Okay, I always root for the underdog. I ran across this Victory and I picked it up at a good price. I already knew it was missing a piece or two, but on closer examination, I found the barrel is canted to the right. I've never seen that before! The numbers match, so it's the original barrel. The forcing cone is not perfectly aligned, it's almost touching the cylinder at the top. The front sight is not at 12 o'clock, so the barrel is either over, or under, rotated.

Please take a look at the pictures and give me your gut feeling. Is she a non-shooter from this point forward, or do you think she could be brought back to operational?

Here are the dirty pictures, before I began to clean up the Victory:

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	Victory 1.jpg (26.7 KB, 676 views)
	Victory 2.JPG (256.3 KB, 588 views)
	Victory 3.JPG (247.5 KB, 538 views)
	Victory 4.JPG (282.0 KB, 555 views)
	Victory 5.JPG (255.0 KB, 535 views)

I LIKE IT!! How much is a "good" price?

Apparently at sometime in it's life, "Bubba" has "adjusted' it. Not to worry. I'm sure it can be "UnBubbaed" by some careful tweaking handmade to shoot to pint of aim just fine. Ed.

Is the barrel canted, or the front sight bent? From your first picture, I can't quite tell. If it is canted, it is under-rotated, so you (or your gunsmith) can take out the pin then turn it in a few degrees (just one or two, probably) and be good to go. Perhaps at some time in the past it was set back a thread and Bubba stopped a little soon. This will also hold your extractor rod at a slightly off center position and may account for the misalignment at the forcing cone. Regardless, the fix is do-able if nothing else has been seriously compromised.

What kind of shape is the bore in? If you swing out the cylinder then hold the thumb latch back, how does the action cycle? Does it feel smooth and normal or does it stick and drag?

If I had acquired that gun, I would first do a serious cleaning and check its mechanics, then address the barrel problem, and then probably replace the missing lanyard loop before taking it out and shooting it a whole lot. It's a Victory Model... what's not to like?

Froggie

A couple hundred. If she's toast, I spent too much, if I can get it true again, it was a bargan.

Froggie,
The gun is soaking in some CLP right now. The bore is clean and the action is smooth, except there is a slight bind on a single cylinder position. I popped the side cover off and the lockworks look amazingly clean. I didn't expect that. Under the grips had the surface corrosion that you often see on antiques. That will wipe away after the CLP has had it's turn.

Holding the frame straight, the barrel is pointed a few degrees to the right. the barrel pin is still installed. Cross-threaded? or perhaps Bubba forgot to tap out the pin before attempting to unscrew the barrel.

The front sight is straight in relation to the barrel, but the barrel is rotated so that the sight is sitting past 12 o'clock as you hold the gun. My (limited) understanding is that the barrel unscrews from the frame clockwise as you hold the gun.

I need to find a good wheelgun guy in the DelMarVa area.

Keep us posted on your progress . Every Victory saved is a victory!

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Hue 68 noli me tangere

You won't know with a certainty until it's fired for record.

Could be fine *as is*...

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Be Well

Yeah... Well, it's not my only revolver, so I think I can wait until I find out what my options are.

My Smith collection include a topbreak .32, and the models 10, 19, 28, 33, 36, and 1917.

Here's a mediocre picture of the guts of the Victory. There was some expected grime, but otherwise a pretty clean machine.
It's really got me hoping I can get the barrel on straight, or replace it with a straight one.

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Victory Innards.JPG (268.6 KB, 280 views)

Replacing a barrel seems simple, but without the proper tools and experience in barrel replacement and fitting, it's probably best to pay someone who knows how to do it.

Exactly what I plan to do. Also, there is a burr on the extractor star that binds the action at one postion. Probably some light stoning with solve that problem.

Once she's functioning right, then I'm debating a reparkerizing to freshen it up.

Make it run right, get a lanyard ring for it, and run it.
Leave the finish alone.

The Parkerizing you can do yourself if you wish an interesting project. I don't think it will affect the value that much, and it will look a lot better. Look on eBay for a lanyard loop and maybe some nicer grips. Both show up there frequently.

