|
|
10-05-2018, 09:21 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times in 1 Post
|
|
British Victory model 22LR conversion ?
Picked this up today, never seen one before looks well done. Any ideas on who did it , 1950-60's ? Crown grip medallion ? Thanks.
Brit22revolvr - Album on Imgur
|
The Following 2 Users Like Post:
|
|
10-05-2018, 09:35 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: May 2003
Location: DUNNELLON, FLORIDA USA
Posts: 11,113
Likes: 1,691
Liked 16,318 Times in 4,239 Posts
|
|
IIRC (?) Parker-Hale
|
The Following 2 Users Like Post:
|
|
10-05-2018, 09:39 PM
|
|
SWCA Member Absent Comrade
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: The kidney of Dixie.
Posts: 10,509
Likes: 49
Liked 13,410 Times in 3,290 Posts
|
|
Sometime after the war. I think Great Britain started tightening the screws on gunowners and some rifles and revolvers were converted to 22 as larger calibers were banned.
__________________
No life story has happy end.
|
10-05-2018, 09:51 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: South Texas & San Antonio
Posts: 33,628
Likes: 241
Liked 29,141 Times in 14,091 Posts
|
|
Usually Parker-Hale. Barrels were normally replaced with a new one in .22. There have been numerous postings here in the past.
|
10-05-2018, 09:55 PM
|
US Veteran Absent Comrade
|
|
|
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 20,361
Likes: 24,260
Liked 16,154 Times in 7,408 Posts
|
|
Britain tightened the screws, but I don't think it affected handguns much by caliber.
When private handguns were all but totally banned in 1997, some 300,000 pistols were handed in. These were the LEGAL guns, whose owners had braved the obscene amount of red tape to own them.
I had a sub. to, South African Panorama in the 1980's, and that marvelous magazine had a feature on an old bush rat whose revolver was one of those Parker-Hale conversions. He probably couldn't afford a new K-22, even if it'd gotten in through the UN embargo of those days, as I guess the Parker-Hale gun did. He seemed happy with it, and liked the low cost of .22 ammo.
I don't know what all he shot with it. Another man I knew there said he used his Ruger .22 auto successfully on puff adder snakes and some small game like rabbits. But he found a .22 too light for easy kills on rock rabbits/dassies.
Those conversions got around.
|
10-05-2018, 09:56 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: New England
Posts: 1,361
Likes: 10,187
Liked 1,001 Times in 491 Posts
|
|
Very cool .22
|
10-05-2018, 10:01 PM
|
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Central Montana
Posts: 13,710
Likes: 12,855
Liked 39,466 Times in 10,042 Posts
|
|
Looks pretty well done to me.
|
10-05-2018, 10:11 PM
|
|
SWCA Member Absent Comrade
|
|
|
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Oregon
Posts: 12,834
Likes: 10,103
Liked 27,996 Times in 8,452 Posts
|
|
Parker-Hale did indeed do such conversions, but they usually machined a cartouche with their name into it. See attached.
This gun got a new barrel, with some interesting, likely older proofs on it, probably dismounted from another gun, and the new assemblage then had to be proofed again, as per the standard Birmingham Nitro Proofs on the other side of the barrel. So I’d think this came more likely from the shop of another Birmingham gunmaker; there was a cluster around town.
The grips are the standard style used by British converters of Victorys, primarily Cogswell & Harrison. They were likely sourced somewhere.
|
The Following 3 Users Like Post:
|
|
10-06-2018, 02:57 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: South Africa
Posts: 357
Likes: 0
Liked 236 Times in 118 Posts
|
|
The barrel appears to have Belgian proof marks on its RHS.
Peter
|
The Following 2 Users Like Post:
|
|
10-06-2018, 06:35 PM
|
US Veteran Absent Comrade
|
|
|
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Texas
Posts: 20,361
Likes: 24,260
Liked 16,154 Times in 7,408 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Absalom
Parker-Hale did indeed do such conversions, but they usually machined a cartouche with their name into it. See attached.
This gun got a new barrel, with some interesting, likely older proofs on it, probably dismounted from another gun, and the new assemblage then had to be proofed again, as per the standard Birmingham Nitro Proofs on the other side of the barrel. So I’d think this came more likely from the shop of another Birmingham gunmaker; there was a cluster around town.
The grips are the standard style used by British converters of Victorys, primarily Cogswell & Harrison. They were likely sourced somewhere.
|
Thanks. I was hoping that someone would post that cartouche! I was baffled why the OP didn't show it. Maybe his gun was converted by another firm.
Peter probably has something with noting the Belgian proof marks, although the gun may have been converted in the UK and then sold in Belgium.
