The first one i ever had, a nice DSC gun, i sold to my brother. I must have had a moment of pity for the poor guy and wanted to cheer him up or something.
Well, MANY TIMES, have i wished to have it back, but no amount of hinting or crying or whining or tantruming would induce him to sell it back to me.
And so, for many long years, i despaired of ever again enjoying that indescribable joy of knowing that safely at home, the apogee of all things Smith and Wesson rested, quietly awaiting the next round of target practice.
That long wait, like crossing a desert without a sip of water, FINALLY ENDED!
BEHOLD!

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Nice. Looks like a standard military-shipped US Victory, all original. Probability says it went to the Navy.

Do the stocks number to the gun? Seem to show a bit of shrinkage. You do want to gently take care of that incipient rust on the top strap

Oh yes it is all cleaned up now. The grips do not match; they are from a 350k gun and this one is 268xxx. The metal bits are all matching. They are wonderful guns.

Righteous Victory.
Glad you got the monkey off your back , I bet that's a good feeling.

Cleaned up a bit. I had a screw up where i managed to install the rebound slide upside down! Not good! Nothing seems to be damaged luckily. These are really special guns, and still very useful.

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Can I ask how you cleaned it? Whatever the finish may be (I understand it is not exactly parkerization), it seems very thin compared to other finishes, and I assume it would not take much to damage it.

When I started as a rookie LEO in 1969 I didn't own a handgun. We were required to buy our own. The Chief said he would lend me one until I could buy my own. We went to the gun locker and he pulled out a big metal ammo can that had over 20 milsurp Victory revolvers in it. He told me to pick one out. I went through the can and found a U.S. Navy marked Victory. I borrowed that one and wore it for a month or two until I could buy my own model 10. I removed the lanyard ring and smooth grips and replaced the grips with some fake ivories. I turned the Victory after I got my own revolver. After the Chief retired that can of Victory revolvers and some other stuff disappeared. I think he gave them to friends. I've got a couple of Victory revolvers but I wish I could have gotten that Navy marked one.

I removed the grips and dropped it into an ammo can full of acetone and transmission fluid for 24 hrs then disassembled it and wiped it all down. Fwiw the finish seems to be pretty tough, having withstood my ham fisted monkeying around without any trouble. These are good tough guns made to fight with and really soak up the bumps and bruises.

I looked at one in comparable shape at a gun show today, only it was one that went across the pond and back. 38 S&W with British proofs and (supposedly) an arsenal refinish.
Seller wanted $500 for it IIRC. Too rich for my blood. Though I considered it.

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I believe they used 4 different finishes on these, so the durability of each might not be the same. The early guns were the regular Smith commercial polished blue as i understand it. Then there were two types of sandblast blue? And the late guns had a distinct tough green parkerizing. My brothers gun is one of those.

Just to be clear (and because I honestly am not familiar with this finish at all), that was before the pics in the first post, and did not affect the finish?

I used that method only once, and it was to revive a blued K-frame (it had been used as a truck gun on a snow plow, LOL).

The second set of pics in post #5 are taken post dunking.

There is a quarter page note on those finishes in the SCSW 4th ed book, pg 166.

Quote: ... the parkerizing type (phosphate) finish was "not officially used except possibly for a very brief period of five days"..."rather fragile and thin" ... "appears to deteriorate more rapidly even with only minor handling".

Finishes listed are:

• Bright commercial blue through about 1941
• Sandblast blue, brief period, beginning March 3 1942
• Sandblast "Black Magic" through the wars end

Hmm perhaps my brothers revolver is not as i remember it. Seem to recall it as a distinctly green Garand-esque phosphate. But it has been a number of years since ive seen it. Perhaps he will provide a pic or three as time allows.
I've never seen a Victory with a fragile finish or even lacking a great deal of finish. Of course they remained in military service for many years after the war and may have been re finished multiple times. Their finish is certainly much more robust than say, a Colt "Black Army" 1911, which are usually found with just traces of the original finish remaining.

There are plenty of Victorys with post-war parkerizing refinishes, and I have indeed seen some with a greenish tint, but none of these are official, all are commercial or private aftermarket.

There were also no documented “arsenal refinishes” after the 1945 Navy refurbishment contract for the Navy, which included the original sandblast Black Magic, not parkerizing.

The only refinish that collectors tend to accept as “official” is the phosphate-type finish applied to Australian-service pre-Victory and Victory revolvers at Lithgow SAF in the 1950s. This involved the 5” .38 S&W British model only.

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Beautiful day here in glorious east central NC. Sunny and 60 degrees. Perfect time to slip out to the back 40 and put a few rounds thru the Victory .38 spcl.
As you can see, she aquitted herself quite well on the Tac-Strike 1/4 steel at 12 yards. A delight to fire in single and double action. Not showing my double action effort lol!

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Absalom: Are those the original grips on the one you posted above? Beautiful revolver, finish wise, just wondering about the grips, being checkered.

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