Help please identifying my revolver
- Thread starter jrrdunit
- Start date
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cgt4570
Member
WW2 era 'Victory' model .38 Military & Police. If it has proof marks, then it most likely shipped to the military. If not, then it might have been sold as a guard gun for any number of companies making war materials. The grips it's wearing are at least 10 years newer.
Texas Star
US Veteran
May be carefully reblued. Most Victory Models have rough gray finishes.
DWalt
Member
If the SN is correct, it is likely to be a Victory model which shipped around mid-1944. It does appear to have been refinished and the grips on it are too new, probably from the mid-1950s or later. The P is a proof mark. If it has U. S. PROPERTY stamped on the top strap, it was military, probably Navy.
Does the barrel marking say ".38 Special, or .38 S&W "? Many Victory models were the latter. The two are not interchangeable, though many have been modified to accept the longer, and skinnier .38 Special. This modification works, but not necessarily well.
Targets Guy
US Veteran
Welcome to the forum. You've got a nice Victory there. Anxious to hear how good of a shooter it is.
Absalom
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
There is no possibility of a 4" barrel Victory with that serial number being .38 S&W, unless it experienced a barrel swap. Someone refinished a standard .38 Special US version with a commercial blue and also did something to the originally case-colored trigger and hammer (unless that's just the lighting in the photo), and put post-war stocks on it, so you have a nice shooter, just not a collectible.
Welcome to the forums from the Wiregrass! Yep, definitely an aftermarket reblue since the hammer, trigger and lanyard ring are blued. But, it seems whoever did it did a pretty good job. And, how it looks won't affect how it shoots. In 1957, the .38 M&P became the venerable, millions-made Model 10. During the War, your gun would have looked similar to this one.
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