BTW, Belgians, unlike Britons, can still own handguns. Well, technically, a few Brits have them. Some 300 licenses are granted to people selected to kill injured animals, as in road accidents. They can have pistols to dispatch those animals.
But if a person so licensed uses his pistol to kill a fox in his barn, there's probably woe to come.
Can Britons even own handguns made for black powder, replica firearms from earlier times?
Last edited by Texas Star; 10-06-2018 at 06:36 PM.
|
10-07-2018, 01:46 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,617
Likes: 49
Liked 721 Times in 369 Posts
|
|
Hard to tell from photos but, chambers appear to be bushed down? Grips look more like Colts than S&Ws,
hammer is period center fire not rim fire.
Steve
|
10-07-2018, 02:04 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Sep 2001
Posts: 3,795
Likes: 993
Liked 1,923 Times in 956 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by S.B.
Hard to tell from photos but, chambers appear to be bushed down? Grips look more like Colts than S&Ws,
hammer is period center fire not rim fire.
Steve
|
The cylinders were always sleeved on these conversions.
|
10-07-2018, 02:33 PM
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The SW Va Blue Ridge
Posts: 17,537
Likes: 89,829
Liked 24,923 Times in 8,532 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by S.B.
Hard to tell from photos but, chambers appear to be bushed down? Grips look more like Colts than S&Ws,
hammer is period center fire not rim fire.
Steve
|
No, it has been altered for rimfire. Look at the firing pin bushing in photo # 8.
__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!
|
10-07-2018, 02:56 PM
|
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: New England
Posts: 4,189
Likes: 3,543
Liked 3,996 Times in 1,627 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by lite-box
Picked this up today, never seen one before looks well done. Any ideas on who did it , 1950-60's ? Crown grip medallion ? Thanks.
Brit22revolvr - Album on Imgur
|
WELCOME TO THE FORUM, lite-box. THAT'S A VERY ATTRACTIVE REVOLVER, AND DOES APPEAR TO BE WELL DONE......
__________________
'Nam 1968-69.DAV,VFW,NRA Inst.
|
10-07-2018, 05:00 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 1,617
Likes: 49
Liked 721 Times in 369 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by Muley Gil
No, it has been altered for rimfire. Look at the firing pin bushing in photo # 8.
|
Look at the firing pin on hammer in photo #9?
Steve
|
10-07-2018, 07:49 PM
|
US Veteran
|
|
|
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: The SW Va Blue Ridge
Posts: 17,537
Likes: 89,829
Liked 24,923 Times in 8,532 Posts
|
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by S.B.
Look at the firing pin on hammer in photo #9?
Steve
|
I did. It has been altered to hit the .22 rim.
__________________
John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!
|
10-09-2018, 02:27 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Aug 2009
Posts: 1,124
Likes: 36,314
Liked 934 Times in 496 Posts
|
|
Just a quick reply to Texas Star's comment about handguns in England. If I understand their laws correctly original black powder handguns may be legal to own under their antique classification, replicas are tightly controlled and require a FAC (license) for ownership (which is also required if someone actually wants to shoot an original). There are websites offering both original and modern replicas for sale in the UK and stating the requirements for each.
Curiously the laws actually vary in different parts of the UK, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and, I believe, the Channel Islands have different regs. Some years ago I read that many competitive pistol shooters belonged to clubs on the Isle of Man so that they could store and practice with their guns there.
|
10-10-2018, 10:30 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Oct 2018
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times in 1 Post
|
|
Thanks for replies.
|
10-11-2018, 02:00 PM
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: England
Posts: 171
Likes: 3
Liked 226 Times in 96 Posts
|
|
Foreign exchange controls made dollar imports scarce and expensive in postwar Britain for anyone who wanted a Model 17. But there were plenty of war surplus revolvers to be converted.
|
The Following 3 Users Like Post:
|
|
10-11-2018, 03:14 PM
|
|
Member
|
|
|
Join Date: May 2009
Location: South Florida
Posts: 7,782
Likes: 2,486
Liked 8,318 Times in 2,919 Posts
|
|
We have seen a few pop up over the years,
IIRC the parker Hale conversion guns all began life as former WWII British Military Lend Lease Victory revolvers originally chambered in .38 S&W.
I had a nickel version of the bottom one in the above photo with added front site barrel rib , The one I briefy owned was refinished in nickel and had the lanyard loop plugged,
It was converted to fire .38 Special by reaming the cylinder, unfortunately the .38 S&W casing IIRC is slightly larger which caused the .38 special cases to expand and sometimes split.
|
|
Posting Rules
|
|
|
|
|