Unknown S&W, BNP .38 (Possible WWII era pistol made for British Pilots)

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Smitty38Special

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I have a S&W, snub nose .38 with a serial number that starts with a prefix that has been partially worn off... It could be a Y, V, or W. I have attached a picture of the beginning of the number. There are 5 numbers total in addition to the mystery letter. Looks like this (I have omitted the last 2 numbers):

Mystery Letter 992xx.

I have also attached a few other pictures showing various other markings. One is a BNP Stamp on the barrel and cylinder. There appears to be a crown stamped with these markings. I've been told that this gun was produced by S&W for the Brits at the beginning of WWII and "BNP" stands for British Navy Pilot for use as a side arm if shot down.

Any insight on date or value would be great... Thanks
 

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You have essentially a Lee Harvey Oswald gun. A British .38/200 converted (unwisely!) to .38 Special, with the barrel cut off so short that it eliminated the forward barrel lock.

You should have learned more about guns before buying it, but I guess the fact that Oswald used one to kill Dallas Officer J.D. Tippett makes it a piece of history.

It originally had a polished blue or (later) dull gray finish; it has been refinished by a surplus dealer. This was common in the 1960's.


BNP means Birmingham National Proof, a proof mark. Royal Navy pilots may well have carrried such guns, but in the original form. They were certainly issued to many RAF pilots.
Over 568,000 of these were supplied to the UK during WW II. Probably more were used than their own Enfield and Webley .38's.

All were made between April, 1940 and 1945. They were used by all Commonwealth nations, and remained in use until the mid-60's, when the 9mm Browning Hi-Power had replaced them.

If you fire .38 Special ammo in this gun, the cases may split. Do not use Plus P ammo. Consider it a collectors item, if the Oswald connection appeals to you.

T-Star
 
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Texas Star got it right........her is my Oswald Special....reamed out to 38ctg, loose as a goose, nothing matchs.....think I picked it up for $75

283994735.jpg
 
LandPimp-

The smooth wooden grips on yours replaced the checkered ones with a silver medallion after April, 1942. At that time, five-inch barrels were made standard. Prior to then, four, five, and six-inch barrels were furnished.

The plastic "stag" grips on Smitty's gun were never used on official orders. Surplus dealers added them.

T-Star
 
+1 to the above comments.
The "mystery letter" appears to be a "V" prefix which is part of the serial number range of the "Victory" Model of guns made during WW2.
 
Texas Star said:
BNP means Birmingham National Proof, a proof mark.
Click to expand...
I believe the "N" stands for Nitro which is British speak for smokeless powder. The mark was applied after testing as the gun was coming out of government stores for commercial sale. IIRC, this one is a mid-fifties or later proof.

Bob
 
.38 Special

Thanks for the insight... The gun was free. I didn't pay anything for it. Just wanted to learn more about it's origin.

The stag grips are plastic and definitely added later.

Thanks
 
Smitty,

There was originally a "crossed swords" marking on the gun. This will have a letter to the left, the letter "B" (for Birmingham) to the right, and a number to the bottom (the inspectors code number). If that's still visible, the left-side letter is the year code for when it was released for sale. If you can read that, I can give you the year.

Buck
 
Bob is correct. The "BNP" stands for Birmingham Nitro Proof and was added to the gun after WW2 when it was sold surplus by the Brits to dealers. The dealers had to have these guns proofed before they could be sold to the British public. Many US surplus dealers imported these guns, converted the cylinders to chamber .38 Special rounds, added plastic stag grips, cut the barrels and sold them by the 1,000 to US shooters for very low ( by todays standards) prices. Old gun magazines of the 50s & 60s carry ads for these at $29.95 and I remember buying a couple of them at a sale at Monkey Wards for $14.95 each, a bargain for a nightstand gun. I've fired many .38 Spl. rounds through quite a number of these guns over the years and never experienced a split case, but others have, so the concern is still valid. Ed.
 
Serial number V992xx was made in the latter half of 1942. Ordnanceguy can give you a better date estimate from his database of Victory models. Send him an e-mail requesting help if he doesn't chime in on this thread.

We're all assuming that this is a .38-200 (.38 S&W) that has had its chambers lengthened so that .38 Special can fit. Be aware that there are two other (less likely) possibilities:

1. It may still be a .38-200. In that case, .38 Specials won't chamber.

2. It could be an original .38 Special. Quite a few were shipped to Commonwealth nations, although far fewer than .38-200.


Buck
 
Yes, "Nitro" Proof. I had been up all night when I typed "National", and blew it. Sorry. I knew better. Just too tired to have been answering questions, I guess.

T-Star
 
I bought one at Howard's in Laredo in 1957 for $35.00. Shot 38 specials ok. Same as the photo with the short barrel and plastic grips. Wish I still had it!
 
The BNP is a 1954 and later compression of the older BV,BP,NP stamps: Birmingham Nitro Proof.

Try: "Bad guns, Chopped British K-200" in a web search it is a pretty good article on this nearly unconscionable conversion.

If you can find traces of .38" .767" and 3 1/2 tons on the barrel it was proven as a .38 S&W. If you can not find full info it was chopped over here.
 
Can't .38 S&W (.38/200) still be safely fired in one that has been converted from .38 S&W to .38 Special?

Of course I can't tell just by looking at the picture of this particular revolver what its original chambering is/was or if it has been converted or not.

I do not own one but seem to recall someone who did making that statement, so I will defer to someone who has some experience with these.
 
The modern factory load generally uses a .359 not a .361 bullet at a charge level thought safe for a blackpowder era top-break. So, yes.

On the other hand S&W began anchoring the ejector rod after 3 years of production because the counter clock-wise rotation pushes the crane away from the frame. Unlike Colt's clock-wise rotation which has the opposite effect.
 
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