I found a victory model in 38 special at the lgs. It is marked "Bavarian Municipal Police" under the cylinder latch and "Made in USA" on the right side of the frame ahead of the trigger guard. At first I assumed it had been refinished in nickel, but after closer inspection I began to wonder why someone would go to the trouble to do a nickel finish and not polish out the machine marks on many various surfaces and then put diamond walnut targets on it. All of the lettering is crisp indicating that it received minimal to no polishing after it was stamped. Has anyone here seen or heard of one of these leaving the factory wearing a nickel dress? I'm pretty sure of the answer to my question but i have to be sure. But for an asking price of $290, I'm really tempted to buy it anyway as it is in great mechanical condition. I'm sorry about the terrible picture, my phone sucks.

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I can assure you that it left the factory in the dull utility finish of all Victory models.

These were issued to the local police in occupied Bavaria by the US military administration beginning in February 1946 and marked in English for the convenience of supervising US officers. The nickeling and the new stocks would have been applied post-service.

It might make a nice shooter but if the trigger and or hammer are shiny with nickel it has been refinished. Smith and Wesson never nickled hammer or trigger they would be all dull with a case hardening.

At $290 I would buy it and harvest the Diamond Target Grips.

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Living a dream - S&WCA #2364

At $290 I would just buy it for the stocks if they were in good condition.

That being said I have bought a lot of guns just for the stocks...

Whenever I have seen a nickel plated Luger at a gun show I was assured it was issued to an SS major. So it is only logical that SS officers who after the war joined the police were issued nickel plated S&Ws.

...might want to wipe the vaseline off your camera lens...

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A Country Boy Can Survive

I wish it was that simple. Camera lens is broken.
I almost bought it for the diamonds. What is throwing me off is how well the nickel was retained without any polishing, as though it had been applied to virgin metal. Had it been nickeled over another finish without polishing it first, it would be peeling off. As it is, it still retains 98% of the nickel.

I think I'll go ahead and get it, I have a soft spot for old guns with a sketchy past.

Buy gun for 290. Sell stocks for 200 and sell gun for 250.

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No life story has happy end.

Exactly.

The facts here are:

The nickel isn’t factory (even if it weren’t a Victory, the nickeled trigger is obvious despite the fuzzy nature of the photo). But it seems to be a good aftermarket job and it’s still a basically sound M&P shooter in .38 Special, so it’ll always be worth a few hundred at least. Plus the stocks.