Hey Folks...had an opportunity to purchase a Victory and wound up doing the research later ...wasn’t expecting to buy it but the chance presented itself and I jumped ...anyway...serial on the frame is V494846...when would this have shipped ...I’m guessing 1943ish? Numbers match on the frame, barely, cylinder, grips and ejector. The (crane...is that right ) is marked 35162 and so is the side of the frame that the crane folds into. (I told you I’m new to this) On the top strap is a flaming bomb US Property GHD. There is also a P on the cylinder face along with the matching serial and there is also a P on the left side of the frame near the hammer. It’s a 5 inch barely which I understand is a lend lease it is marked 38 S&W but a 38 special round fits cleanly in the cylinder though a bit looser than on my Ruger GP100 357, is that common. I’m guessing the cylinder was bored but I don’t see any marks and I don’t see remnants of a 38 SW stop in the cylinder. The finis looks original...kinda worn dull grey Parkerized. Will send pics when I can ...and it has the smooth wood grips aw well ...mostly I’m curios as to it’s shipping date ...also I understand the flaming bomb denotes military service as opposed to defense plant/guard duty ...there are absolutely no other marks than I can see ...no British or German marks anywhere ...thoughts ?!!

Welcome to the forum. The Victory guys will be along shortly to educate us. Good shootin’,
Doug

You have a British Service version of the Victory, from what it sounds all original except for the bored-out chambers.

This was a Lend-lease gun which would have shipped overseas in early 1944, maybe February or so. All BSR’s have the topstrap stamping; only US Victorys in .38 Special with 4” barrel were made also for non-military recipients like defense plants and can therefore appear without the property stamp. The P’s are a standard military proof that was applied to all Victorys by that time.

The absence of post-war British proofs indicates that the gun made its way back here in some unofficial manner, not through official surplus sale in Britain.

V494846 shipped in late Dec. 1943. It would not have received any British, or commonwealth stamps/marks unless it was sold as surplus to a British dealer, who then sold the gun in Britain and therefore had to get the gun proofed by a British Proof House ( London or Birmingham). It was probably sold as surplus to an American dealer/importer, had it's cylinder bored to accept .38 Special rounds, and sold in the US. One of my families' companies bought many 1,000s of these BSRs in the 50s to 60s from foreign sources for import into the US. Ed.

Thanks !! Very helpful !

Is it possible it never left the states and was bored after the war

Well, if it never left the states, it would have been bored during the war, too

But seriously, we have no way of telling who reamed the chambers, but probability says it happened back in the US after the war. With a few exceptions that got a CAL 38 SPECIAL stamp on the frame, and some conversions proofed and marked in Britain, converted guns generally weren't marked as such.

It has all the stampings showing it went through the ordnance inspection process for lend-lease guns, and these were destined for shipment overseas. Could it have fallen off the truck to Hartford Ordnance Depot or been stolen there or on the way to a port and a ship to England? Sure. Likely? No.

Congratulation on your first Victory. Not the prettiest or rarest revolver S&W made but to me the most historically important.

Mine shipped 12/43. s/n V477114.

Spent time in Germany after the war.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065