Austrian Police Victory model value?

[rufrdr]

I'm picking up a Victory model .38SW U.S. Property marked 5" barrel parkerized finish stamped Polezi and with a 5 digit rack number and Austrian police property mark on it. Are these collectable at all? I got it more because of the appeal of the revolver and not as an investment. I already handload .38SW for my Webley Mk4s so ammo is not a problem. Overall condition is nice and all numbers match including the grips.

 

[tekarra]

Hello and welcome. Have you some photos that you can post?

 

[John Wyatt]

These Austrian and German police guns seem to appeal to a small collector crowd. I have one marked "Bavaria Rural Police." The gun is interesting to me because I like S&W's and my wife was born in Augsburg, Bavaria Germany. I have seen photos of a Victory marked "Augsburg Railway Police" and would probably my one with those markings if found.

 

[popgun]

most 38 S&W 5inch british go for $300-400. The German markings add a premium $500 to $650.00

 

[rufrdr]

I paid $300 and got the leather holster with it so I guess I did ok.

 

[rufrdr]

No pictures yet as it is in CA gun jail for 10 days. The s.n. 5078xx which I am guessing puts this near the end of the production run?

 

[blushirt23]

If the gun is not import marked and you only paid $300.00 for it, you did well, especially in California.
Chris

 

[Texas Star]

I paid $300 and got the leather holster with it so I guess I did ok.

Please post holster photos, when you can. I'd like to see what they used.

T-Star

 

[rufrdr]

Revolver + holster; the holster is marked with a U.S. in an oval. Looks like a 1942 holster for the 1917 Revolver. Don't know if this was issued to the Austrians or not. The close up shows the Austrian police stamp on the left side of the revolver. The top strap has the Ordnance bomb, U.S. Property, and GHD inspector mark. S.N. is V 507876, caliber .38SW. Parkerized finish which is better than how it looks in the photos. Matching numbers including the grips.

 

[BUFF]

The British Commonwealth got 568,000+ M&P revolvers chambered in the .38 S&W cartridge, but they were serial numbered in the same series as the regular and military production .38 Special M&P's. The V prefix was changed to VS at about serial number V769,000 in late 1944, if I read Roy Jinks' book correctly. Wartime production of both chamberings reached VS811,119 by the end of wartime production in August, 1945.

There are some experts on the M&P's here who can pin down your production date, but I would guess it is about 1943.

Yours looks to be in pretty good condition. You did well.

 

[Combat_Diver]

I just got a Austrian M1 Carbine from CMP. We land lease guns to them immediately after WWII. Here's a good link that explains primarily the M1 Carbine but the S&W and other handguns to Austria.

Austria's Story

CD

 

[LWCmdr45]

The s.n. 5078xx which I am guessing puts this near the end of the production run?

Based on the info contained in the database maintained by Charlie (ordnanceguy) and me, I'd estimate your gun shipped about January, 1944. Smith continued cranking out the .38-200 calibers for our Allies for about another year, passing serial number V-700,000.

Steve

 

[DBWesson]

The Holsters had 5 loops under the flap.
These guns did not have the safety blocks in them and the GI instructors did not want the Police Trainees to carry more than 5 rounds in these victories just in case they dropped one.
DBWesson

 

[opoefc]

A little bit of S&W Victory Model trivia - When Roy first started writing factory letters in the 80s, they had a typo errror in the general description of the shipments of the Victory Models to the various Allied destinations. It said "8,000 were shipped to Austria " -( It should have said Australia, of course. Later corrected ). I had a lot of collectors looking for those rare Nazi Victory Models. I told them you can spot one easily it will have the Nazi "Bundesadler" spread Eagle proof mark stamped on the frame. I think some of them are stilll looking! Ed #15

 

[rufrdr]

I took the revolver to the range today. Using handloads of 3.2 gr of Unique and a .360 dia 160 flat nose bullet the revolver shot cloverleafs offhand at 12.5 yards. Very accurate, especially in my hands and with these aging eyes. I shot the same handloads through a Webley mkIV with less satisfactory results. The group was much larger. I'd say the better trigger on the Victory was a help on the accuracy.