I stopped in to a couple of my favorite LGS today and saw something interesting. It appeared to be a Victory .38 Special 5". The barrel was numbered to the frame and everything seemed kosher. I was wondering if this is very rare, slightly rare or likely fake or altered?

Assuming I read it right the serial # was V183782. Other than the grips being very dried out it was not in bad shape. The guy behind the counter who I know says he knows the source of the gun and the guy is not trying to pass a fake on them, though that doesn't mean somebody didn't pass a fake to him.

Any thoughts?

Nothing rare about it, in fact most of the nearly one million Victories made were like it, principally for the British during WWII. It is chambered in .38 S&W, not .38 Special, and ammunition is not the easiest to find, and will be expensive. Those in .38 Special have 4” barrels. With the 5” barrel intact, it has probably not been altered as many were. If you are looking for something to shoot, it is probably not the one for you unless you are a reloader. Or want to get started in collecting Victories.

Not .38 S&W. I own an Aussie one of those. Plus a 4" U. S. Victory in .38 Special. I am planning on drifting back in a couple of days with a .38 special round and a .38 S&W round and try the cylinder, but it did NOT appear to be reamed out.

With a 5” barrel, and if a .38 Special cartridge fits, it has been altered. Another possibility is that the cylinder has been swapped. Does the SN on the rear face of the cylinder match?

It may have had sleeves to hide the reaming.


reaming



sleeved

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

Wasn't able to clearly read the number on the cylinder. I also plan to take a light and a glass. I take it the general opinion is that it is VERY UNLIKELY to be a factory original 5" .38 Special.

I would say it is probably not original. Sleeving a .38 S&W cylinder to .38 Special, while possible, would be unusual. A swapped .38 Special cylinder would have mismatched SNs on the rear face of the cylinder, and also on the back side of the extractor star. A lengthened .38 S&W chamber should be visually evident, and also would accept both .38 S&W and .38 Special cartridges. One other question. Does the extractor rod have a knurled tip or the barrel-shaped knurled knob?

Did the barrel actually say .38 S&W Spl. or .38 S&W?

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Kevin in Oregon

I own a BSR that Parker Hale converted from a .38SW to .38 special. All s/n's match. The cylinder will not accept a .38SW. The barrel was shortened and a new front site was built. Sleeves were used.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

My 3 1/2" Cogswell & Harrison converted Victory is very similar including the front sight......Ben

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Cogito, ergo BOOM!...

I have one of those as well. The front site is UGLY but the gun shoots pretty good. They reamed the cylinder on mine but did a fine job as the brass cases barely swell.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

and a better shot of the gun itself

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

The two companies mentioned above did good 38 special conversions. Several other outfits, not so much, and many should remain in the junk pile of history.

I had one converted by Cogswell & Harrison, shortened barrel with new sight installed, along with new grips. It shot o.k., but the brass was normally swelled and cracked. I sold it.

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Kevin in Oregon

I have personally never seen one of the British-done BSR conversions (like C&H) which used sleeved chambers to convert .38 S&W to .38 Special. But they are said to exist so maybe they do. Most BSR chamber conversions were done in the USA in numerous small shops and as far as I know, all of those just bored the .38 S&W chamber out longer so a .38 Special round would fit.

There were some British-done .38 S&W to .22 RF BSR conversions made, and all of those did require sleeving of .38 chambers. But that is a completely different topic.

About three or four years ago, I ran across a 5" .38 Spl Victory model on I believe GB. It was in a pawn shop somewhere in FL. Can't remember now where it was, but I should have bought it, but just couldn't see the $1125 asking price for it at the time. There were several quality pics of the gun, showing overall excellent condition and the clear .38 S&W Special caliber marking on the right side of the 5" barrel, no British proofs or any other markings than what would be found on a normal Victory model. It was not U.S. Property marked, so I assumed it was some kind of DSC variation. By the way the number of the gun is V634602 and my database shows it shipped in June of 1944. Always hoped I'd run across another some day, now that I can afford it, but no such luck!

That would have been a nice one to have. I have one close to that s/n; V650093. It shipped Aug 1944. 5" barrel but a .38SW.





It has been refinished.

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Mike
S&WCA #3065

I wrote a few days ago about a 5" Victory that was being presented on the used-consignment shelf as a .38 Special. I went back today as promised with a good flashlight, a glass, and a .38 special case, a .38 S&W case and a couple of rags.

As one might expect it turned out to be just exactly what everybody said it almost certainly was, a basic but nicely original British Service Revolver in .38 S&W. I can't imagine why the seller thinks somebody is going to pay $800 for that thing unless he can prove Winston Churchill owned it, but ..........

Thanks for all the earlier input guys.

Sounds like a bargain to me. A close by LGS has a Victory heavily, and not nicely, nickeled including the hammer and trigger. I didn't bother to check to see if it had been modified to accept 38 Special or to get the SN; the price tag of $995 was all I needed to see. Of course there was a holster included.

Jeff
SWCA #1457

Dayum, Jeff! I'm disappointed you weren't all over that prize...as cheap as it is.

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Guy
SWHF #474 SWCA LM#2629

I sure would like to see some pictures of that $600 holster!

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Dave Brown
SWCA #3279

Ok, promised a picture if I got back there. And looks like I exaggerated on the price, only asking $949.99 not $995. Sorry, not a very good look at the $600 holster.

Jeff
SWCA #1457