I found this beauty in a pawn shop and "couldn't leave it there." It is starting the Nickle branch of my collection I read the ID guidelines so here goes: Hand Ejector, SN V422617, looking in the chambers it appears to have started life as 38 S&W but was then reamed to 38 Spcl, 2-3/8" bbl, fixed sights, 5 screw, yes strain screw, ghost of lanyard ring post on butt. SN matches on butt, cylinder and bbl underside. Lots of extra stampings: proof marks on each chamber, "England" on cyclinder, crowns on bbl and chambers, crossed swords? on bbl, "M" on the frame under the crane. So, can we know anything of its history for sure? Nickle original, or after it came home? or will I always have to imagine its history? thanks for any and all knowledge sharing!

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It was a British Service Revolver with a 5" barrel and chambered for the .38 S&W cartridge. Shipped to the UK in 1943.

The barrel was cut off, the cylinder was reamed, the swivel hole was plugged, the nickel finish was added and then early postwar Magna stocks were put on it. All of that was done after the war by someone other than Smith & Wesson.

The best thing about it is the stocks. Those are from the period 1946 until late 1952.

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Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

I've had a couple of these in my checkered accumulating habit...Mine were beautifully done, I'm assuming overseas before importation...I can't tell from the pics whether your trigger and hammer are still case-hardened, or whether they got nickeled...Most I have seen are like yours in which the front locking lug was removed in an effort to make the barrel as short as possible...Therefore it won't be as strong over a long period of regular use, but still these make dandy carry guns...

Jack's comment about the Magnas referred to their value on another, more collectible post-war gun...Overall, I'd recommend saving the Magnas for another gun that can really use them, choose an aftermarket pair that fit your hand well and start carrying it...My favorite carry piece right now is similar to yours, but began life in 1927 as a 6" M&P Target model......Ben

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Cogito, ergo BOOM!...

Welcome! This series of modifications was very common when these entered the commercial gun market in the mid-1950s. Plastic stag-like stocks rounded out the look.

The proof marks in photo 3 were generally stamped on the left barrel and were mandated by the British civilian gun laws at that time and not done by the military.

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Alan
SWCA LM 2023, SWHF 220

These revolvers were imported from the UK literally by the boatload in the 1950s-60s. The modifications mentioned were mostly done in the USA by numerous small machine shops, the intent being to make them more marketable to American buyers. At the time, these were sold by mail order at prices in the $30-40 range.They have no collector value as they are nothing close to being in original condition. I hope you got it cheap as the value of these is mainly as utility shooters and they are not held in high regard even for that purpose.

All of those markings you observed were done under British law when they were released from military service for public sale. They are proof markings and have no other significance.

A similar chopped BSR was allegedly used by Lee Harvey Oswald to kill Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit after the JFK assassination.

What isn't always mentioned with respect to the BSR conversions is that the .38 S&W case, bullet, chamber, and bore diameters are all slightly larger than the corresponding specifications for .38 Special. Not that you're likely to be target shooting with one of these, but accuracy is adversely affected (albeit slightly) and you may experience minor bulging of the .38 Special case. In today's world, many decades after WWII, with many millions of purpose built .38 Special revolvers having been manufactured, there are myriad better choices for EDC.

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SWCA #590
"Colligo ergo sum"

Strangely enough, for decades, the cut down BSR Victory Model that Oswald bought could not be identified where he acquired it. Finally, the advertisement that was in the Warren Commission report was located just a few years ago from the code on the magazine header and the cartoon on the rear of the order slip clipped from the magazine. A huge search was initiated a reward was offered.

The Victory revolver was not purchased out of any American Rifleman magazine, but from a April 1963 pulp magazine called "True Adventures". Oswald ordered it using the same alias "A. Heidell" from a place called Seaport Traders. It was marketed to the public as a "S&W Commando 2 inch barrel revolver for $29.95.

I have the 1963 American Rifle magazine that he got the Carcano from. I also have an actual Klein's Carcano as well with "Ordnance Optics" scope and "No. 2 Japan" side mount.

I have fired quite a number of .38 Special rounds through revolvers with the elongated .38 S&W chambers and have not experienced case splits. However, slight case expansion is noticeable. I knew that the LHO BSR came from Seaport Traders but have not heard the "True Adventures" ad story before. There was also another oddity about the Tippit shooting. It seems that the fired bullets did not match the cartridge cases, and that was never explained. I do not remember the full details and would have to go back and read the Warren Report. I also think that the recovered .38 bullets could not be definitely established as having been fired from the LHO BSR. Lots of ballistic mysteries associated with the JFK assassination.

From memory, Oswald had two different types of .38 Special in the gun and some expended cases were found at the Tippit scene. I want to say some were jacketed and some were lead...Maybe Remington Peters comes to mind?

I just thought the story was fascinating about how it took up until a few years ago to figure out the origin of the magazine that he ordered from. Oswald was not a member of NRA, so he didn't get American Rifleman. It has been surmised that Oswald either ripped the ads from magazines either on the newstand or at his barbershop, but that was never confirmed, since it was only a handful of years ago that they figured out where the pistol was ordered from.

I have never fired a .38 Special round through a converted .38 S&W, so I have no experience with that part of it.

There was a whole ladder of surplus BSRs; from stock, to reamed, to sawn, to the pinnacle of nickel plated with "stag" grips.

Private detective stories were popular in print, radio, and tv in those days and you just weren't with it if you did not have a snub nosed .38. And at half the price of new, these sold well.

