5 screw with serial number 934874 on butt, and end of cylinder. 75912 number in the yoke. Also appears to be the letter N in yoke. 38 special caliber When was this pistol manufactured? And any other information will be appreciated. Thanks

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The numbers, letters or symbols in the yoke area of any pre 1957/1958 gun are meaningless. Your gun serial are the ones you described on the butt and face of cylinder and the appear in several other locations but require excellent eyesight and/or a magnifying glass. Have you shot the gun? Have you inserted a 38 special cartridge into the cylinder? If any of those questions are a yes ....then the gun has been modified. If you look on right side of barrel it says 38 s&w ctg. The gun was originally made to shoot the 38 s&w cartridge, its a slightly larger diameter brass and bullet. Your gun was probably made in the early 1940's and are sometimes referred to as a pre victory or BSR (British service revolver) if used in war. The revolvers made in 38 s&w were used by British and Canada. Many were converted to 38 special after ww2. If poorly converted it can still be shot but the brass has a tendency to split. If it is still in 38s&w and a 38 special cartridge will not fully seat into cylinder, then that ammo can easily be found online, though not as cheap as 38 special is. I am sure people will be along with more details and narrow down my information for you.

Your revolver probably shipped in Apr 1942.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

It is a pre-Victory BSR. I'd say it probably shipped in Feb or March 1942.

It has been converted and it shoots fine without splitting the brass. Can 38 S&W still be fired? Ballpark value? thanks for all answers

Where can i find proper grips for this model?

K frame square butt stocks are available all over but if you specifically want original to your gun that will take some looking. Likely small "Service" style with medallions, I think.

Yes it will still shoot proper 38 S&W and that's what I would use for best results. It is more costly and can be hard to find which is why so many were reamed in the first place. I load my own 38 S&W ammo for economy.

The 38 Special cases rarely split on the first firing in a reamed chamber. It's when the cases are reloaded several times that this becomes a problem.

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give sarco a looksee


I picked these up from them a few years back.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

I got this .38SW conversion to .38 special back in 2017. S/N 975939. It shipped 4/42.


website upload foto


then I put some old Victory stocks on it

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

Now it shoots English walnuts out of trees real good.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

I have had accuracy problems in the past with converted WWII 38 S&W guns. Split cases yes, but also poor accuracy. The bullet that was used in the original 38 S&W military guns was .361", while the bullet diameter in a 38 Special is .357". I have had guns that key-holed due to the bullet not catching the rifling, but mostly just mediocre accuracy. Buy a box of 38 S&W and compare those with 38 Special to see if there is a difference in accuracy with your revolver.

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Gary
SWCA 2515

As I said earlier in post's #2 and #3 those cases were deformed by shooting .38 specials in a converted .38SW with a reamed out cylinder and a .38 special barrel (4"). The casings expanded and needed to be knocked out with a cleaning rod as the extractor would not eject them.


When I shot a .38SW through the .38 special barrel it would shave off lead.


This is a range day with the .38SW rounds.








This was 12 rounds of .38SW at 7 yards.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

Your gun would have originally had the wartime smooth walnut stocks of the Victory model. They can be had relatively cheaply both as originals in just about any condition, or as reproductions.

However, they are not the most comfortable to shoot, and since your gun has had its barrel shortened and been refinished in blue, I would not worry overmuch about authenticity; post-war magna stocks of any vintage look and feel better; any K-frame square butt style fits.

Thanks for all the answers. Were all these pre victory guns equipped with 6 inch barrels and parkarized? My barrel looks like (measures) a factory 4 inch and the blue is very good for its age.

The vast majority of BSRs shipped with 5" barrels. Some very early ones may have other barrel lengths. Aside from a few snubbies, the .38 Special Victories will have 4" barrels.

It may be a gun-specific issue, but I have found that .357-.358 lead bullets shoot about as well as .360-.361 bullets in my .38 S&W-chambered revolvers. For a long time, that's all I used. I have a 1960s H&R "Defender" top break (4" barrel) in .38 S&W that will group on paper at 25 yards with .357 bullets as well as my K-38. One of my favorite fun guns.

The .38/200 British Service Revolvers were 4", 5" and 6" barreled. About 110,000 were sold to the British beginning at around s/n 680,000. The s/n range continued in a range of c. 700,000 to 1,000,000. After that the "V" serial number began.


This one is a British Service Victory s/n V450985. It shipped 11/43.


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Mike
S&WCA #3065

As the others said, finishes and barrel lengths changed over time.

However, we can say with certainty that at the time of your serial in spring of 1942, British Service models were only produced with a 5” barrel and brush blue (not polished) finish.

The position of the caliber marking on your gun’s barrel, with the 38 approximately over the ejector rod knob, also corresponds to the 5” barrel position; it’s further back on an original 4” barrel.

I have a very early one pictured here still all original with grips numbered to gun. This gun serial starts 731 so it was probably made in the late 30's and has a comercial finish, grips, with 6 inch barrel. Just for comparison to Targets Guy with later made pre victory BSR.

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That's a good bet. This one shipped 3/39. s/n 6756xx.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

I am reasonably certain that a 730-range serial puts your gun firmly into late 1940 or early 1941.

We show .38 M&P’s starting in the mid-680-range shipping in 1940. As a data point, in my records I show a South Africa-shipped pre-Victory 707445 that shipped in September 1940,

I don't have a 730xxx in my data base. I show a 720xxx that shipped 12/40 to Cape Town. A 725xxx that shipped 1/41 and a 740xxx that shipped 2/41 (it has Canadian markings).

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

anyone have a ball park figure on the value of my pre victory?

Neighborhood of $325.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

Why doesn't my revolver have a lanyard ring?

Does it have a hole in the bottom of the grip frame?


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Mike
S&WCA #3065

" My barrel looks like (measures) a factory 4 inch and the blue is very good for its age. "

Refinished , perhaps? Looks like the logo is faded. Are the hammer and trigger blued? Hard to tell in the pictures.

Unfortunately the photo you posted of what appears to be the butt serial is too cropped to tell, but it looks like the serial is displaced for the centered swivel hole. Can you post another picture of the entire length of the butt? A gun in the 934-range coming from the factory without swivel is pretty much not a thing.