CUMULATIVE UPDATE TO 15 AUG 2020: The recent receipt of new information from the Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation allows a better understanding of how this gun (and two others like it) came to be produced. The original letter of authenticity from late 2012 said this gun had been shipped to Jack Reeve of Paris, TX on 14 Apr 1945 as part of a 100-unit order. Barrel lengths were not distinguished. New documents allow us to see that Jack Reeves (not Reeve) was the Police Chief of Paris at that time, and we may conclude from a letter exchange that Reeves, through the DSC, had requested only four .38 Special Victory revolvers with four-inch barrels and three .38 Special Victory revolvers with two-inch barrels. I invite readers to jump to Post 43 in this thread, where the new documents are presented.
Previous updates to the initial post in this thread have been deleted as the the new documents correct and extend prior conclusions and suggestions.
It's interesting to set this gun's shipment in a historical framework. Two days earlier (April 12, 1945) President Roosevelt had died in Warm Springs, Georgia. Adolph Hitler was in his third to last week as an underground resident of Berlin. And the War in the Pacific was less than four months away from coming to an abrupt end.
Some of my baseless speculations in the early parts of this thread have not been edited out. The documents take precedence in pointing to the proper understanding of this revolver.
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This came to me recently, and since these are not commonly seen I thought I would post a few pics.
V629214, shipped April 1945. It's a Defense Supplies Corporation gun, according to company historian Roy Jinks, which is consistent with the lack of US PROPERTY markings on the top strap. DSC guns were not considered to be government owned.
It does have have the flaming bomb (butt, to left of serial number) and P (top left rear frame, rear cylinder surface). Serial number is on butt, barrel and cylinder. (Addendum: Also on rear yoke face and underside of ejector star.)
Barrel markings are correct:
The MADE IN U.S.A. stamp has been painted white, or some other color that has now faded to near white.
The question arises later in this thread which hammer block safety is used in this revolver. This photo shows the non-stepped profile connected with guns manufactured before the mandated safety redesign of January 1945.
This gun is not without ambiguities. I think it is in original configuration, but there are four inch Victory revolvers that were known to have been rebarreled as two-inchers. This could be one of those arsenal rebuilds/conversions.
The stocks are not original. They are numbered (clumsily, even erratically) 584402. They don't fit the frame very well, as can be seen in the photos.
The lanyard loop is perhaps not original. It is restrained by a loop of wire rather than a proper pin, and it is (I believe) incorrectly finished. Weren't these also parked on the Victory revolvers?
The gun may have been re-parkerized as the trigger return spring stud has been polished flat to the frame. But the frame and barrel markings were not aggressively polished and still look strong.
Screw slot damage shows that the sideplate has been off. I won't look inside the gun until I get some better finger control going in my right hand, but I will add photos in the future if there is anything there worth looking at.
The gun seems to have been fired little (if at all) since it received its current finish; there are no powder rings on the front of the cylinder and no cartridge slap marks on the recoil shield.
I will try to add a little history about two-inch Victory revolvers in a subsequent post, maybe tomorrow.
Previous updates to the initial post in this thread have been deleted as the the new documents correct and extend prior conclusions and suggestions.
It's interesting to set this gun's shipment in a historical framework. Two days earlier (April 12, 1945) President Roosevelt had died in Warm Springs, Georgia. Adolph Hitler was in his third to last week as an underground resident of Berlin. And the War in the Pacific was less than four months away from coming to an abrupt end.
Some of my baseless speculations in the early parts of this thread have not been edited out. The documents take precedence in pointing to the proper understanding of this revolver.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
This came to me recently, and since these are not commonly seen I thought I would post a few pics.
V629214, shipped April 1945. It's a Defense Supplies Corporation gun, according to company historian Roy Jinks, which is consistent with the lack of US PROPERTY markings on the top strap. DSC guns were not considered to be government owned.
It does have have the flaming bomb (butt, to left of serial number) and P (top left rear frame, rear cylinder surface). Serial number is on butt, barrel and cylinder. (Addendum: Also on rear yoke face and underside of ejector star.)
Barrel markings are correct:
The MADE IN U.S.A. stamp has been painted white, or some other color that has now faded to near white.
The question arises later in this thread which hammer block safety is used in this revolver. This photo shows the non-stepped profile connected with guns manufactured before the mandated safety redesign of January 1945.
This gun is not without ambiguities. I think it is in original configuration, but there are four inch Victory revolvers that were known to have been rebarreled as two-inchers. This could be one of those arsenal rebuilds/conversions.
The stocks are not original. They are numbered (clumsily, even erratically) 584402. They don't fit the frame very well, as can be seen in the photos.
The lanyard loop is perhaps not original. It is restrained by a loop of wire rather than a proper pin, and it is (I believe) incorrectly finished. Weren't these also parked on the Victory revolvers?
The gun may have been re-parkerized as the trigger return spring stud has been polished flat to the frame. But the frame and barrel markings were not aggressively polished and still look strong.
Screw slot damage shows that the sideplate has been off. I won't look inside the gun until I get some better finger control going in my right hand, but I will add photos in the future if there is anything there worth looking at.
The gun seems to have been fired little (if at all) since it received its current finish; there are no powder rings on the front of the cylinder and no cartridge slap marks on the recoil shield.
I will try to add a little history about two-inch Victory revolvers in a subsequent post, maybe tomorrow.
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(He made my Mom come in and 'take possession')