There were four fired .38 cases recovered from the scene. Two were Remington and two were Winchester. All four bullets were recovered, but only one bullet was Remington and three were Winchester. There was apparently no doubt that all four cases had been fired from the LHO revolver. And there was no plausible explanation for the discrepancy, so it was ignored. There was the usual speculation that the FBI may have somehow tampered with the fired cases. Where LHO may have obtained the ammunition and why he had two separate headstamps are similarly unexplained.

This is the "True Adventure" ad discovery story. JFK Files: Solving the Mystery of Oswald’s Seaport Trader Order

Sadly these are often sold to the unwary as original 2" WW2 Victory Models on GB at ridiculously high prices.

So did a lot of gun show vendors. I always liked to feign interest at gun shows to listen the line of BS the vendors would throw out about the chopped BSRs. Usually stories about how rare and valuable they were.

Having said that, I believe that a chopped BSR at a moderate cost is a good addition to any BSR/Victory collection.

I have a BSR that was "changed" rather well. Cut to a 4" barrel, the cylinder was sleeved to accept 0.38 special cartridges and it has a 3" Parker-Hale front sight. Serial begins 782 and the cylinder matches. So this originated as one of the early 38 S&W sold to the UK. Usual "sold out of service markings" and the Made in USA on the bottom right of the frame. It was sold to me many years ago under my C&R License but the shop in GA now claims to know "nuthin!" Dave_n

There were some BSR conversions made in England which were of somewhat better workmanship, but are not often seen in the USA. There were also some British-done BSR conversions in .22 rimfire which are even more unusual. I have never seen one .22 example, but there are advertisements for them. Strangely, because so many of the original 5" barrel BSRs made have been converted, finding a nice condition unconverted BSR is unusual today.

Just prior to and during WWII, the US provided the British and Commonwealth with over half million revolvers, the vast majority made by S&W.

After WWII, many stayed overseas in service in Australia, West Germany, etc.; the rest were brought back. Many were converted to .38 Special here; some conversions were pretty decent, but some made by Bubba.

In addion, British companies such as Cogswell And Harrison, and Parker Hale converted a lot of these Lend Lease revolvers in England prior to exporting them back to the US.

Parker Hale even made a lot of conversions to .22 LR by converting the barrel & cylinder, while I believe Cogswell And Harrison usually just rimmed out tne cylinders for .38 Special (Gentlemen, please, correct me if/where I'm wrong).

Just curious; did you look up the loads of subject information available on this Forum before you bought it--or, was it an impulse buy because it was priced dirt-cheap?

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The CIA knows how to cover its tracks.

As a cop the various handguns I recovered at Crime Scenes very seldom had matching cartridges. I have seen JHP, LRN, LSWC and HBWC all in the same cylinder. Also six shooters sometimes had only one cartridge but sometimes 2, 3, 4 or 5. People who buy handguns on the Black Market get their ammo there too.

If its a well maintained handgun loaded with premium JHP bullets. It was likely stolen from a gun enthusiast's car or home.

In the Post WWII era was the 38 S&W so unpopular that everyone preferred the 38 Special?

Because S&W was making the Models 32 and 33 up until 1974.

I would imagine that .38 special ammo was more widely available and consider a more "high horse" caliber than .38 S&W which was probably considered old at that point after WW2.

I don't know...I do remember seeing old advertisements years ago for the Colt Police Positive and Colt's markup model was the "Police Positive Special" which was a marketing step up from the .38 S&W....The .38 Special bandwagon started in the teens really...WW2 just helped it along quicker.

I have a BSR that is still in its original configuration except for the finish. It has been Nicole plated.
The grips aren't original either. It had diamond magnas, but now it has 1905 style grips until I find the right grips for it.

One was sold to the shop I work at a couple of weeks ago. Still in 5” configuration, I think it’s the black and not blued finish, 38/380 stamped on the right side of the barrel. Marked as .38 S&W, not changed to .38 Spl and has the lanyard loop on it. Grips are a slightly shrunken Franzite stags. S/N ship date was February 1941. No U.S. Property markings but it does have the C and the arrows on it. And the best thing, NO import marks.

It never made it to the floor, it’s in layaway.

If it dates from early 1941, it would not be a Lend-Lease BSR, rather it is one purchased by the British Commonwealth. It has a Canadian property stamp, the C with the broad arrow inside. The first L-L revolvers shipped much later in 1941. It would originally have a blued finish and checkered wood grips with silver medallions, but no topstrap property stamping such as appears on L-L BSRs. I am not sure if the Canadian BSRs were ever proof stamped when sold off as surplus after the war, but I would guess that they were not.

I have a nice "unconverted" BSR/Brit Victory that I bought years ago because they were a lot cheaper than the US 38 Spl Victories. With the ridiculous prices and scarcity of 38 S&W a few years later, I scrounged around on eBay and found a cheap Victory 38 Spl cylinder which I was able to install myself without too much trouble. Accuracy seems fine. I've since obtained a 38 Spl Victory barrel, but I don't know if I will ever install it, given that it seems to shoot OK with the original barrel. Either way, I'll keep all the parts with the gun. BTW, I always thought it was kind of neat the simple bored out conversions will shoot both kinds of 38.

I’ll probably leave this one in .38 S&W as I might have found a small quantity of that ammunition. I don’t like to make irreversible changes and if I found a cylinder the finish and patina would probably not match and that would bother me even though that would be reversible by swapping the cylinders.

While .38 S&W ammunition is difficult to find in most areas, it is still available from internet sources. Many .38 S&W revolver owners reload ammunition. For use in more modern solid frame revolvers, it is not difficult to make handloads which are ballistically equivalent to the .38 Special. Some boutique ammunition manufacturers such as Buffalo Bore and Underwood also offer somewhat more powerful .38 S&W loadings, but they are costly.