Would S&W have had any leftover SV Victories in military configuration remaining after all military contracts were filled? If so, would they have removed the U.S. Property markings prior to disposing them as "surplus". My reason for asking is that I have seen two late military SV Victories which have had the U.S. Property markings apparently removed and the removal job looks a lot better than typical amateur gunsmithing. Any thoughts? Thanks, Ron

Some Victory Models were sent overseas for foreign military or police (postwar West German among others), but I have not seen any with the property stamp removed. May have been done by an enthusiastic worried "unofficial" owner with a milling machine...

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

There probably weren't any in military configuration left after the orders stopped. S&W made them to fill government orders, and more than likely filled and shipped that last order in its entirety to the Government. There were some unfinished SV parts left over which had not been assembled or property stamped, and those were assembled and finished as civilian weapons and sold on the commercial market. I have never seen a number for the civilian SV sales, but as a wild guess, something less than 20,000, and possibly far fewer than that. They were all shipped in the early few months of 1946.

Are you positive that the markings were ever there and then removed? I'm asking since you comment on the "quality" of the removal. The original topstrap finish was rather inelegant, uneven and generally with obvious toolmarks underneath, and unmarked DSC guns have been mistaken for "sanitized" guns before.

It would be interesting to know how many DSC revolvers were being shipped that late in the war, if any. By early 1945, virtually everyone knew that both Japan and Germany had been defeated, as the infrastructure of the Axis had been about 90% destroyed, and there was no way the fighting could continue much longer. Accordingly many defense production contracts were being terminated and defense plants were being shut down, making the need for more DSC revolvers to be minimal at best. I'd think an SV-series DSC revolver would be fairly rare, but I have no idea of how rare. We actually don't know that much about the details of the SV-series revolver production.

Interesting question. I do have the attached sample (no idea whose it is, I just have a habit of snipping interesting items and photos as I come across them) of a letter for a DSC contract gun (although just a V-prefix) from as late as April 1945, so the operation was definitely still active.

Attached Images

letter2.JPG (67.6 KB, 23 views)

Of course, that one has a V-prefix, not SV. Pate's book mentions that one military finish SV without a property stamping is known (possibly DSC), and also there was an 11/1944 contract for about 36,000 revolvers, "at least part of which" was to go to DSC. If so, there may be some unknown number of DSC SV revolvers. Maybe anyone having a lettered DSC SV could post about it.