Originally Posted by tenntex32

Sounds like the old gal got parted out so that others may survive, somewhat honorably like an organ donor.

I've never passed up too many functional 4" 38spl Victory models if priced cheaply enough...………..especially U.S. Navy marked models.

I only have one deactivated example, s/n V617176. I gave $15 for it a few years ago at a local gunshow. Supposedly the seller's father purchased it when it was sold/surplused as scrap somewhere up north in the Great Lakes region. It's a sad thing that more of her parts could not have been salvaged.

I have read where S&W supposedly made a deal with the U.S. Government that the (functional) Victory revolvers were not to be surplused back onto the U.S. commercial market as part of the contract for them. This was due to the glut of surplus M1917 revolvers causing such a disruption in their commercial sales, and S&W not wanting a similar situation with regards to the Victory. I guess a few Victory models did get destroyed instead of being sold intact, and I can't help but wonder if this is the reason we see them deactivated in this manner by the military.

Maybe someone with more knowledge of the actual contract verbage and military protocol will expound further?

Dale