Good info! My first handgun, after my Army enlistment, was one of the Brit Victory models in .38 S&W that was converted to .38 special by Cogswell & Harrison (IIRC) in England pror to import back into the states. Bbl. was cut back to just in front of the bbl. lug, new "fast draw" front sight fitted and re-chambered to .38 special. It shot GI white box M41 ammo (130 grain) just fine, tho the cases did swell at the base!