I just recently purchased a revolver for my husband.
Was told it's a 38, hand ejector. Maybe a 2 inch barrel. It has does not have a model number. The serial number is 785985 F. The frame has 5 screws total.

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You have a modified WWII British Service Revolver (BSR) aka a pre-Victory, which was shipped around mid-1941. S&W made close to a million of them from 1940 to 1945, the majority of which went to the British Commonwealth for military use. Up front, it has no collector nor significant monetary value. When the British surplussed these out in the 1950s-60s (in their original condition), many American surplus gun importers bought BSRs for scrap iron prices, and had them rechambered from .38 S&W to .38 Special, chopped the barrels shorter (most originals had 5" barrels), often refinished them, and added some cheap plastic grips. Yours fits that description all the way. Boatloads (not an exaggeration) were given the same treatment. They sold by mail order for around $25 at the time, and adjusted for inflation, are still worth about that today, if not less, as they are nowhere near being in their original condition. Good mainly as a truck gun or a throwaway. But they will shoot if needed. Allegedly Lee Harvey Oswald used one much like yours to kill Officer J. D. Tippitt of the Dallas Police after the JFK assassination.

DWalt has described the history of your revolver, however he is looking at them from a collector's view point and therefore thinks much less of the modified versions than many of us do! After all, they were made by S&W, to S&W's wartime standard and passed close inspection by military inspectors. Yes, they were modified by post war gun dealers for the American market, however unless they have been seriously mishandled, they are very good inexpensive home protection revolvers that will still give years of faithful service if properly cared for. The revolver you purchased for your husband has probably been modified to chamber & shoot .38S&W Special ammo., as well as the older wartime .38S&W rounds. I look at these as a bargain revolver that can shoot two calibers! Forget their non-collectable status. Tell hubby to Enjoy ! ED.

Isn't anyone going to tell her that the modifications removed the front lock for the extractor rod?

Bad deal! I hope she at least got it cheap.

BTW, because the chambers are really a little oversize for .38 Special ammo, the fired cases may swell or crack. Do not fire Plus P ammo in guns like this.

No one knowledgeable about revolvers would buy a gun like this. The appeal was to "the public" who don't know guns, but who saw snub-nosed .38's on TV and liked the shiny finish and fake stag grips.

That said, one did supposedly get used to kill Officer Tippett, so they do have a sinister association with Lee Harvey Oswald. I'm not sure that's an endorsement, but that gun did fire: in its limited use, it worked okay.

It'd probably suffice as a house gun, seldom fired. I don't see the missing lock under the barrel being a serious issue in such limited use.

Firearms cannot be bought wisely without some background knowledge. But I'm glad the OP wanted to buy her husband a gun.

I agree with opoefc - Enjoy! I bought a classic rifle (new) and changed the sights and stock. It is very much more useful to me now. In fifty years someone might say, "It was butchered!" But I will be dead. Don't be so quick to criticize the people who made a snub nose out of this gun. It is a nice house gun and a nice first gun (unless it is broken).

Welcome!

If you are able to find a .38 S & W and a .38 Special empty case or loaded round, see if the former and the latter both fully seat in the cylinder. If only the .38 S & W fits, it has not been modified; ammo is available online and is not too expensive.

If both fit, you can decide on which to use - .38 Special standard pressure lead rounds would be easiest to find, but the cases are undersized for the chambers and the casings may swell or split at their mouths. If you restrict it to using .38 S & W this should not happen.

What a nice gift for your husband! No doubt others will ask if you have sisters with the same attitude toward firearms .

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

With the chopped barrel and its other "enhancements", the probability of this BSR having been rechambered to .38 Special is very close to 100%. That is really not a bad thing, as the original .38 S&W caliber ammunition can be quite difficult to find, whereas .38 Special ammunition can be found about anywhere ammunition is sold. True, the fired .38 Special cases may swell and may stick in the chambers, but those issues are more in the nature of irritations and are not that serious.

By the way, the serial number does not end with an F. That has to be a badly stamped P, a standard military proof applied to the butt.

Brodarte, first let me extend my heartfelt welcome to you as you venture into the S&W Forum. You will find that the denizens here range from purist collectors of rare and exotic variations of Smiths, to law enforcement types who carry (or carried) Smiths daily for work, to competitive shooters who are interested in wringing every bit of performance out of whatever gun they use, to dilettantes like myself who flit from shiny object to shiny object, to folks who know nothing about guns at all but come here to learn about specific guns they have bought or inherited etc. All are welcome.

Please don't get offended if someone seems to judge your specific gun too harshly or tells you something about it that seems extreme or that you didn't need to hear... you did say "any information possible" in your request.

