.38 Hand Ejector

[Vinnie V]

I recently inherited this .38 from my grandmother. I am trying to determine its year of manufacture. It has no model number on the crane, but the assembly numbers match on frame and yoke. It is a 5 screw with strain screw, serial # 852XXX, stamped on bottom of grip frame and on extractor side of cylinder face. Additionally, BNP under a crown appears on the cylinder at every chamber, with the word ENGLAND stamped once on the cylinder. 4 inch barrel is marked 38 S&W cartridge, but it chambers .38 Special cartridges. No other markings are noted on top or bottom flat of barrel under ejector rod. It has fixed sights. From the very helpful threads on this forum, I gather it is a Lend Lease, bored out, aftermarket nickel plated and gripped post WW II specimen. Any additional info would be appreciated.

 

[lamarw]

I could be wrong but in the picture it appears the hammer and trigger have been plated. If so, this means the revolver has been either plated after it left the factory or replated at some point.

I am sure others will have a lot more to add or subtract.

 

[Art Doc]

"... I gather it is a Lend Lease, bored out, aftermarket nickel plated and gripped post WW II specimen."

I believe you nailed it but that serial would be pre-war (barely) and these are the Lend Lease guns. The modifications were done post-war. I assume the barrel was cut from the usual 5" to 4".

The refinish doesn't look half bad except for plating the hammer and trigger.

 

[Absalom]

You have a former British Service Revolver, pre-V prefix, from about late 1941/maybe early 1942, which was shipped to Britain during WW II with a military-style phosphate finish and 5-inch barrel. It was modified for .38 Special, the barrel shortened and the gun refinished after it was surplussed out after the war and re-imported. BNP indicates it was commercial-proofed at Birmingham.

On a side note, the top sideplate screw (right side) looks like it's a replacement; the head is too big, unless it's an optical mis-impression.

 

[Vinnie V]

No, you are correct in your observation. Plating on screw head appears to be the same as the rest, so I assume it was replaced by someone prior to the plating job. Is it worth finding and purchasing an original replacement screw? I'm thinking maybe not...what if the threading is now different?

 

[DWalt]

Yours is a pre-Victory made for the British Commonwealth, and likely shipped around October 1941. It may have been a Lend-Lease revolver, but probably does not have the typical United States Property topstrap stamping. Its original finish would have been blued. Literally boatloads of these revolvers were imported into the USA during the 1950s and 1960s. Many had the barrels shortened, the chambers bored out to accept .38 Special cartridges, were refinished or nickel plated (original British Service Revolvers were never plated), and cheap plastic grips attached (any or all). They sold at very low prices at the time ($25-$35), and in inflation-adjusted dollars sell for about the same price today - or less.

 

[Absalom]

No, you are correct in your observation. Plating on screw head appears to be the same as the rest, so I assume it was replaced by someone prior to the plating job. Is it worth finding and purchasing an original replacement screw? I'm thinking maybe not...what if the threading is now different?

I misfired on the original finish, as DWalt pointed out; this gun was too early for the phosphate. As for the screw, replacing it would be pointless in my opinion if it does not bother you. Besides, you'd have to find a plated screw that matches the gun, or the correct screw in the wrong color wouldn't exactly be a cosmetic enhancement. Either way won't do anything for the value anyway, which is modest in any case.