I agree. From your photos, the barrel and the extractor appear to be off slightly. Find a local gunsmith and have him tweak the barrel a little tighter. That should take care of the extractor alignment and the front sight at the same time. As someone said, pick up a lanyard ring on ebay or one of the national parts suppliers and then hit the range. I wouldn't worry about the finish right now. If it really bothers you later, then consider doing it.

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James Redfield
LM #497

The thread on the S&W barrels is a stardard Right Hand Thread, meaning righty tighty left loosey. So, in your case the barrel is under rotated. Good news is that for someone who knows what the are doing it's easy to fix. All you have to do is remove the barrel pin, tighten the barrel a touch more till the sight is straight, and run a reamer of the correct size through the frame to touch up the notch in the barrel stud.

As for the barrel contacting the cylinder, first you need to check to see if you have any End Shake. If to end shake you'll want to check for runout on the cylinder face by checking the B/C gap at all 6 positons. If the runout is under 0.006-0.008 inch then you can finally use a stone or fine pitch file to fit the rear surface of the barrel a bit better. However, using a file to produce a relatively flat surface is a Skill the has to be Learned. Most people who try to file something flat end up filing it to a rounded contour due to the natural motion of our wrist in a task like this.

Bottomline, this is an easy fix to a Gunsmith who knows what they are doing. For someone without any training working at home it's an invitation to a Learning Experience at the School of Hard Knocks. Finally, I would do anything more to the finish than apply a light film of oil, the Victory guns were never intended to be pretty.

That barrel looks bent to the right to me. Will cause the binding. Have a gunsmith look at it. I wouldnt fire it like that. Will probably spit lead.

To help the project along, I recently got a "5th screw" for the one missing, and a NOS replacement barrel, just in case the first one is too pranged to use.

The barrel has been OVERtightened a smidge. A smith with the correct tools needs to fix it.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Okay. It's been a while, but well worth it.
Like I said before, I got a "5th screw" and an extra barrel online. I dropped off the Victory about a month ago at a nearby gunsmith who is a retired New York policeman (so he has seen more than a few Model 10s). The plan grew into sending the gun and barrel to the Pacific NorthWest, to a gunsmith who is highly regarded on Smith revolvers. I'm sorry, I forget the name.

Now, the gun is back and she looks great. They remounted the original barrel, straight this time! A couple of springs were replaced and the action was cleaned up so there is no hitch or hesitation. A new lanyard loop completes the work. As many recommended, I elected to leave the patina the way it is, as there is no corrosion, just all-over wear.

My gunsmith said this is one of the nicer Victories he's seen.
Thank you all for your support and advice. Cheers!

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	Victory result 1.JPG (271.2 KB, 249 views)
	Victory result 2.JPG (282.3 KB, 241 views)
	Victory result 3.jpg (54.2 KB, 232 views)
	Victory result 4.JPG (273.9 KB, 220 views)
	Victory result 5.JPG (269.2 KB, 207 views)

Great story with a happy ending.

Congrats on a well done project!

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Richard
Engraved S&W fan

I love it when a plan comes together! That's a handsome revolver you got there. Now maybe DWalt will come forward with a ship date.

Very nice!

And as for the "patina": Now I just have your pictures to go by, and you may have compared your gun to other Victory models (for real, not photos) to come to the conclusion that this is patina, but I just see a pretty nice original finish with very moderate use wear; the wartime phosphate finish really was that "ugly". I have an almost certainly unissued DSC Victory on which the surface finish does not look any better than yours.

Take a look below. Mine is on the left, yours on the right for comparison. Sure, yours has seen a bit more use, but I don't believe that's patina.

So I think you've got a great-looking specimen just the way it is.

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victory sideplate.jpg (49.3 KB, 159 views)

Wow, compared to yours, I see just what you mean.
Maybe I am underestimating the finish of my piece.

I compared the action against my original pre-10, and the Victory has a slightly heavier trigger pull. Still very comfortable. I'm looking forward to getting it to the range.

