person's name engraved on the back strap. I would be very interested in what Ian comes up with. I have a Lithgow SMLE and know of his writings on the .303.

I've got one of the Aussie models which did get the FTR treatment, but it looks to have been in pretty good condition before that, as there is no pitting, and the bore and chambers are excellent. I of course have no idea how the finish was as it was given the parkerized finish when it was rebuilt.

__________________
H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

No telling what the decision process was to subject these revolvers to a FTR. Typical US military procedure would have been to do them all, no matter whether needed or not. Maybe not in Australia. Anyone around back in the pre-GCA-1968 period may remember buying (for about $20) .45 M1911A1 pistols from DCM in new condition, in the box, which came with paperwork saying they were "Unserviceable." Those were the days.