A Victory Variant You May Have Never Seen Before

[Doug M.]

It is probable that the Navy destroyed the revolvers in some fashion, as that is a common practice. I suspect, without any objective knowledge, that the few that escaped been issued and kept, or were stolen by sailors nearing discharge. I don't recall when the mess discharges of personnel not critical to occupation duties started, but as I recall my Dad was back in the US pretty quickly after V-E and discharged in January 1946.

 

[Absalom]

It is probable that the Navy destroyed the revolvers in some fashion, as that is a common practice. I suspect, without any objective knowledge, that the few that escaped been issued and kept, or were stolen by sailors nearing discharge....

That seems unlikely since the model's service was not limited to WW II. The Victory continued to be a standard-issue sidearm for Navy and Marine aviators through Korea and Vietnam, and we've had plenty of incidental testimony here about Navy Victorys transferred to the Air Force as well and serving until the Model 15 was adopted by the AF, and then still being used as a supplementary weapon.

So these JSB marked guns should not be expected to have been subject to any more "unnatural attrition" than the GHD marked guns.

 

[Mk VII]

Those of you who have dabbled in Colt history may be familiar with the May 1918 Remington refurbishment contract. Short of handguns, US Ordnance contracted with Remington (Colt was busy building pistols) to refurbish a little over 19,000 US Army Model 1901 DA Colts in .38 Colt, nowadays recognizable by their L.E.B. inspector stamp. Capt. Leroy E. Briggs was the Ordnance inspector overseeing the refurbishment contract. Both the gun and the caliber were obsolete at the time. All guns were refurbished, but none made it back into active service by the time the war ended. Most disappeared quietly into Naval Reserve storage, to percolate out into civilian hands over the next several decades. Some are rumored to have been bored out for .38-200 and shipped to Britain at the beginning of WW II, but I have not encountered one.

Colt M1895 .38 DA reamed out to accept the British .38/200 cartridge. This one did not get the 1918 refurbishment.

 

[digi-shots]

Kevin,

Congrats on your new find! And also for bringing this thread back up...

I need to get back and start hunting for one of these!