Now, for my comments on your specific gun; yes, it is a WW II veteran, one of millions of arms sent to the British by the US to help in the war effort. As was stated, they were built to be tough enough for battlefield use and did their job well. After the War they were deemed no longer necessary by the British Government and sold as surplus, mostly to US based companies who "brought them home" to sell to a gun hungry public. Not thinking of future collectors, the re-importers tried to "dress them up" a bit to be more attractive to the buyers and yours is one of those that received this treatment. I would only suggest that you have a gunsmith (or any reasonably knowledgeable shooter) check the chambers as described above to determine whether they have been reamed deeper to accept 38 Special ammo. Unless you plan on reloading your own ammo, you can ignore all the stuff about swollen cases etc. and just enjoy shooting standard loads of 38 S&W and (if rechambered) 38 Special to your heart's content. Be careful though. You're liable to discover you enjoy shooting and be back here telling us about the next gun(s) you buy and asking for even more advice. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt!

Regards,
the Green Frog

It appears from most of the postings above, that the fiction and fantasy of "split cases, missing locking lugs, unsafe gun, etc " is not a factor deterring knowledgeable shooters and gun buyers from taking advantage of these modified S&W Victory Models at bargain prices. I have owned dozens of these since they came on the market, currently carry a couple in my vehicles, and after probably 1,000s of rounds through them since WW2, have never had a split case or any safety issues. Maybe I'm lucky, and granted the modifications must have been done by competent technicians, and not by Bubba's Bumper Shop doing improper chamber reaming, etc. Too many people look at them through collector's eyes and miss their real value as very good bargains. Keep it up, I like bargain S&Ws ! Ed.

I have never experienced a split case from firing a .38 Special round in a rechambered BSR. But I have experienced split cases with other revolvers, especially if old ammunition is involved. Nor have I had any problems with sticking cases involving normal loads. Neither sticking cases nor split cases (if they occur) are dangerous, and I don't believe that anyone in the previous postings implied that there was a safety issue associated with firing any BSR which had been rechambered to .38 Special.

I believe your husband will enjoy shooting it. Now, just find some nice wood grips to go with this firearm. And welcome to the forum!

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Fred
S&WCA 3238

Brodarte, welcome to S&W. glad you are here.

your local gun store/firing range should be able to help you select the proper ammunition for your husband's revolver...that was a thoughtful gift on your part... just shoot standard ammo...nothing too powerful and enjoy your S&W revolver.....

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There's nowt so queer as folk

Thanks guys!! I've taken it to a couple firearms dealers that are in my area and I trust really well. It is chambers only in S&W 38. Not the 38 special. Tried some test fires and it shot great.

My personal carry is a S&W M&P 9. I frequent the gun ranges. 😃

Welcome to the forums from the Wiregrass! There is an inexpensive modification that can be installed in the yoke to secure the front lock-up. It is called the Power Custom Crane Ball Detent. Depending on the mechanical ability of you or your husband, it can be done with a Dremel tool and the kit. Or, a local gunsmith can do it. I recently installed a ball detent using this kit in a Model 1917 that had had the barrel shortened to 2.75" which cut off part of the forward lock. It locks up good now.

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Guy
SWHF #474 SWCA LM#2629

And don't worry about availability of ammo. You can almost always find it at reasonable prices online, and I frequently find it in the larger sporting goods stores. Just buy a couple when you see it at a decent price.

Please talk to Mrs Raljr1 about what she should buy me for my birthday.....

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Robert
SWCA #2906, SWHF #760

Brodarte,

Welcome to the forum. If you ever want to know anything S&W, this is the place to be.

Now, it's also a good idea to check your local area gun/sporting goods web sites for 38 S&W ammunition. It sounds like you're well armed so local face to face is the only way in order to avoid mail scams. But, some of the less knowledgeable often buy 38 S&W intending to buy 38 special ammo and finding their mistake, look to "unload" it cheap. I just purchased 200 rounds of brand new Prvi Partizan 38 S&W for that very reason at $12.50 per box of 50.

All of my wives have wisely left me but next time around, I'm gonna look for one that will buy me handguns. Your husband (lucky dog) will enjoy his new BSR, I sure enjoy mine.

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Jeb

Jeb, you do realize that this thread started in September 2017 and the OP only has 2 posts to her name? I doubt she is still reading the forum daily (like I do).

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

Ha! No I didn't notice - all I looked at was the post above me. You know, I'm not the sharpest knife in the bulb box, errr.....bulb in the, wait......

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Jeb

Yes , this is an oldie , but I'm glad it came back around because I got to be entertained by this :
"...fiction and fantasy of "split cases..."

I guess I was dreaming when I experienced that malfunction. That explains why Richard Nixon was at the shooting station to my right , the Dalai Lama to my left.