So...I didn't know I wanted these Victory Models until I stumbled on my first, an Australian Lend Lease for $300 a month ago.

There is an Austrian "Östereich Polizei" marked Victory model. All matching NO import mark, just the "Made in the U.S.A." It also has has a name engraved on the butt which I love. I'm just struggling with the price. It is 38 S&W not 38 Special.

SN V 512985. Can anyone help me date it and any other helpful insight?

If I pay cash, $500 OTD. If I do layaway (which they are reluctant to do and require $300 down) $600. Clearly cash is better.

Having just found my Aussie for half the price of this one, is this price still a good deal and an indication that I got a REALLY good deal on the Aussie or is this price a bit high?

I don't NEED it but it is somewhat unique and it is non-import marked. I like "occupation" guns too.

Anyway, any help is appreciated.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I can tell you one thing for sure: I-CHARLEY was not an Austrian policeman

The Victory is originally from around February 1944 (+/-).

It appears all original, and the absence of importer markings is certainly a plus, as is the original caliber and lack of post-war proofs.

On the other hand, for a $500 gun there is a LOT of pretty advanced corrosion in the finish. Maybe the flash pictures make it look worse than it is, but this isn’t such a rare gun that I’d find that acceptable. For $300 I’d buy that, but the prices you’re talking about, no. And I’d be a niche collector who actually has a special interest in these.

Is that rust on the yoke, cylinder, and frame around the yoke?

If so I wouldn't be a player for $500.

I wasn't aware any of the British Victory Models went to the south, but you never know.

I'm sure Absalom will be along soon to offer some insight.

__________________
Wrangler of stray Chiefs
Bob

Bob’s post reminded me that I should have mentioned the basics about the Austrian revolvers:

When the Four Powers decided to allow an armed Austrian police again starting in spring 1946, they supplied British Service models from Allied stocks. Cold War tensions were somewhat less than in Germany, cooperation a bit better, and police weaponry was standardized across all of Austria. These remained in service until Austria’s end of occupation, when the FN Hi-Power and Manurhin PP replaced them.

In contrast to German-marked police BSRs, which were only loaned and so returned to the British, and thus are frequently found British-proofed, the Austrians had paid for theirs, and disposed of them directly.

Way overpriced, IMO. You can find BSRs in much better condition for less than they are asking...again, IMO.

__________________
Guy
SWHF #474 SWCA LM#2629

Thank you all very much. There is something about these old beauties that trip my trigger. As I've become more educated I've learned to not jump at everything I see...but it is hard. Sometimes I just need you good folks to confirm my gut feeling.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

That's really a shame - I find that one to be quite appealing given the Austrian provenance , and despite the corrosion.
However , I agree that the price is unrealistic.

I do believe the flash makes the gun look worse than it does in person.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

I have always wanted to ask someone—after the war ended but before they allowed the locals to police their own communities per the above, were the Allies afraid rearming the locals with 6 shot .38’s might lead to the fighting resuming? Maybe it was simply the principal of giving guns to one’s former enemies?

__________________
Possum—The other white meat!

My grandfather was occupation army in Austria, along with my grandmother and kids. He died during Korea, but my grandmother spoke frequently about living in Austria 1946-48.

Her take was the war was over. There wasn’t fighting left in many folks. The Austrians were starving - literally. She spoke carefully about the responsibility she felt about having a maid, as she knew she was supporting a large Austrian extended family.

She also said some Americans made a killing in the black market if they wanted to, as everything was rationed and Americans were the only people with anything. She never admitted she participated but said they had friends who returned to the US quite wealthy. I do know she helped her maid emigrate to the US in the 1950s.

When I would inquire down the path of security concern, she was was very pish-posh. No Werewolves in western Austria I gathered... Except my Grandfather gave her a Walther .25 for around the house. Draw your own conclusions... He had fought the Japanese in the jungles.

As for the geopolitics, my reading is the Americans had “liberated” much of Austria and Patton pushed to Pilsen, CZ. That meant Austria was spared the anger of the other parties initially - particularly the violence of the Russians and French. The four parties jointly administered Austria as being less culpable than Germany proper, but still part of the Greater Reich. That may have made rearming police a bit more palatable, plus the Brits always seemed a bit less idealistic and more realistic than than the US.

Feel free to correct me if off base.

I think Austria was strategically just less important. Despite ending up divided into four occupation zones until the treaty restoring sovereignty in 1955, and facing some quite dramatic internal political conflicts between Communist and Western sympathizers, it never escalated to an actual split. Austria retained one central government in Vienna all through that time, and there was no effort to establish a Communist “East Austria”.

Initially, there were some fears of “Werwolf” type resistance, but that quickly turned out to be a phantom. As for the arming of the police, that started in Austria about the same time as in Germany, in spring 1946, after several months of unarmed police had proven unequal to facing black marketeers, poachers, gangs of displaced people foraging for survival, and such. Allied troops and MPs were never up to that task just by lack of numbers.

The Allied rule about not allowing German-made guns was probably rooted in a somewhat unrealistic early idea of permanently making a German arms industry unnecessary. The S&W revolvers were just the result of availability.