I am looking for information on a pistol I want to sell.
4 inch barrel, 4 screw, S/N V689712.

Cylinder S/N matches and has P and V stamped as well.

Thank you in advance!

The pistol grips are plastic.

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Welcome to the forum.What you have is a WW2 Military and Police chambered in 38 S&W it was British Victory model lend lease. It has been refinished, and has likely had the barrel cut, also may have been modified to shoot 38 spl if one fully chambers it has been converted. Grips are replacements as well Depending on location $350 might be tops

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Randy

Nice looking S&W.... Welcome to the forum from Pennsylvania!

I will be very frank about that revolver. If the barrel is stamped .38 S&W (not .38 S&W Special), then it is a British Service Revolver (BSR) which has been refinished and the barrel shortened from its original 5" length. I would also bet that the cylinder has been rechambered to accept .38 Special cartridges. Its SN dates its shipment to about September-October 1944. It has no collector value whatsoever, and any halfway knowledgeable collector would not want it, unless maybe as a gift or for some parts. $350 would be a very optimistic price to anyone who knows what it is. Dealers and gun show traders love to peddle these to suckers who don't know any better, and they usually have a line of convincing BS they go through when they find one. This is what an unmodified BSR originally looked like when it left S&W:

The Brits bought these in four, five, and six inch barrels, but only in five-inch after April, 1942.

In all, over 568,000 were supplied, and many more for US use in .38 Special.

What gives away that it was a BSR? I'm not he only member who can not read the cartridge name on the barrel. Whether British or U.S. most of the military stamps would be on the left side which he does not show. The polishing and bluing is too good for 1944 but that would be equally true of both a BSR and an M&P made for Uncle Sam. I'm stumped.

If it has been rechambered to .38 Special, you might find some bullet tumbling/accuracy issues when using .358 loaded ammunition.

I handload for my .38 S&W Victory using 148 gn .358 lead or plated HBWC which expands to fill the .360/362 bore of the .38 S&W calibre. 148 HBWC factory .38 Special loads will work too if you don't handload.

Oh, and as I was instructed when I joined this forum, that four screw is really a 5 screw, counting the cylinder yolk screw as well.

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View from down under

I agree with the other members that it's a modified BSR but find it odd it lacks the proliferation of British proof marks most often found on these revolvers.

The gun is a 5-screw, not 4-screw frame. Remove the grips and you'll find 4 screws on the sideplate, and the 5th one in front of the trigger guard.

Mike Priwer

Welcome to the forum. You have already received good information and these good people are an outstanding source of technical advise and great stories and discussions. Your money was well spent.

It may be the quality of your photo program. Upon enlargement of the third photo, the “38 S&W CTG” without the “SPECIAL” is clearly readable.

And with that, it can only have been a 5” Lend-Lease BSR at that serial.

The photos only show the right side, while the Birmingham marks were almost always on the left side of barrel and frame, except for the stamps around the cylinder, one of which should indeed show somewhere.

But not all these were surplused out through commercial dealers in Britain, so missing post-war proofs is less common, but not particularly remarkable.