Congratulations on a good find and getting it in proper shooting order.

Very nice looking victory.

An excellent outcome! Good for you (and for that classic old Victory).

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David Wilson

As befitting a gun of this era, I've handloaded some lead round ball for the range. I figure 158 gr at 800 fps is about right for 1940s era ammo. I'm hoping to get out to today and see how she performs.

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Victory and ammo.jpg (256.6 KB, 90 views)

You did a nice job with it. Congratulations on that. I hope now that you have the barrel centered up you don't find that the gun shoots way to the right!

Did the gunsmith say how he fixed the problem and if he test fired? I once had a Model 637 that had been tapped crooked and could not be zeroed because the barrel did not sit in-line with the firing axis of the frame. They tried to fix it by clocking the barrel, which only made things worse, and I believe they eventually replaced the frame, if memory serves correctly.

I must have missed this back in 2014.

I guess the barrel was somehow bent so a replacement solved the problem?

I've told this story before but it's been a while.

About 13 years ago I bought a Navy contract VM from a local pawn shop. The barrel was bulged and the owner couldn't sell it. I looked at it and said that if I got it cheap enough I might be able to work with it. He said name a price. Without thinking it through enough I blurted out $60 and he happily replied "Sold!" He even covered the sales tax for me. What a guy.

The barrel had to be replaced. My problem was that the gun smiths I asked wanted $150-$200 in labor. The refinished revolver with a replacement barrel wasn't worth that much investment. If I couldn't do it myself it wouldn't get done.

I found a 5" barrel on ebay that I bagged for the starting price of $5. The serial on the barrel suggested a 1939 manufacture date so it was very close to the 1942 date on the gun. I stripped the gun down to the bare frame and barrel and soaked overnight in penetrating oil. Using the large bench vise in my garage, I clamped the barrel between two 1" pieces of soft pine. I had a punch that fit and drove out the retaining pin. It popped right out in 2 seconds. Then I put a hammer handle through the cylinder window up as close to the forcing cone as possible to reduce the twisting force on the frame and gently applied pressure. The barrel unscrewed like the lid off a pickle jar. It just came right off as slick as you please.

The new barrel went in the same way. I screwed it in until I ran out of threads with the sight blade at 12 o'clock. With a feeler gauge I determined the B/C clearance to be .005". Perfect. It was almost as if that barrel was made for that frame...which of course it was. God bless mass produced parts intended for assembly line production.

The pin reinsertion was a bear. It was very hard to get the holes lined up precisely. Everything up until this point took about 5 minutes. Seriously, from clamping the gun in the vise to being ready to install the pin took maybe 5 minutes. I thought about that $200 the smith wanted trying to calculate his hourly rate but I'm not good at math. But then I spent another 25 minutes tweaking the barrel back and forth trying to wiggle that darn pin back in. I finally got it but it wasn't a smooth operation.

I test fired the gun and it shot fine. It was wearing the late 1940s "sharp shoulder" Magnas and I liked them so they stayed where they were. Back on ebay I found an older Bianchi holster for a 5" K frame and got it for $5. Apparently I buy a lot of stuff on ebay for $5. I hated the hole in the butt for the missing lanyard ring so I bought a handful of them from a guy at a gun show for...yup...$5 each (I have used 2 and given away a couple to guys who needed one and still have a couple left just in case). Total investment is $75 for a cool 5" M&P in a nice holster. Plus a half hour of my time.

A few years ago I tested it with 500 rounds of factory +P and 600 rounds of my own +P+ (125 JHP@1150 FPS) to satisfy myself that all this nonsense about +P ammo damaging a pre-model marked S&W was...well, nonsense. It was. Nonsense, I mean.

Someday when I am dead and gone, and my wife has sold all my guns, somebody will be looking at the only 5" U.S. military Victory Model he's ever seen thinking "What the hell?" Too bad he won't know the story behind it.

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No life story has happy end.

See post 19. The original barrel was remounted.

Ahhh...just screwed in crooked. Surprised the threads weren't damaged. Also surprised it got past final inspection. Happy ending.

