Date of manufacture
- Thread starter riverok
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Not that I know of. We do have some experts here that can get very close to manufacturing date and shipping date if you will provide the serial number.
The V prefix serial numbers started April 1942 at V1 and ended in August 1945 at VS811119. My guess would be that your gun was manufactured and shipped in 1943. Hopefully the experts will be along with a closer estimate.
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S&W did not track dates of manufacture. Entered guns in a log book by sequential serial numbers, then adding a destination and ship date as sold. Victory models left the factory as soon as they were built during WWII, so likely made near the same date as sold. Over 2,000,000 guns were manufactured from 1940 and 1945, so that means the factory turned out nearly half-million K frame 38s a year. Likely your revolver left the factory in late 1943. Large numbers of Victory guns went to Britain and the US military. Difference between the two is that almost all Victory sales to Britain were in 38 S&W caliber, while shipments to US military were in 38 Special. Many post-war British guns were rechambered in 38 Special.
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Thank you
Thanks
This is not quite correct.
V1 was produced in April 1942, starting a new serial sequence. That sequence lasted all the way to (S)999999, in March 1948.
In December 1944, a new sliding hammer block safety mechanism was added to production and the letter S was added to the front of the serial number, resulting in SV prefix units. The lowest known number in this era of production is SV732261. Conventional wisdom says the SV prefix began at SV769000, but since assembly was not in serial order, lower numbers do exist.
A unit marked S811120 is generally considered to be the beginning of the simple S prefix guns but, again, exceptions do exist with higher numbers carrying the SV prefix. As for SV811119: I have examined this revolver. The prefix is SV, not VS. It was assembled on August 27, 1945, but it did not ship until March 1, 1946, when postwar civilian shipment began.
There is no evidence whatsoever that the factory ever marked revolvers with a VS prefix. The belief in the VS prefix derives from a misinterpretation of one paragraph in the book History of Smith & Wesson by Dr. Roy Jinks. That paragraph ends with this sentence: "These revolvers can be identified by the stamped SV prefix." Extensive research has turned up thousands of SV prefix guns and never one single unit with a confirmed factory mark of VS.
For more detailed information on the S and SV units, take a look at p. 206 in the SCSW 5th Edition.
My post came straight out of "History of Smith & Wesson" by Roy G. Jinks, 10th Anniversary Edition. Pages 163 and 165. Roy says VS prefix in the book. If you have examined the gun, I guess Roy got it wrong. I claim no expertise on the subject.
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Yes, David. But go back and read the rest of that paragraph. Research has confirmed Roy's last sentence. I have no idea why he wrote VS in the first sentence. There simply is no evidence to support it.
In any historical endeavor, more information emerges over time. Sometimes we have to adjust our conclusions.
Thanks Jack, we all make mistakes, even Roy. Maybe he is a little bit dyslexic, ha ha. I didn't notice the SV and VS business. Was just saying that the V prefix guns were built between 1942 and 1945. Do you have an opinion on when OP's gun shipped?
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Glynn863
Member
Not to hijack this thread, but I have a Victory revolver I purchased about a year and a half ago. I posted about it on the big "Victory" thread, but didn't get a definitive answer. My S/N is SV775003, which I have deduced is sometime in 1945. Thanks.
