Just got a US Navy marked victory. Serial number is V25xxx. Can someone give me an approximate date of shipment. Fairly low number for a Victory, I assume. Thanks!

I looked back over the list I have of known Navy-marked Victories, and that one (V25xxx) is the lowest I am aware of. The next lowest I have listed is in the neighborhood of 34000. The highest I am aware of is about 245000 (but I have read of slightly higher SNs). Does anyone know what the actual lowest and highest SNs of Navy-marked Victories exist?

Presuming you mean those with the "U.S. NAVY" marking on the top strap and not those with the "PROPERTY OF U.S. NAVY" marked below the cylinder release, the confirmed ranges appearing in the database are:
Lowest = V361
Highest = V267571.

Steve

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CHL/NRA Instructor/RSO/Referee

Given that, I believe that there are some Victories with SN below V267571, having "U. S. Property" topstrap markings (not U. S. Navy) that letter as having been shipped to the Navy. Is such an overlap known to exist? I guess anything is possible, but has it been documented in the database?

I just picked up V30517 and it is Navy marked.

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Ash

My Victory model (not U.S. Navy marked) was delivered and verified by letter to the U.S. Navy. Serial number V26733x.

According to Charles Pate's book on WWII handguns, most of the US Victory revolvers went to the Navy. The ones marked "US NAVY" on the top strap (65,000 revolvers) were ordered directly by the Navy in early 1942. After June of 1942, the US Army took over all weapon ordering and Victory revolvers after that time were marked "UNITED STATES PROPERTY" or "US PROPERTY GHD". Most of these "Army Contract" revolvers (over 264,000) were also issued to the Navy.

Hope this helps.

Steve

As I said, there appears to be some overlap in SNs of Navy vs. non-Navy markings for Navy-lettered guns. I guess that would be something to research.

V30517 would likely have shipped around July 1942.

Allegedly, and I don't know all the facts by any means, there were about 20,000 Navy-marked Victories made under a later Army contact, making the total number of Navy-marked Victories about 85,000 (65,000 under Navy contract and 20,000 more under an Army contract). I'd like to know more about what actually happened if someone knows the true story.

Just for your records Sir. I have a US Navy marked model with serial number 88XX.

Best,
Rob

I assume you mean V88xx. There are known Navy-marked Victories with even lower serial numbers, and in fact even some pre-Victories. Yours would date from about June 1942, plus or minus.

Yes, V88XX. Thank you for the information.

Best,
Rob