A fine Pre-Victory has a new home.

[s3dcor]

Last July I found an old M&P at a pawn shop. It was in fantastic shape and I shelled out $285 and took it home. I knew it was something special and not a .38 special, no pun intended. I sent off for a factory letter on July 10 and the letter came today November 17, 2014 and confirmed what I suspected and hoped.

It is a Pre-Victory, K-200, .38/200 Service Revolver with a 5" barrel, sand blasted blue finish, butt swivel and original checkered silver medallion walnut grips. It was shipped to the Canadian British Purchasing Commission, Ottawa, Canada on April 26, 1941. Serial numbers are found in 5 places, grips, cylinder, butt, extractor star and bottom of the barrel and they all match. The screws are all bright blue, a detail that shows how quickly S&W produced these revolvers.

Unlike any of the others I have found this one is unmarked except for the "RCAF", "C" with the Broad Arrow Mark and a rack number on the butt of the walnut grips. I find that a little puzzling but not a bad thing. You will recall that the British covered their revolvers with graffiti.

I have shown it here with an original Canadian holster and copper coated cleaning rod which fits in a pocket in the holster. The holster is marked Z. L. & T. L. (Zephyr Loom & Textile Limited) of Toronto who was the largest maker of Canadian web gear.

The original cost to the Canadians for this revolver before Lend / Lease was $21.90. Canada kept them in service until 1964.

Someone took excellent care of this revolver for the last 73 years and now it is my turn. I can't help but wonder where it has been and how it got to a little pawn shop in Montana. Hope you enjoy the post.

 

[opoefc]

Nice find. As you say, the Brits covered their guns with lots of proof marks, after they were declared surplus to military needs and sold to the public, via British gun dealers. The "colonies" ( Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand) were not so inclined, so other than military unit markings, such as your Royal Canadian Air Force markings, most Pre-Victory and Lend Lease revolvers survived w/o a lot of additional attention by eager beaver proof houses. Ed.