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No life story has happy end.

Yes, so as an end benefit, I have a NOS Victory barrel that has no serial number stamped on it

This I've been told, I haven't verified any of it:
During the frenzied war production, when S&W were churning out Victories, some were released with less-than-perfect quality control. Apparently, enough Victories were manufactured with their barrels off-center, it became an item to look for when issued to the end-user. While the Victories were war production, they were mainly for rear area and state-side security and defense, therefore, lower on the priority scale. Most were corrected at the time, but some slipped through.

The gunsmith related this story and said that, quite probably, when it was test fired after the barrel was remounted, it was the first time this gun had ever been fired.

If anyone knows if this story is true (or more importantly, false!), let me know. I don't want to fib (unless the wife is involved!)

Personally, I've never heard anything about this, and have never encountered a Victory, either BSR or US version, with that issue or tool marks specifically indicating correction of that kind of issue. While S&W did produce these at a high volume, it was the sole focus of handgun production during that time, and there seems to be no widely known or discussed history of quality control issues. I'll be interested in other Victory enthusiasts' take on this, but as far as I'm concerned, it's a fish story.

I have also never heard this story nor have a I seen a VM with a crooked barrel. War time production often means cutting corners and working fast but such a defect should not get out of the plant.

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No life story has happy end.

Good. Thanks for correcting that story. There's no reason to spread hogwash.

Any markings on the topstrap ?

"While the Victories were war production, they were mainly for rear area and state-side security and defense, therefore, lower on the priority scale."

A whole bunch of Victories were issued to naval aviators, both Navy and Marine Corps.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Take a minute and write the story down, and keep it with the gun. That way if it does come to that, at least someone will know how the gun came about and the love you had given it.

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1st smiles,lies.Last,gunfire.

Calling DWALT!!! We need an expert shipping date guess.

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Don Mundell

No, there are not markings on the top strap. I've wondered if they might have been sanded off, but I know some Victories were produced with no marking along the top.

If you look at my first group of pictures, you'll see the top strap.

Looks like July 1943. I really like the looks of this gun and the year fits right in with the period I collect. I'm glad the OP decided not to mess with the finish.

Thank you. It really turned out nice and I appreciate all the advice and guidance this forum has given me.

I took the Victory to the range today and shot 48 rounds of the lead ball ammo I loaded for it. The hammer and trigger have new springs, so they were a just a hair stiffer than my Pre-10. The accuracy is spot-on. The only variance was my lack of practice with combat sights. I averaged 4 inch groups at thirty feet.

Since your gun still retains without a doubt all of its wartime phosphate finish, any removal of the topstrap markings should be obvious unless it got an expert refinish afterward, highly unlikely on a defective gun. So that can be discounted. You have an unmarked Victory, either DSC or US Maritime Commission. A letter will ultimately tell you where and when it shipped. In contrast to US PROPERTY marked guns, letters on unmarked ones can produce interesting results, since these shipped directly to the end user.

Here is a photo of the top strap. This is the way I purchased the gun.

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Victory Top Strap.JPG (269.9 KB, 52 views)

Any chance you could ask the retired NY police officer gunsmith
for the name of the pacific northwest gunsmith who can work
on S&W?

Sorry it took this long to respond. I called my 'smith, and he said the work was done by Bob Dunlop at Pacific International Service Company. They are located in Oregon. The website is: PISCO - Home

I've had the Victory to the range twice, and it doesn't fail to impress. It's as smooth and accurate. I would not hesitate to send another gun to them for servicing.

Dave: this has been an inspiring story. I really mean that. You have a wonderful firearm now, that has been properly restored, and you avoided the temptation to refinish it. That is a beautiful Victory, and I both congratulate and commend you!!' Great job. Enjoy the fruits of your labor!!

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

Thanks for the name of the gunsmith you used to repair your
nice Victory revolver. I love the patina on the old girl.

I have a Marlin 36 lever action rifle in .32 Winchester Special
that was made in 1947 that has a head space problem. I want
to get it fixed so I can shoot it. Right now it's a wall hanger.