I have one that went a Boston dealer in '46 and was curious as to numbers made in this serial number series. What years?

Are you asking about post war transitional 38 m&ps? If so I believe almost all of them shipped in spring of 1946. It was a run using the left over parts from the war. They upgraded all with the "new hammer block" designated with an S. So all the parts had the upgrade then the S was added to the already V that was stamped on parts hence the SV serial #. They filled the lanyard holes on the frames and gave the gun's the better commercial finish. I believe it was a run to just use up all the parts made during the war. JP@ck I do not know how to spell his screen name but something like that has all the data on these guns. J

I agree with daddio,

I'm sure JP@AK will be by.

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SWCA #2817

SV serial numbers started during the war. The first of them shipped in January, 1945, and they were purchased through the Army procurement office. Most were destined for Navy service. The "official" lowest number is SV769001, but lower numbers exist. The lowest one I've found is SV732261. It is a Navy gun that shipped on June 29, 1945 (keep in mind they did not ship in serial order).

The Standard Catalog says the SV numbers went to SV811119. That gun was assembled on August 27, 1945. The lowest serial number recorded without the V (a simple S prefix gun) is recorded as S811120. It allegedly was assembled on September 12, 1945.

However, there are lots of SV revolvers with higher serial numbers. They clearly go all the way into the SV813xxx range, although there are some in the S812xxx range that do not have the V. The highest number SV gun that has been located is an oddity. The serial prefix was mistakenly stamped in reverse order. The number is VS813414.

As for ship dates, again the earliest is January, 1945. The earliest commercial shipment seems to have gone to the Cleveland Police Department in February, 1946. The first shipment to a distributor that I've found was on March 3, 1946 - 800 units to a distributor in New York. The last SV shipment I've been able to locate left the factory on April 10, 1946. The vast majority of commercial SV guns left the factory in March, 1946.

It really is just speculation as to whether all frames with an SV prefix are "leftover parts from WWII." It makes sense that these frames were forged and serialized before Japan surrendered in August, 1945, but we don't have records to prove that. I doubt we'll ever know for certain. I can tell you that the highest serial number shipped to the Navy during the war was #SV802722. It shipped to the Norfolk Navy Yard on August 13, 1945, one day before Japan capitulated. But, there are guns with lower SV numbers that shipped commercially after the war was over.

That is what I know. I hope it helps.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

Would you please send me the details in a PM? I'd like to add yours to my database.

Also, posting a few pictures here would be greatly appreciated.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

The real question is haw many SV-series revolvers originally went to the US military (none went to the British) and how many were sold on the commercial market.