Apparent 22/38

[HarryWatson]

I have what appears to be a 38 hand ejector that has major modifications. The chambers in the cylinder have inserts in them and are re-bored to 22 LR. The barrel has been replaced with a 22 LR barrel, not an S&W barrel, with British proofs, and each chamber in the cylinder is proof marked, as is the custom with the Brits. I has a Canadian broad arrow at the upper left rear of the frame, a military type lanyard loop, and adjustable sights installed. Oddly, it has the mark WB on the butt, which I believe is the mark of a certain Colt inspector. The grips have silver medallions in them with a crown in them.
Anyone know anything about these guns?

 

[HarryWatson]

I have what appears to be a 38 hand ejector that has major modifications. The chambers in the cylinder have inserts in them and are re-bored to 22 LR. The barrel has been replaced with a 22 LR barrel, not an S&W barrel, with British proofs, and each chamber in the cylinder is proof marked, as is the custom with the Brits. I has a Canadian broad arrow at the upper left rear of the frame, a military type lanyard loop, and adjustable sights installed. Oddly, it has the mark WB on the butt, which I believe is the mark of a certain Colt inspector. The grips have silver medallions in them with a crown in them.
Anyone know anything about these guns?

 

[Art Doc]

Likely started as a Victory Model that was "sporterized" after the war by an English gun company. Many of them floating around although not so many that have been converted to .22 caliber.

The only thing I would worry about on these is that they simply cut the firing pin to work with the rim fire case. Maybe this will never cause trouble but it's not how any manufacturer designs a rim fire hammer.

Sometimes I think that if I could get one of these converted 22s it might be fun to play with but when I see one for sale the asking price is too much for me.

 

[opoefc]

Harry, You have a WW2 surplus Victory, or pre-Victory model, converted to .22RF. Many of these were done in England by Parker-Hale or other gun companies after WW2. Some companies put on new .22 cal. abarrel and linder the cylinders to .22 cal., other lined both barrel & cylinders. The C mark, may or may not, be a Canadian stamp. The WB, on the butt, is the inspector's stamp and appears on many Victory Models. What is the serial number of your gun? The grips are later additions, perhaps by the company that did the .22RF conversion.

 

[HarryWatson]

Thanks. Opoefc and SaxonPig. Serial number is 826XXX. Firing pin is filed down to work as a rinfire pin, and is neatly done. Quite sure it is a Canadian mark, as it is an arrow encircled by the letter C. There is no V before the serial number. I will try it out at the rnage this week.

 

[opoefc]

Harry, From the serial number, your gun is a Pre-Victory model, probably shipped circa 1941. The conversion work is typical of the guns done in Britain, however it could have been done by any competent gunsmith. The fact that it has the Canadian C & arrow stamp ( Does the arrow point straight up?)is a little bit of a mystery, as I doubt British gun makers would have been importing surplus guns from the colonies to convert to .22RF, as there were a enough of the surplus .38S&W guns already in England to provide an adequate supply. Of course, the gun may have been turned over to the Brits when Canadian troops returned home from Europe after WW2. Ed.

 

[HarryWatson]

A friend of mine donated a shotgun to the Brits back when cheese was starting to cluster, with the understanding it would be returned after the war. However, it, along with a great many others, were simply dumped in the Channel.
I am surprised so many guns made it back here.
Anyway, it is a nice pistol, and the barrell approaches being a semi-bull barrel. And as far as the firing pin goes, since it is a pinned one, they probably just inserted one for the rimfire.
The arrow points at about 2:00 o'clock.

 

[Old 44 Guy]

I remeber reading in the"Rifleman" after the war. Lots of firearms were donated to Britain in 1940 to defend against the Nazi's. They had conficated all their handguns & rifles before the war and wanted us to replace them. Only thing they had was shotguns. The Nazi's were bombing London nightly, called the Blitz. Thought they were coming across the channel any day. Call went out to America if we had any extra rifles or pistols to send them over to them.WE did. Old men & kids were to fight them on the beaches Churchill said.But many of the firearms never came back. British sold them to us later.