.22 Victory

C

chrometank

Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2021
Messages
34
Reaction score
70
Hi my friends, I found this .22 Victory online. I just have the 3 photos. Was this revolver ever manufactured in this caliber as a trainer or has this been modified ? Thanks in advance
76068d17c544fda4429ce364a8b9e908.jpg
91eb394b7a1bc824303e15136751c727.jpg
f0c2ad5fcdfd5c0e11b596691c467d34.jpg
5df5638f1357c7b406a15aabcb180840.jpg
 
Last edited:
Register to hide this ad
They were made up in England for commercial sale in the USA during the 1950s-60s. They are not too common. Normally the .38 chambers were sleeved for .22 LR and new barrels and sights were added. The starting point was WWII S&W military revolvers which were selling for scrap iron prices back then. I will post an old advertisement here later.
_______________________

NlzDhx0.jpg
 
Last edited:
For that price, even I would buy it and I am not a fan of 22 rimfire handguns.

I do not see any proof marks on it. My bet is someone wanted a 22 Target revolver and either built or had built that one from a victory frame. It could be as simple as swapping in a new cylinder, barrel and sights. Or, the cylinder could be sleeved and the barrel bored out and lined.

Either way, an interesting revolver.

Kevin
 
Last edited:
Thank you Kevin for your thoughts, yes I thought it looked interesting too, the price was a bonus, cheers

Sent from my SM-G996B using Tapatalk
 
That's not one of the after WW2 English conversions to .22RF. done by the British gun dealers. It got it's conversion some where else down the line, perhaps Australia, if that's where you bought,( The recent Melbourne auction ? ) but definitely worth the money. Ed
 
opoefc said:
That's not one of the after WW2 English conversions to .22RF. done by the British gun dealers. It got it's conversion some where else down the line, perhaps Australia, if that's where you bought,( The recent Melbourne auction ? ) but definitely worth the money. Ed
Click to expand...
This one came from a collector in rural NSW, he had a lot of nice more modern Smith and wesson's but most seem to be sold now, when it turns up I will post some detailed pictures, cheers

Sent from my SM-G996B using Tapatalk
 
Just curious about these reworks

I've not seen one of these conversions anywhere in my travels, but I am curious as to how the "converter" handles the
conversion from centerfire to rimfire with firing pin, bushing and even headspacing.

All my S&W rimfire 22's have recessed charge holes in the cylinders. I have 1915 22/32 HFT, 1947 and 1948 K22 Masterpiece, 1931 Outdoorsman, Model 34-1, Model 17-3 and again all recessed.

Do they change out the hammer for a custom made? Seems to me that without recessing there would be a heavy amount of side blast potential when firing.

Again I've just not seen one, but if I do and the price were right I'd probably add one to the "accumulation" just because of its' oddity.
 
definitely NOT recessed

Thanks, Jack for catching me on this mistake. Indeed the 1915 22-32 Heavy Frame Target, does NOT have recessed charge holes.

Sorry for the misinformation.
 

Attachments

  • S&W 22-32 N.jpg
    S&W 22-32 N.jpg
    46.2 KB · Views: 20
  • S&W 22-32 Q.jpg
    S&W 22-32 Q.jpg
    48.2 KB · Views: 16
  • 22-32 cyl 1.jpg
    22-32 cyl 1.jpg
    78.3 KB · Views: 18
  • 22-32 cyl 2.jpg
    22-32 cyl 2.jpg
    50.7 KB · Views: 16
  • 22-32 cyl 3.jpg
    22-32 cyl 3.jpg
    50.4 KB · Views: 13
I think I see British proof marks above the ejector rod. Some of the P-H conversions had recessed case heads, some did not.
 
Recessed chambers on the .22/32 HFT began around serial number 525600 in 12/1931.

Regarding the converted .22 Victory, what would one look for to establish it was not one of the 1950s British conversions, but was done someplace else? If it does in fact have British proof marks, I would consider that as an indication that the conversion had been done in England. Lacking British proof marks, I might agree that the conversion could have been done elsewhere. I remember seeing such a conversion once, but long ago.

Somewhere on this forum I remember seeing an old discussion thread of how the hammer was modified for .22 RF, maybe even with pictures. But I would not know how to begin searching for it.
 
Last edited:
DWalt said:
Recessed chambers on the .22/32 HFT began around serial number 525600 in 12/1931.
Click to expand...
Interesting. The Standard Catalog uses that serial number, but puts it in 1935. It would be good to get this difference clarified. Can you show us (or point us to) some documentation for the earlier date?

The SCSW 4th goes on to say, "However, collectors report recessed chambers as low as 384570."

Thanks for any help you can provide.
 
JP@AK said:
Interesting. The Standard Catalog uses that serial number, but puts it in 1935. It would be good to get this difference clarified. Can you show us (or point us to) some documentation for the earlier date?

The SCSW 4th goes on to say, "However, collectors report recessed chambers as low as 384570."

Thanks for any help you can provide.
Click to expand...

On my list is a .22/32 with SN 525668 which shipped on 6/15/31.
It is seemingly impossible that SN 384570 would have FACTORY ORIGINAL recessed chambers, as that SN would put the revolver's shipping date at around 1924. Because the sole purpose of chamber recessing was to provide extra support at the rim for using "High Velocity" .22 cartridges, there would have been no reason for a rim recess that early. HV .22s did not appear on the market until 1931. Western sold them first, with Remington on its heels. Someone could have had the rim recesses added to an older gun cylinder later in order to use HV cartridges in it. Or maybe some past owner replaced the original cylinder with a newer factory recessed one (and I believe that would be the most likely answer). I am very close to 100% certain that 1931 must be the correct year, not 1935, which would have been four years after the introduction of HV .22s. S&W would not have waited that long to make the change.

Depending on the information source, Colt modified the Colt Woodsman pistol to use HV .22 ammunition in 1932 or 1933.
 
Last edited:
Thank you DWalt. Much appreciated. What you write makes sense. I rather suspected the counterbored cylinders were related to the advent of HV ammo, but I did not know when that came about other than that it was sometime in the 1930s.

I'll make sure Jim S. knows about your comments.
 
So my Victory finally turned up, I watched it tracking across the state then when it was in a town just an hour away it stopped there for four days before turning up today. Not in the best condition but for the price I think it is OK, I was surprised to find every cylinder has a British proof mark.
All the best
e77e5f63ba8e7c1431f6447e2dbd7de2.jpg
501a70ee57a0d4b427179a2099444a26.jpg
e222eb4cf9d113acb98a442a448c753c.jpg
079997fd1cb5dc0e24c8834433785d4a.jpg
1058e43ef3ce037b00342f1c517b7d9c.jpg
be2758a7285cb5fa911fdd0d8b145f8e.jpg


Sent from my SM-G996B using Tapatalk
 
Interesting engineering on the cylinder and hammer nose! I'd love to own one of these as well. Another thing to hunt for...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Goony
A Scarce Victory Variation
2
Replies
47
Views
2K
DWalt
DWalt
B
Military rebuild question
Replies
12
Views
515
Bigrob1911
B
Narragansett
22 Victory , Worth Buying?
2
Replies
45
Views
2K
Wickerboots
W
G
Victory Model Parts?
Replies
8
Views
562
Gazz
G
F
Help w/ID, nickel plated Victory?
Replies
8
Views
481
jimmyj
jimmyj

Latest posts

Back
Top