V serial number 38

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Sodapop69

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I am looking at buying a Victory S&W 38 spl revolver. Serial number is V268021. It has diamond checkered grips. After some web browsing, looks like early models had checkered grips. Inputs, year made and bbl length judging from pic attached. I haven't held it in my hands but my friend at the local pawnshop, 45 mins away, knows my taste. Any info greatly appreciated.
 

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The serial number puts it in 1943 - several members here have an uncanny ability to pinpoint a month, but they probably read more than I do :). It has the standard 4" barrel of the .38 Special version of the Victory Model.

The stocks are from a later K frame and are called Magnas. They have been cut down at the top, and the front sight blade has also been altered. An unmodified example in this condition would probably be in the $500 range so this one would be less. Let the bargaining begin!
 
That one would have shipped with smooth non-medallion stocks. Decent sets turn up on Ebay or Gunbroker for $25-30 regularly. If you end up buying it, I probably have a spare set I could part with.

As Alan said, the stocks on it now are ruined and worthless.
 
I don’t think the sight has been modified, though the background in the picture makes it look like it has.

Grips aside, that looks to be a pretty decent Victory Model and would easily go for $500 around here.
 

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Sodapop69 said:
.....It has diamond checkered grips. After some web browsing, looks like early models had checkered grips. Inputs, year made and bbl length judging from pic attached...
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It’s a toss-up about the front sight, but I also think some background pattern may just create the appearance of a ramping modification.

The gun is from the spring of 1943. The finish looks original and decent, the gun unmodified. Whether or not there is a property stamp on the topstrap will give you a clue where it shipped.

If the diamond magnas were unmodified, the fact that they are not original would not hurt. But this way, not so good. Your reading misled you somewhere; no V-prefix guns shipped with checkered wood stocks (only some SV in commercial configuration at the very end).

I’d put the gun as is at maybe 350 to 400.
 
If you decide to go with period correct stocks, they look like these:


wiregrassguy-albums-k-frame-guns-picture11418-vgrips-r.jpg
 
sigp220.45 said:
You are a master of understatement! Great deal!
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What he said! :D Is it marked on the top strap? U.S. Navy/U.S. Property? It most likely shipped May/June 1943. Would like to see additional pics once you get it. If not marked on top strap, is likely a DSC gun. I especially like to get letters on those! ;)
 
Sodapop69 said:
What is a DSC gun, Ken L?
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See attached document. The Defense Supplies Corporation was a public corporation established to manage the distribution of scarce or otherwise war-essential materials and products. After Pearl Harbor they established a “Revolver Program” which handled those orders for authorized non-military recipients.

Ken is referring to the fact that these usually shipped directly to the end user, so in contrast to military-shipped Victorys, you actually find out where they spent the war. They are recognizable by the absence of any stamping on the left side of the topstrap (although there is a small chance that it is a Maritime Commission gun, which would also be unstamped).
 

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I think his checkered stocks issue is that he may be thinking of BRITISH ordered guns from early 1940-April, 1942, which did have checkered grips with silver medallions. After April, 1942, barrel lengths were standardized at five inches (for UK orders) and smooth stocks with dull gray finishes appeared.

Some commercial M&P's were bought by the govt. prior to the Victory Model, and they had checkered stocks, too. They were supposed to be for a Navy civilian police corps, but it never formed and the guns were used elsewhere. I wouldn't be amazed if some found their way to USN and USMC aviators.

I carried a number of former USN Victory Models in the USAF in the 1960's, and not all had Navy markings. I think quite a few unmarked Navy guns exist. Serial numbers may confirm them, or if you have one, listen carefully late at night and one may sing a sea chanty. :D
 
I too think that the front sight has been modified. Even considering that and the wrong stocks, I would say that for $200 you can't go wrong. Heck, AirSoft guns go for that. :eek:
 
I had time to look at it on my last visit to the pawn shop. Only markings are the dates on top of the barrel, serial # & flaming bomb next to the serial #. Better pics when I bring it home.
 
Texas Star said:
After April, 1942, barrel lengths were standardized at five inches (for UK orders) and smooth stocks with dull gray finishes appeared.
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A few thoughts:

1. The last part of the sentence seems odd. I don't think you mean that the stocks had a "dull gray finish." Right? I assume that part of the sentence refers to the metal finish.

2. According to McHenry & Roper, the stocks went from checked to smooth on January 1, 1942 (page 225). Of course, M&R's book does have some mistakes in it, but I don't know that this is one of them.

3. M&R also give April 10, 1942, for the date that the finish change was made.

4. Pate gives October, 1940, for the time that the UK specified that future BSRs would be produced with 5" barrels. Some may have shipped after that with 4" or 6", but if Pate is correct, the change order dated from that month.

Regarding the U.S. Navy stamp on Victory Model revolvers, those stopped around V267000, which was the end of the Navy contract revolvers. The last 9500 Navy contract guns were delivered in January, 1943. Thereafter, Navy guns were procured through the Army system and were not stamped with the Navy identification. If they were not DSC guns, they got the standard property stamp.

This is the best information I have available to me. If any of it is incorrect, I'd be happy to hear about it.
 
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