Victory model pawn shop rescue! DOB?

P

policerevolvercollector

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I found this in a pawn shop today. It has no U.S. or British property marks & is in .38 spl. w/ a 4" bbl. It does have "flaming bomb" on the butt w/ the serial # (V-473xxx)
& the "p" on the frame just forward of the hammer. What is the DOB for this one?

It has had the original finish removed leaving it 'in the white".:





It is excellent mechanically & should be good shooter! Negotiated down to $200 plus tax.

Maybe it'll letter as a wartime PD gun??

Best,
Charles
 
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It does appear to be a Defense Supply Comm. gun rather than a military version, however S&W logo stamping on the side plate is very unusual for WW2 era production of a Victory Model., so the side plate may be a replacement. Close ser. #s were shipped in Dec 1943. The gun has shooter value only. Ed.
 
It would have likely shipped in late 1943, November or so. With no topstrap marking (although that could have been polished off with the finish; the stamping wasn't THAT deep), it would have likely been a DSC contract gun and could well have shipped to a police department, although any other war-essential non-military destination is also possible. Only a letter would tell, in the absence of other markings.

PS: Ed, what's unusual about the sideplate stamp?
 
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If it letters to a PD or defense contractor etc., I'll be happy. :)
Outward appearance/condition is not important to me as long as the gun has a story to tell......

Worst case is that I have a good shooter with a nice smooth trigger from an interesting period in history.

Best,
Charles
 
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To confirm other dating estimates, the closest SNs to yours I have listed are V4749xx and V4720xx, both shipping in 12/43. It's barely possible it might letter to someplace other than a defense contractor or a police department.

It would be a great candidate for a DIY phosphate refinish.
 
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Even as just a shooter, my OCD would make me put an original type of finish on her.
 
The side plate could be a replacement. I have one that was replaced with the new style hammer block. I believe a lot of the victories were changed to the new style and the side plates had to be changed.
 
tlay said:
The side plate could be a replacement. I have one that was replaced with the new style hammer block. I believe a lot of the victories were changed to the new style and the side plates had to be changed.
Click to expand...

Ed (opoefc) apparently didn't come back to the thread and didn't notice my question why he had concerns about the side plate logo.

Comparing it to a minty original Victory, it looks to me just like I'd expect a Victory side plate logo to look that had the finish buffed off.
 

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Thanks for the comparison! I had looked at my other Victory models(Bavarian Municipal Police & Osterreich Polizei) as well as several others in the database and didn't see any difference. Now,both of my others are 5" .38/200 guns. I don't know if the 4" .38 Spls used a different sideplate...wouldn't think so.
 
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policerevolvercollector said:
...... Now,both of my others are 5" .38/200 guns. I don't know if the 4" .38 Spls used a different sideplate...wouldn't think so.
Click to expand...

Nope. I've got both; the frames are identical, and so is the side plate and all markings (excluding later service and post-war stampings, of course). And DWalt's dating of your serial in December 1943 pretty much eliminates it as a candidate for the hammer block retrofit issue suggested by tlay; from all we know, that only happened to relatively few early Navy guns.
 
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