S&W pre Victory question

[Targets Guy]

Thank you very much.

Do both have smooth grips?

I'm thinking replacing mine with smooth ones, if I see any at gun shows or online, but the ones on revolver now just feel right. Most likely, after I take it to the range, I'll decide if I'll get different ones.

Neither one did but I put them on both revolvers. They had magna's on them. Sarco has old Victory grips for sale; or they used to.

 

[Targets Guy]

This is the '41 shipped revolver with Victory stocks on.

 

[Targets Guy]

I have since replaced the 4" barrel with an original Victory 5" barrel that I had chromed. It is now back to how it was shipped; a 5" barrel and a .38SW vice .38 special. It was not chromed originally; it was a blue finish.

 

[gordonrick]

Mike - A 1941 pre-Victory in 800K serial number range almost certainly would have had the checkered walnut stocks with silver medallion (but never say never!). I believe they changed over to the smooth stocks in early 1942 in the low 900K serial number range. Sorry I don't have any pics of that style handy.

Rick

 

[mtu164]

Numrich has original grips for the victory. Just bought a set for mine about a week or two ago. I think they were 19.95 plus shipping. Well used but not abused.

 

[JP@AK]

You are correct. Serial number on grips does not match serial number on revolver.

The sharp shoulder Magna stocks with the checkering pattern shown in your picture were shipping from March, 1946, until early 1953. Given a five digit number starting with 81 (81152, if I'm reading it correctly), I would postulate that this pair shipped on a K target gun in late 1949 or early 1950. Hence, they most likely were fitted to either a K-22 Masterpiece or a K-38 Masterpiece. They could have been on a K-32, but the odds are much lower.

C81152 is also possible, if so, they would probably have left the factory earlier in 1949.

Until the advent of the PC Magna stocks in the mid-1950s that were used on the fixed sight revolvers, all postwar K frames that shipped with Magna stocks, used the same style. And, until early 1953, they had the sharp shoulders.

Now I've buried you in stock trivia . . .

 

[tenntex32]

I've read where the transition to plain uncheckered walnut grips on the pre-Victories happened in the early 900,000 s/n range. What is the earliest known s/n having lettered with plain uncheckered walnut grips?

Dale

 

[Absalom]

The contemporary documentation we have puts the change from checkered medallion stocks to smooth walnut at the beginning of Jan. 1942 around 880,000 (A.R. Williams notes).

But as with everything, available parts were used up and there was overlap. There is also no guarantee that the factory paperwork and thus the info in the letters is necessarily correct on these peripherals; contradictions are not unheard of, as in the letter and gun in the link in post #11 above.

I have 910507 from 1/27/42 which has, and lettered with, smooth walnut.

 

[rakysk]

Borrowed from local library Standard catalog of Smith & Wesson (4th edition) by Jim Supica and Richard Nahas.
Here are couple pictures (parts) from the the section about
.38/200 British Service Revolver, also showing two types of grips.

Found online few websites to buy smooth ones, but not for checkered diamond ones. Are they less common?

 

[Absalom]

....
Found online few websites to buy smooth ones, but not for checkered diamond ones. Are they less common?

Yes. And more expensive. There were simply a lot more guns made with the smooth stocks during the war, so relatively more beaten-up guns that got parted out or were prettied up with refinishes and new aftermarket stocks; as a result many more genuine pairs of smooth stocks are out there. Plus, replicas of the smooth stocks are being made, cheap and easy compared to checkered medallion stocks.

 

[rakysk]

Yesterday I took revolver to the range.
I'm not a very good shooter, grouping were not close, but last 12 shots were not bad, so here is the picture.

Also purchased set of smooth grips (serial number 910675). Revolver looks good.