Help on a Victory Model ID

[YJ]

My friend is looking for information on his gun. I said I would post the information and see what the people in the know would say. It has a 4" barrel and the grips & cylinder have matching numbers. These are not pictured.

Pictures at : www.unitedsportsmeninc.com/Pat/SW.htm

Thanks

YooperJ
visit my web site
yooperj.com

 

[YJ]

My friend is looking for information on his gun. I said I would post the information and see what the people in the know would say. It has a 4" barrel and the grips & cylinder have matching numbers. These are not pictured.

Pictures at : www.unitedsportsmeninc.com/Pat/SW.htm

Thanks

YooperJ
visit my web site
yooperj.com

 

[OFT]

I'll defer to the experts (and we do have some here) but I would guess that it was made sometime in the summer of 1942.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[mikepriwer]

It looks to be a nice Victory. It's in .38 special, which shooters prefer.
It looks all original, and is early in the Victory series. The barrel is
numberd to the frame, and the crane (or yoke) is assembly-numbered to the frame.

Its probably a $350 to $400 gun, just because of its reasonably good condition.

If it was shipped somewhere special, then it might be worth more.

Later, Mike Priwer

 

[LWCmdr45]

Yooper,

Welcome to the forum!

Your friend, indeed, has a Victory Model, a variant of the S&W .38 Hand Ejector Model of 1905, 4th Change, as produced during WW2. *In general,* they were made in .38 S&W (.38-200) with 5" barrels for British users and .38 Special with 4" barrels for American users. Your photos don't show the top strap. If it has a "U.S. PROPERTY" marking there, it's military; if it doesn't, it most likely went through the Defense Supplies Corporation to a P.D. or civilian plant guard. As OFT has posted, it probably shipped from S&W circa June/July, 1942. It appears to be in quite nice shape; he's got a good one!

Steve

 

[opoefc]

YooperJ, Welcome to the Forum. Tell your friend to get a factory letter from the S&W historian, Roy Jinks, on his Victory Model and that will tell him all he wants to know about his gun. Go to the Smith & Wesson home page and click on the link for Historian, print out the form for requesting a factory letter and follow through. It looks like a nice clean Victory Model and the cost of the letter ( $30) will add more than that to it's value and maybe a lot more depending on where S&W shipped the gun. Ed.

 

[YooperJ]

I got the letter and it says it was shipped on June 22, 1942 to the Best-O-Lite Co., East Chicago, IN. My buddy has decided he may sell this gun to finance a different gun purchase, any idea as to the value. It does include the correct style original holster.

 

[smith17]

Mike gave a good value in his post above. The holster can be found for about $50.
Ed

 

[opoefc]

Values on minty Victory models, with letters, are increasing quite rapidly. In a recent American Rifleman article, Jim Supica listed $750 as a fair value for one. I don't see them much less than that at Calif. & AZ gun shows. Ed. If you see any minty ones at small gun shows or gun shops at $300-$400, they would be good buys, IMHO. Junkers and .38 Spl. conversion are in the lower ranges, but stay away from them