.38 special victory?????

[sureshotbob]

Well I just picked up the victory model that the I had on layaway it is a .38 special, 4 inch, parkerized gun that is covered in grease I wiped some off the grease of and the finish is not as good as I thought originaly. The serial is V 333350 on the butt,bbl and cylinder that I can see so far . The top strap is marked with a bomb US Property GHD.The interesting thing is the large size almost 1/4 inch Property of US Navy marking filled with red paint on the left side under the thumb latch for the cylinder .This revolver has been the property of a local police dept. since the late 40's to the early 50's in storage it needs a good cleaning what other part's should be marked with th serial # ??

 

[sureshotbob]

Well I just picked up the victory model that the I had on layaway it is a .38 special, 4 inch, parkerized gun that is covered in grease I wiped some off the grease of and the finish is not as good as I thought originaly. The serial is V 333350 on the butt,bbl and cylinder that I can see so far . The top strap is marked with a bomb US Property GHD.The interesting thing is the large size almost 1/4 inch Property of US Navy marking filled with red paint on the left side under the thumb latch for the cylinder .This revolver has been the property of a local police dept. since the late 40's to the early 50's in storage it needs a good cleaning what other part's should be marked with th serial # ??

 

[MikeH1]

it's also on the underside of the empty shell ejector, facing the back of the cylinder. Also the grips may have a # too. My "S" M&P has one grip stamped with another #, and my # in pencil

 

[cgt4570]

Serial is also stamped on the underside of the sideplate, and if memory serves, on the edge of the yoke (crane) but only visible with the cylinder removed.

Sounds like a keeper.

 

[m-1911]

Here is a picture of my Navy marked Victory Model. Mine was part of a May 1942 shipment and is sn 960453

 

[hhb]

My Navy Victory is marked on the top strap over the cylinder.

 

[hhb]

I looked at my "Standard Catalog of S&W, 3rd edition, and it says that a Victory model with the Navy markings like yours is worth double to triple value!

 

[ordnanceguy]

Sureshotbob:

That is indeed a nice Victory you have there. It is what Victory collectors refer to as a "Red Navy", a reference to the left frame marking that is usually seen with traces of red paint filling the lettering to enhance visibility. Those markings were applied post-factory by the Navy. It is an interesting and desirable variation.

While cleaning up your find take care to not remove the red paint in the lettering, as that is part of the gun's history.

From our Victory Model Database which LWCmdr45 and I maintain I can tell you that your Victory was likely shipped from the factory in the May-July, 1943 time frame. If you get around to securing a factory letter, please update us on what it says so that we can add that information to the Database.

And by the way, welcome to the Forum!

Charlie Flick
S&WCA #729
NRA Life

 

[opoefc]

Charlie, Gary & sureshotbob, I think Charlie posting may be confusing the picture of Gary's USN marked Victory with the true Victory that started this thread. Gary, does your gun have a factory letter showing it as as shipped to the USN? A pre-Victory 900K range serial number Navy would be highly unusual, but not impossible. Unfortunately the So. Calif cottage industry has been applying these USN markings to various Victory and Pre-Victory guns. Their excuse is " We aren't faking these guns, just creating representative example!" Ed.

 

[m-1911]

Originally posted by opoefc:
Charlie, Gary & sureshotbob, I think Charlie posting may be confusing the picture of Gary's USN marked Victory with the true Victory that started this thread. Gary, does your gun have a factory letter showing it as as shipped to the USN? A pre-Victory 900K range serial number Navy would be highly unusual, but not impossible. Unfortunately the So. Calif cottage industry has been applying these USN markings to various Victory and Pre-Victory guns. Their excuse is " We aren't faking these guns, just creating representative example!" Ed.

Ed

I never lettered the gun, I got the shipping date from Roy. This gun came out of the woodwork, so I doubt that it was part of the "South California Navy". Maybe I should letter it. There is no US Property markings on the top strap

 

[ordnanceguy]

Hi Ed:

Sorry if my post was not clear enough. It was directed to Sureshotbob's first post above on his Victory Serial V333350, which he said has the left frame marking of "Property of U.S. Navy." That is the same type of marking as appears in Gary's post on his revolver, but I was not commenting on Gary's piece.

You are correct that this type of marking has been faked with some regularity by West Coast nefarious types. Gary's marking is the correct type and appears genuine to me. If Sureshotbob's marking is identical to Gary's then I would think it to be the real deal. There are differences in the faked Property markings that I have observed, but I won't discuss them here to avoid educating the bad guys.

Regards,
Charlie Flick

 

[sureshotbob]

Thanks Guy's
The marking's are the same as the one in Gary's picture but they still have the red paint . Tomorow when I clean it up I'll see if I can find any other numbered parts and will take care not to remove the red paint. Also I do want to get this gun lettered and will pass on any info for the data-base.

 

[opoefc]

Guys, I guess it was me that was confused. The Navy marks look good but the Surf City faker have those same stamps the Navy used. Bill Orr, S&W distributor in Georgia,once sold 3 plain buy minty guns to them,and the next gun show, all three were USN marked, just like the above photos, red paint and all, so the only way you can be sure is if the gun letters as a Navy shipped gun. If your gun came out of the woodwork ( ex-police inventory) , it's probably a good one. Ed.

 

[claude]

I ALSO OWN A PRE-VICTORY STAMPED PROPERTY OF US NAVY. S/N 967888. SAME CYLINDER,BARREL,R STOCK, AND EJECTOR. FINISH IS SANDBLAST BLUE. CYL OPEN FRAME MARKED E8 #12809, YOKE SAME NUMBER AND MARKED WITH A "S". RIGHT(STOCK OFF) GRIP IS MARKED WITH A "S" AND A SMALL D8. THERE IS ANOTHER MARK BUT NOT SURE BUT LOOKS LIKE A SMALL P. LEFT GRIP E8, 1, AND THIS MARK("")NOT SIDE BY SIDE BUT ONE UP AND THE OTHER BELOW. PATE INDICATES HE OWNS A NAVY FRAME MARKED PRE S/N 974173. PURCHASED FROM A REPUTABLE DEALER BUT THINK I OBTAIN A LETTER.