Just bought from a few photos online a S&W Hand Ejector .38 S&W cal, 5" revolver, SN 771789...NO letter prefix was mentioned by the seller.
I THINK the SN fits into a 1941 shipment for Britain, making it a pre Victory model. I have NO clear pics of it, won't have it in hand for a week or more, but I am wondering if that might be the case. It has the old smooth not-magna grips, very old and matching the condition of the gun.
Also, it has been painted with black enamel paint, now very chipped in spots, and has a rack number - 86 - painted on the right side behind the cylinder.

(I got it for very little money, so I'm happy with it, historical piece or not...If not, I will strip and re-blue it and shoot it.)
Any thoughts or help? Thanks.

Mark

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Liberals made the USA

If smooth, the grips would not be from 1941. Until early 1942, pre-Victory grips were just like the typical 1930s-era checkered wood grips used for civilian guns. They had silver medallions. The British often re-finished their small arms with a black paint called Suncorite (frequently described as stove paint). Perhaps that is what yours has. If so, I wouldn't recommend removal, but I don't know how one would positively distinguish Suncorite from Rustoleum. SN 771789 indicates probable shipment around mid-1941 for your pre-Victory. A 5" barrel should be correct. Does it have proof markings anywhere?

A true story. Once a famous collector came across an old British musket which had been used in the Crimean War. It had been painted black all over. He had it painstakingly restored, and in the process had all of the paint removed. Only to find out later that most of those muskets had been painted black by British soldiers in the field so as to make them less visible to the Russians. That mostly destroyed its collector value, as those retaining the original field-applied paint were exceedingly rare and desirable.

Thanks...I have not yet seen the gun and all I had to judge were several bad photos that showed no markings at all, so I can't say. I will probably not have it till next week, but I would not be surprised if the grips had been replaced back in it's day...I paid under $275 for it, so decided to gamble...
Thanks.

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Liberals made the USA

Good luck on the gun but please post it when you can as at 275 $ it's a deal what ever it is but if it whether collector find or a shooter so keep us updated .

Be sure to check if a 38 Special cartridge will fit in the cylinder. From what I understand, many were converted from 38 S&W to 38 Special. The dimensions of the cartridges are different and some conversions were not done well. There are some threads here that discuss it in more detail.

Thanks. It's sold as a .38 S&W, so I am ASSUMING that it's still in original spec. I have since checked to seller's site and he has a few other older collectables, and I'm feeling a bit more confident about it...It still has the lanyard ring and swivel, too...
This one did NOT get any special treatment or get prettied up after whatever service it say wherever it went...
Should have it late next week.

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Liberals made the USA

The gun was as stated, except for a mechanical problem with the hammer...there is a sort of skip in the travel when it's thumb-cocked, and it is obvious that someone had taken the side plate off - not well - and tried to fix it and could not...and no mention was made of this in the sale ad.

It's on it's way back to the seller.

On the bright side, I just bought a K22 4" from 1952, so that's OK...

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Liberals made the USA

Good recovery.

The closest I could bracket your s/n 771xxx was

s/n 751xxx was Mar '41
s/n 833xxx was Oct '41

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

I have an identical BSR Pre-Victory, complete with the black paint finish and rack number, and close serial number. They win the Ugly Gun contest, hands down! It has been said these revolvers were issued to the Home Guards in Britain, and given the Suncorite treatment as extra protection from abuse by non-military trained users . It's almost impossible to remove that black finish as it's extremely durable, and the few of these I've seen often show the attempt of someone to take off the black paint and therefore destroy any collector value. Too bad it had an action problem, as it's a very uncommon example of a Pre-Victory for a serious Victory collector. Ed.

Too bad you had to return it. No matter the problem, it could probably have been repaired at a reasonable cost. Action parts are plentiful and not too expensive.

I have never heard about Suncorite being used on Home Guard revolvers. I guess it's possible. I have owned several WWII British guns factory-finished with Suncorite, which I no longer have. More or less the British equivalent of phosphate finishing. Cheaper and faster to apply than bluing, and more corrosion resistant.

General consensus among British military collectors appears to be (and I'm vague because I don't have hard data ) that Suncorite finishing started in 1944 on Sten variants and then Enfield rifles as the original finish, but is most often found on post-war FTR'd infantry small arms. I doubt that the finish itself can be tied to any particular purpose like "Home Guard". I have been curious about the exact meaning of the large white-paint numbers. "Rack number" is a convenient explanation for everything and nothing; however, the particular combination of Suncorite plus white number as found on this BSR as well as on numerous Enfield No2's might lead to a more specific provenance.

Heres my one, SN 700701, so not a million miles away from your one. Mine was issued to the RAF - link here :.38S&W WWII RAF issue revolver

Many of the WWII top-break Webley Mk IV .38 revolvers came from the factory with Suncorite applied and were stamped "War Finish" (which also referred to their lack of fine metal polishing). Apparently Webley was somewhat ashamed that the finish was not up to Webley's usual commercial finishing standards and wanted to be sure that everyone knew that it was a wartime expedient. Most Stens, Brens, and Enfield No. 4 rifles also got the Suncorite treatment, either during manufacture or resulting from later armory refinishing. At one time or another, about any British small arms used during WWII could have received a coat of Suncorite, and maybe even a lot of equipment that didn't shoot.

I've read the "cor" in Suncorite refers to its original purpose of being used on automotive radiator cores.

The Webley "WAR FINISH" looks distinctly different from Suncorite. It started in 1940 or early 1941, several years before the latter's appearance, and as far as I can tell by my sample, a pretty nicely preserved military-shipped specimen from Nov. 1941, was simply the standard blue applied with only a rough surface prep and no polishing.

Just like Enfields and BSR's, some ended up Suncorite'd in the course of an FTR. It did not improve their appearance.